Shoe culture places very little emphasis on the actual quality of the product. Brand and exclusivity is far more important.

There's sneaker head culture and than there's the high end foot wear crowd.

Sneaker heads are all about the new nike x yeezy "mchitler edition" collab air joran X's

high end foot wear crowd will drop 700$ on aldens and almost 1000$ on a pair of boots from whites or nicks which will outlive you and your parents.

It's not the same crowd.

Few people I know have a turnaround on gear as the footwear nerds. The year is split into multiple seasons, they buy a bunch of shoes for that season, wear them only a few times if at all, and when next season comes it all goes to the trash. Because next season is warmer/colder/wetter/drier, and next year same season the stuff is all out of fashion and they need to buy new models. It' sickening.

"Shoe culture" might be one the dumbest trends in the market today.