7 Types of People You Meet in a Streetwear Line

Long before kids were copping at ease through bots, and before most brands even had web stores of their own, the best method of acquiring goods was to physically stand in line on drop day. Back then phone orders were an easy way to secure something, but if you were lucky enough to have a streetwear boutique in your city, copping during work and school hours was easy — especially if you had rapport with the staff.

With at least 10 years since the first lines formed for Nike SB releases, many streetwear aficionados have broken it down to a science — knowing what items will drop, when they need to get in line, and pre-calculating their profit margins for reselling. But if you still haven’t put in those hard-earned hours waiting through the dead of winter or peak summer temperatures, it’s safe to say that you aren’t about that life, and probably won’t ever know what spending hours in a streetwear line is like. Of course you’re thinking that you aren’t missing anything, however, it is the wide range of fascinating people and dubious characters that make it such an interesting experience.

This congregation of people is always pretty random, with parents standing alongside the likes of absurd internet trolls, ill-behaved preteens, and traplords who have hustled everything from sneakers to bitcoin. To introduce these archetypal shoppers to you, we have assembled a group of guys that have accumulated much experience dealing with queued up shoppers over the years. Consisting of Black Scale’s Meg@, who started his career on the floors of the old HUF shops; Josh Vides of CLSC and C.B.L., whose early days were with The Hundreds; Carlos Avalos, who previously held down the fort at the Hall of Fame store; and Young Corey of WeAboveAverage, who you may have seen working at Diamond Supply Co. In the comments below, let us know what other types of shoppers you have come across. 

“The security guard.”

“The shop homie that has never waited in line.”