Sean “Ope” Williams, creator of the new sneaker documentary Know You Got Sole!, has personally witnessed the incredible growth of what has now been dubbed “sneaker culture.” “Back in the day if you wanted some fresh sneakers, you bought ‘em and you wore ‘em,” he explains, “now it’s an over ten billion dollar industry.” It got to a point, in 2006, where he had simply seen one bad sneaker film too many. “I just stayed in my house all Memorial Day weekend,” he remembers, “and didn’t leave until the plan for the film was complete.”

To read the article in its entirety, pick up the Summer 2008 issue of Beyond Race Magazine.