How social media, fashion, and identity quietly shape our buying decisions There was a time when I could tell you the release date of every major sneaker drop. Not because I worked in fashion. Not because I needed shoes. But because I was convinced they mattered. At one point, I owned 73 pairs. Seventy-three. Looking back, it wasn't really about sneakers. The shoes were just the visible part of something deeper a desire to belong, to express myself, to signal success, and p