Killer Kicks

The sneaker industry has tripled in the last 10 years, now accounting for almost half of global footwear sales. They are a fashion phenomenon. Lynnie, 26, owns 80 pairs and still wants more. She travels to New York, the birthplace of the sneaker scene, and charts its rise from the footwear of basketball players, breakdancers and rappers to the defining fashion item of our age and an asset class unto itself, with its own stock exchange (StockX) and collectors parting with up to $500k for a single pair. How did it happen? And how can the planet possibly keep up? Every pair of sneakers produced emits the same amount of C02 as a 10 mile drive - and the industry is pumping out over a billion pairs a year. She wants to know why she- and we- can’t stop buying them.