Design Museum placing a spotlight on sneakers in 2020

Know your Air Jordans from your Air Force 1s? The Design Museum is set to place a spotlight on sneakers with a new fashion and design exhibition opening in May next year geared at the exploration of ‘sneakerheads’.

‘Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street’ will open on May 6, 2020, and will showcase sneaker performance, subculture and fashion, as it delves into the phenomenal audience of ‘sneakerheads’ with cult classics, limited edition silhouettes and rare colourway trainers set to be on display.

Divided into three parts - Performance, Street Culture and Fashion – the exhibition will invite visitors behind the scenes of the design process behind the most innovative kicks, from self-lacing to 3D printed, as well as trainers made from 100 percent recyclables or cushioned with air bubbles.

The exhibition will highlight the style icons and brand collaborations that have shaped the sneaker scene, examining the high-fashion reinvention of a streetwear staple and touch on the lucrative resale market that is currently valued at 2 billion US dollars.

For the first time trend cycles are moving faster than the traditional speed of sneaker production, and the Design Museum adds that this exhibition will ask what the impact of this is on manufacturing technology, creatives and makers.

This marks the second fashion exhibition announced as part of the Design Museum’s 2020 programme, as the London museum will also be hosting ‘Prada. Front and Back’, an exhibition looking at the creative approach, inspirations and landmark collaborations of the Italian fashion house, which opens in September 2020.

‘Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street’ will run from May 6 to September 6, 2020.

Images: courtesy of the Design Museum by Adam Ali and Michaela Efford