eBay Sneakers and The Many Celebrate the Contributions of Black Icons By Honoring The Footprint

To kick off Black History Month this year, eBay Sneakers launched, “The Footprint,” a campaign highlighting sneakers, artifacts, and talent that pay homage to the timeless impact of Black culture on sneaker culture across the generations.

“The Footprint” weaves through four narrative chapters representing the different eras of Black impact on the sneaker game – Building Blocks (the 70s), Breakthrough (80s-90s), The Takeover (2000-present), Tomorrow (2022 and beyond) – all chapters feature sneakers and talent stories representative of the era. From Dapper Dan, D’Wayne Edwards, Aleali May, Frank Cooke, and sneakers spanning from Puma Clyde’s signed by Walt Frazier, New Balance 740 Worthy signed by James Worthy to the Aleali May Air Jordan 1 “Satin Shadow” and many more!

The talent stories highlight some of the biggest sneaker trends that emerged from Black influence and how these pioneers helped shape the sneaker culture we see today. In addition to talent stories, we’ve worked together to create a social/digital museum that takes our audience through each sneaker featured’s historical significance in the sneaker game.

As a way to inspire the next generation of Black designers, each museum sneaker featured will be auctioned off where all proceeds will benefit Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design, the first HBCU dedicated to footwear design. Founded by D’Wayne Edwards, Pensole provides pathways into shoe design for underrepresented youth and creates a pipeline for talented designers of color in the sneaker industry. eBay’s commitment and donation will help uplift the next generation of Black sneaker icons helping to alleviate the barriers that Black sneakerheads face providing them with economic relief while at school.

“The Footprint” launched February 2 and concludes February 28, and we’re excited to potentially extend this into additional activations throughout the year as eBay continues to support the immeasurable impact of the Black community on the sneaker game.

#eBayBHMFootprint