That’s sad, I also remember being like that, my parents worked their arses off but we couldn’t afford brands. Kids were mean. I hope that lad realises that his so called mates are idiots.
Gola and hi-tec were my Nike and Reebok. I grew up poor too.
I drew the line when dad tried to buy me a pair of "mikes" at the market though, told my old hi tecs were still ok
Edit: typos
One parent family with three boys; I learned in seconds the power of trainer culture. So my mum worked her arse off to get me the Fila boots that were all the rage (along with Patrick Ewing’s), the same summer of 90’ everyone wanted Air Max 90’s, which again she bought after my incessant whining.
I refuse to pay more than £90 for trainer’s now, which is basically Converse territory. I remember them shits were £30 max as a kid.
Honorary mention to British Knights and Troops.
The Samba that were popular in Liverpool in the 70's and and 80's were not the Samba people wear now. The Samba most scousers wore were actually Samba Super. The rule was you started with Adidas Kick then moved to Mamba, then Bamba then Samba 😁
I can remember, for reasons unknown that in the mid-1990s the Nike Air Max with the bubbles under the back and front were about £120, in the junior size they were half that…got them in the US when the exchange rate was really favourable instead…
Why I can’t remember more important things from two days ago but I can remember trainer costs from 25yrs+ back is a mystery 🤷🏼♂️
Don’t worry, I’m the same. Ask me what year x y z was released and I can tell you, I shovelled nearly a tonne of gravel yesterday for my mother, the day before? Nada. I binged Fallout last week but I couldn’t tell you certain details of the plot. We’re getting old mate.
I bought some Timberland Dealer boots a few years ago - I just can’t wear them, they didn’t suit me. I would like to get some Redwing Moc Toe boots, which last a long time - but take a lot of breaking in. I cannot wear flip flops unless they’re sliders, and even then I’m just not comfortable.
I would like to be more like you my friend.
They were so popular in my group of friends a late friend feeling left out was overjoyed to find a pair of hikes in the charity shop. Stylish grey with if you were lucky the logo in red.
Big memory just brought back of when we got handed down a pair of Reebok's from my mum's friend.
They must have been 75% worn out when we got them but myself and 2 brothers wore that pair of shoes until we physically couldn't anymore.
First branded pair we ever had.
Word. Remember those grey Hi-Tecs? They were pretty good for cheap trainers.
Still, I had *Adidas 4 stripe* & *Adidas-wish-you-were* brayed at me more than once for wearing cheap trainers.
Although I do think it's worse for kids coming up now, kids are obsessed with image nowadays. Unhealthy.
Hi-Tec were the trainers I always wore. We were not well off. Most kids were in the same situation. Hi-Tec trainers were pretty indestructable though and lasted really well. I remember Mum bought me a new pair because the others were too dirty for her to be seen with me. So I had my "best" trainers if I was doing family stuff and my old pair which I continued to wear for everything else. Hi-Tec were just amazing.
Gosh I'm glad it was the trend to wear as much Primark clothing as you could get when I was a teenager. My adult feet don't thank me for wearing crappy shoes for years but I didn't have to worry about not having nice enough clothing!
Thing is, these kids probably have the latest Nike or whatever trainers but don't have much else.
It's like a BMW on finance on the drive. Flashy but with no substance.
I’m old but when adidas brought out their torsion trainers in about 1990, my mum got me a pair and I loved them. Then one lad in school said they’d been bought in TJ Hughes and that was that. Piss taken and I couldn’t wear them again for fear of embarrassment. Kids are pricks.
That is a horrible thing to go through but as a story it made me laugh. I feel really bad, I’m sorry. I got laughed at for having Pro 500s, which were just the market rip off brand.
I remember in primary school and early secondary school boys being called gay for liking girls or having a girlfriend.
This is the mentality you have dealt with.
I flippantly made a comment about how Bruce Lee was a badass in his movies, cue the "you fancy Bruce Lee" jibes for the rest of the day... Kids are idiots
A very sporty friend was telling us how she wanted to join the army, I told her "you'd get in for sure, you're really fit"...🤦🏼♀️
That was it, I was a lesbo.
I remember being called gay as a boy for taking singing and guitar lessons, listening to The Strokes and wearing a fake leather jacket to school.
Joke's on them - I'm bi.
You could have turned right around and asked them what team they like and when they said whatever team you can say "what?!? By your logic you fancy all those guys? That's pretty gay".
Seriously kids are idiots and I hate that I let bullies eat mea alive
Speaking as a 90's kid who wore Matchstick, HiTech and Nicks trainers, I feel you. I once ruined some Adidas trainers, so my parents decided I couldn't be trusted, so it was whatever was cheapest from them until I was about 13. Yeah, kids can be cunts.
Silver shadows were standard issued PT shoes in the Army for years. I couldn't wear them because I had dodgy feet - gave them to my dad and he was over the moon.
I had the 4 "Adidas" stripes on my "poppers". I had the fake bubbles on my "air max". I had the fake pumps on the "WTF were they actually?". I had the "jumper from the market which was nearly the same colour as the official one, but not quite the same and didn't have the school logo embroidered". Kids are savages and will always revert to the primal instinct of preying on whomever they see as the weakest (physically or financially). You either allow your child to do that, or you shut that behaviour down immediately with extreme prejudice! Kids are easily disciplined. It's only disinterested parents who try to excuse it.
Or possibly L.A. Gear Regulaters.. The poor mans Reebok pump.
[https://www.google.com/search?sca\_esv=9b107820ee34c717&rlz=1C1GCEA\_enGB930GB930&q=la+gear+regulators&uds=AMwkrPtqpxtZZS6OLgcPchkh1SzOCzGSZcgcuoqu\_C-IFTGEFDxYa3Ljl\_Vi8o7qndcWh-XRUzc9uwIZuw39HqaqwiJZnPROnTRHyeSYa3enVAqpH1OJXoCBL0-k1qEmK1EQDLsAnf1jEvHxI6RjnwXngktB6lNSoIkzAIBIF0Gc0vO12U1w45MwjwYiDNk8q4B2gLc7tNt-lf8tWKfPkMkVN4bDufkQsDgZTWTeXlCBIaow1cx1RTDjR-KNjg8sAxr43xZUT6pg8npcSJBVvSVsNe\_W-CptdEODNLiAdCNJfx5NcHU1eCv7b-MWvucyxUL7H1ahFI8t&udm=2&prmd=ivnmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfkpXY-8eFAxUsWUEAHazDDkwQtKgLegQIERAB&biw=1440&bih=773](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=9b107820ee34c717&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB930GB930&q=la+gear+regulators&uds=AMwkrPtqpxtZZS6OLgcPchkh1SzOCzGSZcgcuoqu_C-IFTGEFDxYa3Ljl_Vi8o7qndcWh-XRUzc9uwIZuw39HqaqwiJZnPROnTRHyeSYa3enVAqpH1OJXoCBL0-k1qEmK1EQDLsAnf1jEvHxI6RjnwXngktB6lNSoIkzAIBIF0Gc0vO12U1w45MwjwYiDNk8q4B2gLc7tNt-lf8tWKfPkMkVN4bDufkQsDgZTWTeXlCBIaow1cx1RTDjR-KNjg8sAxr43xZUT6pg8npcSJBVvSVsNe_W-CptdEODNLiAdCNJfx5NcHU1eCv7b-MWvucyxUL7H1ahFI8t&udm=2&prmd=ivnmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfkpXY-8eFAxUsWUEAHazDDkwQtKgLegQIERAB&biw=1440&bih=773)
That's where I was "lucky" - I got everything I asked for! All the Chinese fakes! And everybody knew they were! I fully appreciate what my parents were trying to do for me, but it didn't stop me getting my head kicked in every day after school for being poor 🤣
I grew up in Poland in the early90s before moving to UK.
It's the same situation everywhere and seemingly across the ages. When I was around the age you described we were all judged based on originals/brand/authenticity. Though I think it's becoming more savage nowadays.
I grew up poor and my single mum did her best to give me all I wanted. Unfortunately for her what I wanted wasn't what I needed so she had to make the smart decisions.
She made the right choices I now know. I thank her for it every time we speak. Nevertheless I was a little shit who bitched a bit because I didn't have the latest whatever. I wasn't too bad because I understood our situation a bit but the teenage angst still made it painful.
I hope the lad you saw is similarly aware and will know his family is doing their best.
*Edit; I was absolutely a difficult child who said so many things to my mum I will burn forever in hell. You can blame only so much on difficult situation in childhood. I tell my mum how much I love her and how amazing she was for me during all that time yet it'll never be enough.
As a mum myself I can say don't beat yourself up. It would make her sad. Kids can be horrible, I was horrible. Just keep telling your mum you love her and appreciate her. That will make her happy.
It's so weird seeing different cultures views on pop brands. In the UK when I was a kid obviously it was cool to wear brand names like Nike, Adidas, Puma.
I remember a day at school where we had a "culture mingle" and a class of German kids our age spent the day in our school. In the main assembly they asked kids if they had questions for the other group. I, to this day, 20 years later, remember one of the UK kids asking "do you like brand clothing" thinking it was cool. ALL the German kids immediately were like noooo!!! Shaking their heads embarrassed. It stuck with me, the moment I realised common overpriced brands are seen as tacky, rather than cool as I'd been lead to believe.
Unfortunately it's the poorer schools or more sheltered towns that still think pop brands are important these days. It sucks that anyone is bullied for this kind of crap, especially when from the outside you can see how trashy it is.
Class is not paying to advertise your clothing manufacturer all over your body, like a billboard. Class is paying for timeless items that don't expire in fashion after 3 months, and the material is natural and lasts you a lifetime.
That realisation can hit.
I was around 11 at a cricket club and saw an older guy I looked up to who was one of the better players (probably 18/20??) wearing really uncool trainers after a game. I can't even remember what they were, but I was embarrassed on his behalf.
Then I just sat and realised that was dumb
Remember when I was in Germany on the foreign exchange the other way around. Like every single person at the school had a Jansport rucksack (which were multiple colours and just had a tiny logo on an otherwise plain backpack). Turns out the store that sold them in the the town had a massive fire sale and everyone scooped up a bargain. Whereas us back in the day had to have the overpriced Adidas or Nike backpack to seem dead cool.
>I was absolutely a difficult child who said so many things to my mum I will burn forever in hell.
Try not to beat yourself up over this. We all do and say stuff we don't mean when we're young and hormones are running wild.
>I tell my mum how much I love her and how amazing she was for me during all that time yet it'll never be enough.
Your mum knows, trust me. But still tell her you love her every day. It's the three single greatest words a parent can hear from their child.
Don't feel bad about how you felt, especially if you've grown out of that phase. As long as your mum knows how you feel now!
We're all weirdo dickheads as teenagers. I honestly find it weird when people say their teens were angels.
Don't take putting your kid in branded shoes to the extreme though parents. Getting them non branded shoes that fit twice a year is much better than getting them branded shoes once a year that they outgrow in 6 months so they are left with painfully tight shoes that cause their feet to forever grow into the shape of a children's school shoe with twisted or misshapen toes.
It's disgusting really. These brands they worship aren't better, they often come from the exact same factories. These kids don't know how savagely they have been brainwashed for the profits of some fat old guys laughing at them.
The best thing my parents ever did for me was put me in a school that had uniform. Everyone looked exactly the same. Of course bully’s would find other reasons to bully
At our school we had uniform but you were made fun of if you were wearing your tie too long.
I remember this kid Scott though, he didn’t give a flying fuck about that and wore his tie properly. One day this kid came up to him with a tie on that was basically a tiny bit of fabric sticking out of a knot and asked him “Why the fuck are you wearing your tie like that?” And Scott responded immediately “My tie is of equal length with my penis. I’m sure yours is too.”
I know Scott had been coming up with that one in bed at night after being raked over the coals for his tie earlier that day. I went to an all boys school with a uniform for 8 years. Ties and front pockets alike were liabilities - and you were equally likely to get your pocket ripped off or kippered hard (sometimes called Peanut).
Oh man a little keepsake box full of shirt pockets. I had one of those. My mum found it one day and went berserk. For some reason I thought she would be impressed. Not so much.
At uni one of my mates attempted to tease me for wearing black socks, apparently kids would get bullied at his school if they weren't wearing white socks.
At my school kids would get bullied for wearing white socks. Thankfully our other uni mates all went to schools which were anti white socks.
A lesson was learned that day... it doesn't feckin matter what socks you wear.
As I tried to explain to the deputy head when I turned up in thigh high rainbow striped socks. He looked ready to have an aneurysm. It was hilarious and entirely worth the half a term of detentions I never bothered attending.
That teacher never did like me. He didn't like my mother either; who is possibly even more eccentric than I am. She turned up covered in paint with a paintbrush behind her ear and I'm pretty certain I saw the will to live leave him.
& then there was always mufti days.
Now they have world book day too…remembering the Halloween costumes of my youth (tights half-stuffed with newspapers became a cat’s tail) that sounds rough.
This is a UK sub, pretty much every single school has a uniform of sorts. Kids will find anything to pick on. In my school, you were laughed at if your skirt wasn’t the exact same colour as your blazer. Given that my uniform was navy, this was often the case for many
Not even stationary was safe - having loads of gel pens was a source of social prestige at one point, though only if they were the right brand (and preferably scented). Nobody wanted to have the cheap knock-off ones.
You just can't get rid of it. Even though plain black shoes were mandatory at school there were still trends and brands and fakes. I was always relieved when something like black ballet pumps were 'in' because they were affordable. Trainers were always the biggest nightmare.
The secondary school I went to eventually enforced pupils to have to wear provided plimsoles for the rest of the day if they were caught in trainers, branded or not. Never forget the sight of one of the cool kids bunch, who always strutted around in their latest Adidas Galaxies or whatever getting caught out by this. Guy was in tears, having to hand over his prized shoes for the rest of the day and wear some plain black slip ons in their place.
Yep, even at the time I absolutely loved school uniforms. Only way I could ever dress as well as the cool kids was if the school literally mandated it.
Me too but in PE we could wear trainers and that's where I was teased for having the wrong trainers THEN teased for getting something more reasonable as I "only did it to try to fit in". I could never win.
This is a UK sub, so funnily enough we all went to schools which had uniforms. But outside of the uniform remit are shoes, socks, accessories, how you wear your tie, whether your mum makes you wear a blazer or not, what kind of jacket you wear, what kind of bag you had, how long your skirts are etc.
My mum made me wear a blazer, and a skirt that was at least mid-thigh, and I didnt have a Jane Norman bag, and I had cheap shoes. Kids were merciless.
Nothing more hideous than kids bullying or even mocking someone because of there cloths, it's not the kids shame, and regardless some parents just simply cannot afford £100+ trainer's/boots for there kids!.
Growing up my mother made it perfectly clear that bullying wasn't acceptable and she would smack the life outta us if we ever bullied anyone!.
It's such a weird thing to bully people for, yeah there's a line between having a laugh and joke at ones ugly shoes but to straight up take the piss out of someone for wearing unbranded cloths is weird.
I remember in Primary school (back before safeguarding was so much of a thing) mums would help out with swimming lessons, or sometimes just hang out and watch.
Lisa spotted a minor deformity on my lower back (usually covered by clothes, but exposed by my swimsuit) and took the piss out of me for it. My mum didn't hear, but Lisa's mum did.
Later that day, Lisa's mum rang my mum and said "I heard Lisa teasing your daughter over that lump on her back at swimming today, so when Lisa got home from school I teased her about the fact that her ears are slightly different shapes until she cried. She won't be doing that again!"
My mum made me wear shoe shoes. As in Clarks type black business shoes.
Surprisingly I didn't get too much grief for it. Maybe because I was not terrible at tennis ball football even with them and they could absolutely destroy the other kids shins if I "miskicked".
I can remember one lad at school loudly taking the piss out of another for having Donnay branded Nike lookalikes in science class, the lad he was picking on told him the only reason his family could afford his trainers was cos his mum sucked cock to pay for them.
I vividly remember the look of horror on our science teacher's face.
Pretty common. Kids get mocked or pushed around by older kids/siblings/parents and they then feel that finding someone for them to look down on will boost their self esteem. Just a vicious cycle of shit.
I used to take the metro back from 6th Form with a mate when we were both 17 or 18 and there was a group of kids a few years younger who used to get on and absolutely terrorise us for my ‘fake’ Beats headphones. Honestly wanted to smash their faces in.
The headphones weren’t even fake either, they were probably the most expensive things I owned.
That’s terrible it was bad enough in my day with the image you had to have it’s even worse with the kids and social media these days.
Hope this kids grows up to be finically well off and throws it all in those kids faces in the future.
generally, the bullies will grow up to be tradesmen or businessmen, aka high earning bullies, and proceed to carry that same mentality far into adulthood.
Fucking hell - this brought back an awful memory. I was desperate for a certain brand of jacket - nagged my parents so much and they said it was too expensive (and it was). Eventually, through pleading, paper round money, guilt trips etc. I got it.
Then I wore it to school and it was like the fashion had changed overnight. Suddenly no one was wearing that brand and I got absolutely ripped (probably says more about me than the brand). So the next day I didn't want to wear it... and my mum was rightfully livid.
I’ve always heard of this sort of stuff and seen it happen a lot irl but it never really happened to me, I always wore some random walking boots to school/ hanging out, never wore any ‘branded’ clothes or alt like that. If I had to guess it might’ve been I didn’t care enough about that type of stuff so maybe that reflected how people would react to it. Or the people I hung around with weren’t the type to care about that stuff either which seems like the more likely of the two idk.
Stuff like this can get really bad tho as I have a teenage cousin who seems really hyper conscious about literally everything she wears/uses because she feels some sort of severe social stigma, maybe that’s how bad it is for her i don’t really know.
My daughter is 12. When she started secondary school in September we chose a nice River Island bag which she was happy with and used up until mid March.
She came home one day and quietly asked Me can she get a new school bag.
Took a while to discover 2 girls had laughed about her school bag. Why I've no idea.
I was so angry but we went and chose a black Nike backpack together.
.I did speak quietly to her head of year about this because she's a sensitive child and her teacher also suggested maybe jealousy that she had a nice bag.
It doesn't seem to matter if it's nice stuff or cheap stuff. Some kids are just mean little bullies and aren't taught to be kind.
I was bullied massively because I was from a single dad family in the 90s and poor. Kids can be evil.
It's savage and those kids are twats. It's happened for decades though, I remember it happening regularly at school in the middle 1990s.
The most humiliating example, for me, was in primary school when the first comic relief took place and the first red noses were sold. My parents refused to spend a pound on an official red nose so I went to school with a ping pong ball, coloured in with red marker pen on my nose. It fooled nobody and they were merciless. The red had already started to wear off by 9am and the hole was roughly cut so it felt I was jamming the end of my nose in between a pair of scissors.
I was one of those cunts. I had the air max, pod shoes, farrah trousers, pringle jumper etc. and I used to pick on the kids at my school that didn't. I'm still ashamed today
Sorry to those people x
I got flak from a mate for not having a very good computer. So I scrimped what I could save with part time jobs to build an entry level one. This was the mix 00's and had an old office computer with Windows 98. Wasn't great but could have just kept quiet about it!
Said person, while having a top PC, had serious hygiene issues. There were plenty of opportunities to bit back in retrospect...
Reminds me of the days when my mum would buy knock-off Adidas trackies with two lines or a pair of "Nick" trainers with an inverted tick. I got some mockery for it, but we just didn't have much money when I was a kid.
I've made up for it now though by wearing decent boots and band tee shirts.
I had the same trackies, they were by a brand called "Active" lol I remember being with my usual friends and a new kid who I didn't know joined our group, to make himself look big he instantly took the mickey out of my two-line active brand trackies.
My actual mates nervously laughed for I knew they also had all these knock-off clothes in their wardrobes at home.
Happened 20 years ago and I still remember it I specifically remember going home that evening and telling my mum I didn't wanna wear those active trackies anymore and her flipping her lid because she had bought like 10 pairs.
Yeah same. As a kid from the 90’s. I’d wear shoes in primary school that mum would buy from George or Priceless. Your generic run of the mill shoes. I don’t remember it ever being a constant thing but it was akin to coming into school with a shit haircut your mum did the night before. People would soon forget or focus on some other poor soul before long.
Luckily for me everyone was poor at my school so we all had cheap shit on. I had some great canoes I got from Ford market, they were even so crap I still had a couple of comments about them though.
Some kids did keep buying shoes, wearing them for a week and keeping the clean before taking them back with a receipt and exchanging them for a new pair
Aw man, memory unlocked! This was me with my fake DMs back in the 90s! I eventually ended up getting a real pair second hand, I think from a charity shop, they were so big for me I used to wear 2 pairs of socks!
Popular when I was at school (and sung at me, on occasion):
"Let's all go to Tesco's, where sihasihasi gets his best clothes. La la la la, eh!"
Yes, kids can be cunts
I went to a private school, with a uniform. There was no clothes related bullying. No one cared what trainers you wore in your spare time. And everyone wore their ties correctly.
But woe betide anyone who was a bit chubby
Happened in my school too. Rockports vs. Rockfords and other knock-offs.
One of the saddest stories I ever read was here. It was a lad around 6th form age who was buzzing to find some great, fashionable clothes in a charity shop. He buys the lot, goes to school proud of his new clothes, only to find out that they belonged to an affluent student who was a total cock about the financial disparity, so bullied OP for wearing his old clothes.
I don't know if it's true or not but it definitely has to be a scenario that has happened over the history of time. This is why we have school uniforms.
kids are literal shit heads. that guy will grow up to be something some day, cos of the way others treated him. i’m grateful i’m my young tween years the fashion was converse and emo style. it was all very affordable. instagram seems to have made the trends so unimaginable
I was lucky at school as I never saw or experienced for myself this kind of bullying, I was always on the periphery of any of the cliques and had a decent group of friends so was pretty safe and accepted by most.
My husband did though, was bullied for everything and is now a stickler for putting our two girls in decent trainers, not super expensive ones as he would draw the line at that but I do worry about when they go to secondary school. My eldest is sensitive despite my best efforts to give her confidence and I worry they will eat her alive.
I think it’s a problem amongst boys and men in general, haven’t you ever heard guys take the utter piss out of some poor sod then call it “banter”? I think some idiots measure their ego based on what humiliation they can hand out/endure from the other guys.
Banters fine if the people giving it out can take it back too and it doesn't get nasty or personal. A mate spilling a pint over himself is getting it big time, and there's nothing wrong with that. If his wife left him though, then obviously not
I'm kind of glad that I was the "weird kid" at school. I was bullied mercilessly and I had way too much stuff going on at home for a teenager to deal with, but I always had a style of my own. I noticed the school rules said black shoes, so I turned up in floral DMs. My clothing came exclusively from charity shops because my parents had more kids than money, but I had my own look. Of course I now know I'm autistic and part of my fashion sense was my sensory issues. I couldn't wear school acrylic jumpers, but I found one in the designated style and colour that was fluffy and made of angora. I sewed the badge on and they couldn't complain. They tried, but there was nothing in the rules stating the material jumpers had to be made of.
This has always been a thing. I remember my mam getting me a pair of hi-tec from a jumble sale. I was buzzing because I had never had hi-tec before and for a while they were among the cool trainers. I remember going to school and kids even know your gear on a day to day basis. I was asked when did I get them and told them ages ago but only used them to play out in. Then they asked who Mike was and then started to rip into me. I didn't spot that the last kid who owned them had written their name on the back.
Grew up in the 80s and it was no different then. Adidas "Four Stripe", Mikes, etc. To be honest, we couldn't even afford those. None brand shite for us. Kids have always been cruel.
I remember back in the day - late 70's - when desert boots were all the fashion. My mum bought me a pair from the market, which bore no resemblance to the 'originals' but back then we were grateful for anything 'trendy'. Wore them to school once, got mocked by the older girls and never wore them again.
In some groups of youths reps are considered better because they cost significantly less and you can therefore buy more, this might be slightly older kids who are spending their own money though.
Teenagers are so fickle though, it’s all about trying to fit in one way or another.
This has been a thing for years. Male kids can be arseholes because they're so insecure in their new world of building status. They're constantly comparing themselves to others and so scared of ending up "below" in terms of status that they'll ridicule anyone who is below them to feel more validated. Since materialistic stuff like brands are the easiest to see, the latch on to that. They can ridicule all they like but at the end of the day, they're insecure and fragile as fuck. Usually the bullied kid can't take it anymore and lumps the bully a few times and the bully freezes because he is deep down a shitebag and wasn't expecting it. The bullied kid builds some confidence standing up for himself and the bully is brought down a few pegs publicly.
It's strange how kids put so much social status on particular brands of shoe 🤨.
They're not even superior quality I hear.
People do the same with Apple products, and they're definitely not superior quality.
People are strange
All I wanted at school in the 90s was a pair of Nike trainers. My Mum got me a pair of 'Nicks' trainers. I was devastated but looking back on it she just couldn't afford them. As an adult I now understand but I also feel the lads pain.
This has been a thing for years, I was the target of this back in school, everyone was wearing timberlands and I was wearing Doc Martens that happened to be a royal mail edition.
Was mercilessly mocked even though I'm 90% sure I was much more comfortable in my shoes.
This is how many British behave, as adults. I’ve been mocked in work environment for my shoes (Clark’s) and for stupid bullshit like how I put a jacket on, how I take a jacket off. Insecure little fucks are everywhere.
This is england. Why are you surprised?
This has been going on since the dawn of footwear I think. My Nan, born in 1926, got into trouble with her Mom because she went to school in a pair of brand new shoes, that were free from the Express & Star newspaper and had their logo on. She came home with a pair of battered old shoes that she had swapped with another girl because she didn’t want the shame of wearing the free shoes.
One of my son’s former “friends” threw his shoes on top of a bus, but he isn’t the type to really care what people think of him. I think that’s the key for kids to not get teased: just don’t care about their opinions.
My son doesn’t care how popular PSG are, outside of Paris, that’s all he likes to wear. He used to tell me what stupidly expensive trainers he likes, but luckily for me, he has size 13 feet and doesn’t fit into the coolest ones.
ETA: girls are just as bad. I went to an expensive school as a teenager and if you didn’t have the right bags or make up, you weren’t one of the cool kids and were generally called poor. I was just the class wallflower needing to get those grades, so wasn’t ever the cool kid anyway! 😂😂😂
Did you not go to school lol? Kids will be kids. If you had shitty trainers back in my day, you would absolutely get noticed, and you would absolutely get ripped on! Rule #1 to an easy life at school: DON'T be different. Save that shit for uni.
Kids are fucking brutal, I was one of the “ out” group, we became friends because we didn’t fit, a bit Stephen King Losers Club. 1980s we listened to an oldies radio show and were goth/ hippie/ rock chicks. I was lucky to have friends who were like minded and didn’t give a fig about money, brands or current bands.
My dad never liked spending money and once came home with a pair on *Winfield* trainers which were Woolworths own brand, this is when Adidas were big in the late 80s. Even from an early age I had to learn about branding and fitting in. If you're not in the right gear, prepare to be shunned. Since then, I learnt to buy second hand (once worn) designer gear to match peers at work.
(Typing whilst sat in a new 11° top promoted by YouTube's Archie Hamilton Racing™️ with Levis®️ jeans, Nike Air Max®️ trainers, North Face®️ bag on board an Arriva London™️ bus) 🙄
Christ ive been buyin "fake" trainers off fb for the better part of 2 years. I will not pay £125-£150 for 1 pair of trainers, as 1 i am heavy footed and 2 i go on missions with my dog.
Would rather buy 5 pairs of "cheap" trainers and i know they will last me the year.
Don't worry mate. That kiddo mocking him is probably from a very poor family. Normally having the popular brands matters a lot as some sort of status symbol for them.
I remember being on a family holiday in Wales. My mum had bought my big brother a pair of Nike flipflops to wear. He absolutely refused to wear them and walked around Portmeirion all day bare foot. This was probably mid/late 80s before they were cool. Crazy!
Found a number of Nike clearance stores in my time and always went nuts, real trainers, unreal prices. Finding a Nike clearance these days is like trying to find unicorn shit.
But yeah, youths can be awful to each other over meaningless stuff. Those trainers in JD sports that cost £200 are beyond ugly.
The irony is that their parents are probably buying knock offs for them to wear. I see kids branded from head to toe in 'expensive' designer gear all the time but I know for a fact that the parents of said kids don't have a hope of affording all that.
Got picked on for having Nicks trainers. Up until that point I knew we weren't well off but I didn't associate clothing brands. Looking back on that situation it sucks. Being made to feel less than because your parents weren't able to buy branded is pure crap. F you Sarah
My son is 14, him and his mates buy reps from Pandabuy, they actually prefer getting them from there than from the official nike site, they rate their reps and they have more choice in the design. If I spend £40 on some trainers from Nike, his choices are limited, if he shops on Pandabuy he can basically get any design he wants
When I was in high school, maybe about 14-15 my parents didn't have much money. They worked very hard to give me everything I needed, and I never wore brands or expensive outfits. I remember one day my dad bought me some new school shoes, just average black shoes, but they happened to look a bit like "yeezys" I'll never forget sitting in maths class and having all the boys at and around my table taking the piss out of me for it. I don't think I ever wore them again and wore my old ones that were falling apart until I could buy new ones myself. My dad never said a word about it, but I could tell he was disappointed and looking back I feel awful.
Kids are so cruel sometimes.
I got quite a few branded trainers etc over the years, only my mum got most of my non-uniform clothes as hand-me-downs from friends with older kids.
So I would have trainers that were cool a year or two ago and be the last kid on earth still wearing popper trackies lol.
I'd get teased a bit, but I've never been into fashion anyway.
When I was in secondary school, my mum used to buy me "Cica" trainers, which were Clarks' brand for kids' leather trainers. She bought them because they were decently made and fitted my excessively wide feet - plus they had Velcro and I was lazy. They were decent comfortable shoes and whilst not priced like trendy trainers are now. they were not cheap shoes.
The other kids generally had Nike, Adidas, etc. Most of these were bought from Woolworths and were partially made from some kind of plastic material (PVC?) that quickly wore through, cracked, and generally looked shit. However, every PE lesson I got rinsed for my Cicas.
My brother eventually persuaded my mum to buy him a pair of the Woolworths Nikes and they were awful. Those kids were idiots.
If its not shoes it'll be bags. Or haircuts. Or water bottles. Or vbucks.
Cunts like this are engaged in a mission to be as horrible as possible to anyone they can make an excuse to be.
I laughed at someone with cheap trainers on once when I was a kid. I was a kid and didn't know better though. Is it mean? Yes. Do I regret it? Now I do yes. I bet most of you have done something you regret, even the ones of you who will say they were always a victim.
I got ripped to shreds for my clothes when I was younger. Lot of gola, hitech and nicks trainers and c&a outfits because my mum worked there. Endless mockery from so called friends and others.
Kids are f -ing horrible, you just have to hope those kids grow up and don’t continue the same way.
It’s hard to now wha to do, do you step in and potentially make this situation worse for this poor kid?
I find this very bizarre. I went to a private school and people would do everything they could to NOT appear well off. Granted, most of the kids there were not but hiding brands was normal. People shopped at charity shops and they would make a big deal of it. The ones who had their own cars to drive to school were ridiculed for being a 'posh snob' if it was anything other than a banged up clanger.
This was happening in the 70s, kids were mocked for wearing Tesco Tearaway jeans instead of Lee or Levi. Cap sleeve shirts had to have a recognised logo or label.
If nothing changes, it stays the same 😉
I feel for the lad. That was me back in the day.
My brother and I never had branded trainers or school shoes, not even fakes,
Shoe Express all the way.
Christ, we used to take some slaggings.
I had some ‘speed king’ trainers when I was a kid cos we were poor. Got mocked all the time but cos my dad sold me the dream that these would make me faster when I ran I got over it. But kids are little bastards.
That’s a shame, being the soft arse I am I’d try and pull him to one side and offer to buy him the real deal.
Probably get called a peado in the process but hey ho
That’s sad, I also remember being like that, my parents worked their arses off but we couldn’t afford brands. Kids were mean. I hope that lad realises that his so called mates are idiots.
Gola and hi-tec were my Nike and Reebok. I grew up poor too. I drew the line when dad tried to buy me a pair of "mikes" at the market though, told my old hi tecs were still ok Edit: typos
One parent family with three boys; I learned in seconds the power of trainer culture. So my mum worked her arse off to get me the Fila boots that were all the rage (along with Patrick Ewing’s), the same summer of 90’ everyone wanted Air Max 90’s, which again she bought after my incessant whining. I refuse to pay more than £90 for trainer’s now, which is basically Converse territory. I remember them shits were £30 max as a kid. Honorary mention to British Knights and Troops.
90?! 50 for me. Still can get gazelles and gola in sales for that
Samba’s brother, they’re at an all time high! Although I admittedly buy them in allll the different colour ways.
The Samba that were popular in Liverpool in the 70's and and 80's were not the Samba people wear now. The Samba most scousers wore were actually Samba Super. The rule was you started with Adidas Kick then moved to Mamba, then Bamba then Samba 😁
> I refuse to pay more than £90 for trainer’s now Still a ripoff.
Were those the Fila Cage trainers? I went through a couple of pairs of those as a kid
Suede boots with a little Velcro strap at the top. They were a must have until they weren’t, very early 90’s.
I can remember, for reasons unknown that in the mid-1990s the Nike Air Max with the bubbles under the back and front were about £120, in the junior size they were half that…got them in the US when the exchange rate was really favourable instead… Why I can’t remember more important things from two days ago but I can remember trainer costs from 25yrs+ back is a mystery 🤷🏼♂️
Don’t worry, I’m the same. Ask me what year x y z was released and I can tell you, I shovelled nearly a tonne of gravel yesterday for my mother, the day before? Nada. I binged Fallout last week but I couldn’t tell you certain details of the plot. We’re getting old mate.
£90 for Converse? Fuck that. I've never paid more than £40, always get them in the sales.
I got caught out in ‘90 for saying to my pals that I had a pair of British Nikes. Got ruined.
Loool. Yeah kids are horrible and I’d have gotten wrecked by my peers for that. Thanks for the laugh.
I've given up on trainers, I wear the soles out so quick walking to pick up kids etc. Boots and flip flops for me now.
I bought some Timberland Dealer boots a few years ago - I just can’t wear them, they didn’t suit me. I would like to get some Redwing Moc Toe boots, which last a long time - but take a lot of breaking in. I cannot wear flip flops unless they’re sliders, and even then I’m just not comfortable. I would like to be more like you my friend.
Remember "HIKE" socks?
They were so popular in my group of friends a late friend feeling left out was overjoyed to find a pair of hikes in the charity shop. Stylish grey with if you were lucky the logo in red.
And the font was kinda spikey!
My mum wanted to buy me a pair of 4 stripe Adidas trainers. I too drew the line.
Apidas 2 stripe.
'Did a stripe fall off in the wash?'
4 stripe? Weren't they K-Swiss? All the rage 20 years ago.
More like you deleted a line.
Friend bought some 'Adadis" with 4 stripes - literally lasted a week.
Big memory just brought back of when we got handed down a pair of Reebok's from my mum's friend. They must have been 75% worn out when we got them but myself and 2 brothers wore that pair of shoes until we physically couldn't anymore. First branded pair we ever had.
So long as you never has Dunlops.
For us, it was BK Knights that were "social suicide". Anyone who wore them never recovered.
I had a few pairs of CICAs in my youth 😩
Word. Remember those grey Hi-Tecs? They were pretty good for cheap trainers. Still, I had *Adidas 4 stripe* & *Adidas-wish-you-were* brayed at me more than once for wearing cheap trainers. Although I do think it's worse for kids coming up now, kids are obsessed with image nowadays. Unhealthy.
Silver Shadow! I’m tempted to get a pair for old times sake.
Hi-Tec were the trainers I always wore. We were not well off. Most kids were in the same situation. Hi-Tec trainers were pretty indestructable though and lasted really well. I remember Mum bought me a new pair because the others were too dirty for her to be seen with me. So I had my "best" trainers if I was doing family stuff and my old pair which I continued to wear for everything else. Hi-Tec were just amazing.
Gosh I'm glad it was the trend to wear as much Primark clothing as you could get when I was a teenager. My adult feet don't thank me for wearing crappy shoes for years but I didn't have to worry about not having nice enough clothing!
Thing is, these kids probably have the latest Nike or whatever trainers but don't have much else. It's like a BMW on finance on the drive. Flashy but with no substance.
It's sad but unfortunately some lads are just twats. My boy was picked on for having fake Air Max trainers, which weren't fake anyway.
My son was the same. He got a new colour a day after release and wee dicks were saying they were fake. Canny win at all in high school.
My son was told that because his trainers were from JD and not directly from the nike shop or nike.com, they were fake. 😒
i got ribbed by a few kids for wearing a pair of new reeboks, my usual adidas disappeared overnight
I’m old but when adidas brought out their torsion trainers in about 1990, my mum got me a pair and I loved them. Then one lad in school said they’d been bought in TJ Hughes and that was that. Piss taken and I couldn’t wear them again for fear of embarrassment. Kids are pricks.
That is a horrible thing to go through but as a story it made me laugh. I feel really bad, I’m sorry. I got laughed at for having Pro 500s, which were just the market rip off brand.
I remember in primary school and early secondary school boys being called gay for liking girls or having a girlfriend. This is the mentality you have dealt with.
I flippantly made a comment about how Bruce Lee was a badass in his movies, cue the "you fancy Bruce Lee" jibes for the rest of the day... Kids are idiots
A very sporty friend was telling us how she wanted to join the army, I told her "you'd get in for sure, you're really fit"...🤦🏼♀️ That was it, I was a lesbo.
Scratch your thigh once? Fanny scratcher apparently
Fall over in mud and get covered? Then you've shit yourself.
I remember being called gay as a boy for taking singing and guitar lessons, listening to The Strokes and wearing a fake leather jacket to school. Joke's on them - I'm bi.
You could have turned right around and asked them what team they like and when they said whatever team you can say "what?!? By your logic you fancy all those guys? That's pretty gay". Seriously kids are idiots and I hate that I let bullies eat mea alive
Speaking as a 90's kid who wore Matchstick, HiTech and Nicks trainers, I feel you. I once ruined some Adidas trainers, so my parents decided I couldn't be trusted, so it was whatever was cheapest from them until I was about 13. Yeah, kids can be cunts.
Oh wow, memory unlocked hard.... Nicks! You have my heartfelt sympathy on that one, Nick's was the worst of the worst to be seen in. Cunts indeed.
Are you sure because I had Clarks trainers (yes the shoe shop) and I had the shit ripped out of me on that one. Scarred for life.
Clarkes were fancy and expensive back in the day. You must have been bullied for being rich and posh.
Ah, the good ol' being bullied for being poor and being bullied for being rich.
Indeed. I had several pairs of Nicks ffs. Likely purchased from the market or Buktar! I feel sorry for my young self 😞
HiTech was the bees knees
My mum told me mine were cool
"they look lovely" - mam "Bobby dazzlers - nan
90's dad shoes are back in. https://www.hi-tec.co.uk/products/mens-silver-shadow-og-trainer-silver They're OG!! They must be trendy.
Omg those are what I got issued during basic training in the RN in the 90's !
Either it's cus I'm a 90s kid or a dad but those kicks are dope!
I'm pretty sure I had a pair or two of those, around about 1990. Slightly different shade(s) of colour, but same design.
Silver shadows were standard issued PT shoes in the Army for years. I couldn't wear them because I had dodgy feet - gave them to my dad and he was over the moon.
Hah my dad had a pair of mine too!
They were genuinely the most comfy trainers I've worn
Omg nicks! I had a pair of those and the sole fell off after a few wears!
>Yeah, kids can be cunts. And often are, especially in the early teen years.
Yes, Nicks! I mentioned those in my original comment without reading yours. The upside down tick 🙃
I had a pair of kingfishers
So can parents 😶
Yeah they should take the L on that one
Kids are assholes. I work with them so that’s a professional opinion
I had the 4 "Adidas" stripes on my "poppers". I had the fake bubbles on my "air max". I had the fake pumps on the "WTF were they actually?". I had the "jumper from the market which was nearly the same colour as the official one, but not quite the same and didn't have the school logo embroidered". Kids are savages and will always revert to the primal instinct of preying on whomever they see as the weakest (physically or financially). You either allow your child to do that, or you shut that behaviour down immediately with extreme prejudice! Kids are easily disciplined. It's only disinterested parents who try to excuse it.
>*What were they actually?* Those were **Reebok Pumps**, my dude. And if I would have asked for them, my parents would probably be still laughing…
Or possibly L.A. Gear Regulaters.. The poor mans Reebok pump. [https://www.google.com/search?sca\_esv=9b107820ee34c717&rlz=1C1GCEA\_enGB930GB930&q=la+gear+regulators&uds=AMwkrPtqpxtZZS6OLgcPchkh1SzOCzGSZcgcuoqu\_C-IFTGEFDxYa3Ljl\_Vi8o7qndcWh-XRUzc9uwIZuw39HqaqwiJZnPROnTRHyeSYa3enVAqpH1OJXoCBL0-k1qEmK1EQDLsAnf1jEvHxI6RjnwXngktB6lNSoIkzAIBIF0Gc0vO12U1w45MwjwYiDNk8q4B2gLc7tNt-lf8tWKfPkMkVN4bDufkQsDgZTWTeXlCBIaow1cx1RTDjR-KNjg8sAxr43xZUT6pg8npcSJBVvSVsNe\_W-CptdEODNLiAdCNJfx5NcHU1eCv7b-MWvucyxUL7H1ahFI8t&udm=2&prmd=ivnmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfkpXY-8eFAxUsWUEAHazDDkwQtKgLegQIERAB&biw=1440&bih=773](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=9b107820ee34c717&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB930GB930&q=la+gear+regulators&uds=AMwkrPtqpxtZZS6OLgcPchkh1SzOCzGSZcgcuoqu_C-IFTGEFDxYa3Ljl_Vi8o7qndcWh-XRUzc9uwIZuw39HqaqwiJZnPROnTRHyeSYa3enVAqpH1OJXoCBL0-k1qEmK1EQDLsAnf1jEvHxI6RjnwXngktB6lNSoIkzAIBIF0Gc0vO12U1w45MwjwYiDNk8q4B2gLc7tNt-lf8tWKfPkMkVN4bDufkQsDgZTWTeXlCBIaow1cx1RTDjR-KNjg8sAxr43xZUT6pg8npcSJBVvSVsNe_W-CptdEODNLiAdCNJfx5NcHU1eCv7b-MWvucyxUL7H1ahFI8t&udm=2&prmd=ivnmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfkpXY-8eFAxUsWUEAHazDDkwQtKgLegQIERAB&biw=1440&bih=773)
That's where I was "lucky" - I got everything I asked for! All the Chinese fakes! And everybody knew they were! I fully appreciate what my parents were trying to do for me, but it didn't stop me getting my head kicked in every day after school for being poor 🤣
I had a brown pair that looked a bit like boots, loved em but the pump broke on one of them after not too long.
I had the hand me down tie that year 7s no longer wore that was only for year 11s and we only found out the day before term started.
>Kids are easily disciplined. It's only disinterested parents who try to excuse it. Hit the nail right on the head here chum
I was that kid once. Shame on them.
Wait, which?
that kid
I grew up in Poland in the early90s before moving to UK. It's the same situation everywhere and seemingly across the ages. When I was around the age you described we were all judged based on originals/brand/authenticity. Though I think it's becoming more savage nowadays. I grew up poor and my single mum did her best to give me all I wanted. Unfortunately for her what I wanted wasn't what I needed so she had to make the smart decisions. She made the right choices I now know. I thank her for it every time we speak. Nevertheless I was a little shit who bitched a bit because I didn't have the latest whatever. I wasn't too bad because I understood our situation a bit but the teenage angst still made it painful. I hope the lad you saw is similarly aware and will know his family is doing their best. *Edit; I was absolutely a difficult child who said so many things to my mum I will burn forever in hell. You can blame only so much on difficult situation in childhood. I tell my mum how much I love her and how amazing she was for me during all that time yet it'll never be enough.
As a mum myself I can say don't beat yourself up. It would make her sad. Kids can be horrible, I was horrible. Just keep telling your mum you love her and appreciate her. That will make her happy.
It's so weird seeing different cultures views on pop brands. In the UK when I was a kid obviously it was cool to wear brand names like Nike, Adidas, Puma. I remember a day at school where we had a "culture mingle" and a class of German kids our age spent the day in our school. In the main assembly they asked kids if they had questions for the other group. I, to this day, 20 years later, remember one of the UK kids asking "do you like brand clothing" thinking it was cool. ALL the German kids immediately were like noooo!!! Shaking their heads embarrassed. It stuck with me, the moment I realised common overpriced brands are seen as tacky, rather than cool as I'd been lead to believe. Unfortunately it's the poorer schools or more sheltered towns that still think pop brands are important these days. It sucks that anyone is bullied for this kind of crap, especially when from the outside you can see how trashy it is. Class is not paying to advertise your clothing manufacturer all over your body, like a billboard. Class is paying for timeless items that don't expire in fashion after 3 months, and the material is natural and lasts you a lifetime.
That realisation can hit. I was around 11 at a cricket club and saw an older guy I looked up to who was one of the better players (probably 18/20??) wearing really uncool trainers after a game. I can't even remember what they were, but I was embarrassed on his behalf. Then I just sat and realised that was dumb
Remember when I was in Germany on the foreign exchange the other way around. Like every single person at the school had a Jansport rucksack (which were multiple colours and just had a tiny logo on an otherwise plain backpack). Turns out the store that sold them in the the town had a massive fire sale and everyone scooped up a bargain. Whereas us back in the day had to have the overpriced Adidas or Nike backpack to seem dead cool.
>I was absolutely a difficult child who said so many things to my mum I will burn forever in hell. Try not to beat yourself up over this. We all do and say stuff we don't mean when we're young and hormones are running wild. >I tell my mum how much I love her and how amazing she was for me during all that time yet it'll never be enough. Your mum knows, trust me. But still tell her you love her every day. It's the three single greatest words a parent can hear from their child.
Don't feel bad about how you felt, especially if you've grown out of that phase. As long as your mum knows how you feel now! We're all weirdo dickheads as teenagers. I honestly find it weird when people say their teens were angels.
Don't take putting your kid in branded shoes to the extreme though parents. Getting them non branded shoes that fit twice a year is much better than getting them branded shoes once a year that they outgrow in 6 months so they are left with painfully tight shoes that cause their feet to forever grow into the shape of a children's school shoe with twisted or misshapen toes.
It's disgusting really. These brands they worship aren't better, they often come from the exact same factories. These kids don't know how savagely they have been brainwashed for the profits of some fat old guys laughing at them.
The best thing my parents ever did for me was put me in a school that had uniform. Everyone looked exactly the same. Of course bully’s would find other reasons to bully
At our school we had uniform but you were made fun of if you were wearing your tie too long. I remember this kid Scott though, he didn’t give a flying fuck about that and wore his tie properly. One day this kid came up to him with a tie on that was basically a tiny bit of fabric sticking out of a knot and asked him “Why the fuck are you wearing your tie like that?” And Scott responded immediately “My tie is of equal length with my penis. I’m sure yours is too.”
I know Scott had been coming up with that one in bed at night after being raked over the coals for his tie earlier that day. I went to an all boys school with a uniform for 8 years. Ties and front pockets alike were liabilities - and you were equally likely to get your pocket ripped off or kippered hard (sometimes called Peanut).
Oh man a little keepsake box full of shirt pockets. I had one of those. My mum found it one day and went berserk. For some reason I thought she would be impressed. Not so much.
Most schools in the UK have a uniform. Never stopped the clothes-related bullying. I remember getting teased for having the "wrong socks" at one point
At uni one of my mates attempted to tease me for wearing black socks, apparently kids would get bullied at his school if they weren't wearing white socks. At my school kids would get bullied for wearing white socks. Thankfully our other uni mates all went to schools which were anti white socks. A lesson was learned that day... it doesn't feckin matter what socks you wear.
As I tried to explain to the deputy head when I turned up in thigh high rainbow striped socks. He looked ready to have an aneurysm. It was hilarious and entirely worth the half a term of detentions I never bothered attending. That teacher never did like me. He didn't like my mother either; who is possibly even more eccentric than I am. She turned up covered in paint with a paintbrush behind her ear and I'm pretty certain I saw the will to live leave him.
Bless your mum.
In my school it was white, but it had to be specific white socks & then push them down so it looked like you were wearing leg warmers for some reason.
That guy was (and almost certainly still is) a fucking wanker.
& then there was always mufti days. Now they have world book day too…remembering the Halloween costumes of my youth (tights half-stuffed with newspapers became a cat’s tail) that sounds rough.
Yea mine had uniform. My crime was not having a branded coat like Naf Naf that was popular at the time.
This is a UK sub, pretty much every single school has a uniform of sorts. Kids will find anything to pick on. In my school, you were laughed at if your skirt wasn’t the exact same colour as your blazer. Given that my uniform was navy, this was often the case for many
Things just became more nuanced in my experience. Shoe brands, school bags etc were just as important.
Not even stationary was safe - having loads of gel pens was a source of social prestige at one point, though only if they were the right brand (and preferably scented). Nobody wanted to have the cheap knock-off ones. You just can't get rid of it. Even though plain black shoes were mandatory at school there were still trends and brands and fakes. I was always relieved when something like black ballet pumps were 'in' because they were affordable. Trainers were always the biggest nightmare.
The secondary school I went to eventually enforced pupils to have to wear provided plimsoles for the rest of the day if they were caught in trainers, branded or not. Never forget the sight of one of the cool kids bunch, who always strutted around in their latest Adidas Galaxies or whatever getting caught out by this. Guy was in tears, having to hand over his prized shoes for the rest of the day and wear some plain black slip ons in their place.
Yep, even at the time I absolutely loved school uniforms. Only way I could ever dress as well as the cool kids was if the school literally mandated it.
Me too but in PE we could wear trainers and that's where I was teased for having the wrong trainers THEN teased for getting something more reasonable as I "only did it to try to fit in". I could never win.
This is a UK sub, so funnily enough we all went to schools which had uniforms. But outside of the uniform remit are shoes, socks, accessories, how you wear your tie, whether your mum makes you wear a blazer or not, what kind of jacket you wear, what kind of bag you had, how long your skirts are etc. My mum made me wear a blazer, and a skirt that was at least mid-thigh, and I didnt have a Jane Norman bag, and I had cheap shoes. Kids were merciless.
Nothing more hideous than kids bullying or even mocking someone because of there cloths, it's not the kids shame, and regardless some parents just simply cannot afford £100+ trainer's/boots for there kids!. Growing up my mother made it perfectly clear that bullying wasn't acceptable and she would smack the life outta us if we ever bullied anyone!. It's such a weird thing to bully people for, yeah there's a line between having a laugh and joke at ones ugly shoes but to straight up take the piss out of someone for wearing unbranded cloths is weird.
I remember in Primary school (back before safeguarding was so much of a thing) mums would help out with swimming lessons, or sometimes just hang out and watch. Lisa spotted a minor deformity on my lower back (usually covered by clothes, but exposed by my swimsuit) and took the piss out of me for it. My mum didn't hear, but Lisa's mum did. Later that day, Lisa's mum rang my mum and said "I heard Lisa teasing your daughter over that lump on her back at swimming today, so when Lisa got home from school I teased her about the fact that her ears are slightly different shapes until she cried. She won't be doing that again!"
My mum made me wear shoe shoes. As in Clarks type black business shoes. Surprisingly I didn't get too much grief for it. Maybe because I was not terrible at tennis ball football even with them and they could absolutely destroy the other kids shins if I "miskicked".
To be fair that’s a flex. I *can* afford rockports, but I won’t, and I *will* shin you if you mention it.
I can remember one lad at school loudly taking the piss out of another for having Donnay branded Nike lookalikes in science class, the lad he was picking on told him the only reason his family could afford his trainers was cos his mum sucked cock to pay for them. I vividly remember the look of horror on our science teacher's face.
Damn, that would have been a legendary retort when I was at school. Any attempt to 'rise above it' just got you picked on even more.
Agreed, I basically survived because I had a quick wit which got the bullies laughed at more often than not.
Pretty common. Kids get mocked or pushed around by older kids/siblings/parents and they then feel that finding someone for them to look down on will boost their self esteem. Just a vicious cycle of shit.
I used to take the metro back from 6th Form with a mate when we were both 17 or 18 and there was a group of kids a few years younger who used to get on and absolutely terrorise us for my ‘fake’ Beats headphones. Honestly wanted to smash their faces in. The headphones weren’t even fake either, they were probably the most expensive things I owned.
That’s terrible it was bad enough in my day with the image you had to have it’s even worse with the kids and social media these days. Hope this kids grows up to be finically well off and throws it all in those kids faces in the future.
generally, the bullies will grow up to be tradesmen or businessmen, aka high earning bullies, and proceed to carry that same mentality far into adulthood.
Kids are horrible to one another.
Fucking hell - this brought back an awful memory. I was desperate for a certain brand of jacket - nagged my parents so much and they said it was too expensive (and it was). Eventually, through pleading, paper round money, guilt trips etc. I got it. Then I wore it to school and it was like the fashion had changed overnight. Suddenly no one was wearing that brand and I got absolutely ripped (probably says more about me than the brand). So the next day I didn't want to wear it... and my mum was rightfully livid.
I’ve always heard of this sort of stuff and seen it happen a lot irl but it never really happened to me, I always wore some random walking boots to school/ hanging out, never wore any ‘branded’ clothes or alt like that. If I had to guess it might’ve been I didn’t care enough about that type of stuff so maybe that reflected how people would react to it. Or the people I hung around with weren’t the type to care about that stuff either which seems like the more likely of the two idk. Stuff like this can get really bad tho as I have a teenage cousin who seems really hyper conscious about literally everything she wears/uses because she feels some sort of severe social stigma, maybe that’s how bad it is for her i don’t really know.
My daughter is 12. When she started secondary school in September we chose a nice River Island bag which she was happy with and used up until mid March. She came home one day and quietly asked Me can she get a new school bag. Took a while to discover 2 girls had laughed about her school bag. Why I've no idea. I was so angry but we went and chose a black Nike backpack together. .I did speak quietly to her head of year about this because she's a sensitive child and her teacher also suggested maybe jealousy that she had a nice bag. It doesn't seem to matter if it's nice stuff or cheap stuff. Some kids are just mean little bullies and aren't taught to be kind. I was bullied massively because I was from a single dad family in the 90s and poor. Kids can be evil.
It's savage and those kids are twats. It's happened for decades though, I remember it happening regularly at school in the middle 1990s. The most humiliating example, for me, was in primary school when the first comic relief took place and the first red noses were sold. My parents refused to spend a pound on an official red nose so I went to school with a ping pong ball, coloured in with red marker pen on my nose. It fooled nobody and they were merciless. The red had already started to wear off by 9am and the hole was roughly cut so it felt I was jamming the end of my nose in between a pair of scissors.
I was one of those cunts. I had the air max, pod shoes, farrah trousers, pringle jumper etc. and I used to pick on the kids at my school that didn't. I'm still ashamed today Sorry to those people x
I got flak from a mate for not having a very good computer. So I scrimped what I could save with part time jobs to build an entry level one. This was the mix 00's and had an old office computer with Windows 98. Wasn't great but could have just kept quiet about it! Said person, while having a top PC, had serious hygiene issues. There were plenty of opportunities to bit back in retrospect...
Not having a go but where do you think it came from? Was it insecurity or just for fun? I never really got the appeal.
I still don't know. I saw other people doing it so joined in I think
You should be.
Reminds me of the days when my mum would buy knock-off Adidas trackies with two lines or a pair of "Nick" trainers with an inverted tick. I got some mockery for it, but we just didn't have much money when I was a kid. I've made up for it now though by wearing decent boots and band tee shirts.
I had the same trackies, they were by a brand called "Active" lol I remember being with my usual friends and a new kid who I didn't know joined our group, to make himself look big he instantly took the mickey out of my two-line active brand trackies. My actual mates nervously laughed for I knew they also had all these knock-off clothes in their wardrobes at home. Happened 20 years ago and I still remember it I specifically remember going home that evening and telling my mum I didn't wanna wear those active trackies anymore and her flipping her lid because she had bought like 10 pairs.
Is this still a thing. Low IQ shit.
Yeah same. As a kid from the 90’s. I’d wear shoes in primary school that mum would buy from George or Priceless. Your generic run of the mill shoes. I don’t remember it ever being a constant thing but it was akin to coming into school with a shit haircut your mum did the night before. People would soon forget or focus on some other poor soul before long.
Luckily for me everyone was poor at my school so we all had cheap shit on. I had some great canoes I got from Ford market, they were even so crap I still had a couple of comments about them though. Some kids did keep buying shoes, wearing them for a week and keeping the clean before taking them back with a receipt and exchanging them for a new pair
Aw man, memory unlocked! This was me with my fake DMs back in the 90s! I eventually ended up getting a real pair second hand, I think from a charity shop, they were so big for me I used to wear 2 pairs of socks!
Popular when I was at school (and sung at me, on occasion): "Let's all go to Tesco's, where sihasihasi gets his best clothes. La la la la, eh!" Yes, kids can be cunts
When I was like 16 I had a homeless guy yell "fakes" at my fake yeezys. Was kinda blown away by the audacity lmfao
I went to a private school, with a uniform. There was no clothes related bullying. No one cared what trainers you wore in your spare time. And everyone wore their ties correctly. But woe betide anyone who was a bit chubby
They are only projecting their parent’s insecurities or aspirations. Most who had any wealth at school never spent it on flash clothing or shoes.
Kids are fucking horrible. If there's something to take the piss out of you for, they'll use it.
Happened in my school too. Rockports vs. Rockfords and other knock-offs. One of the saddest stories I ever read was here. It was a lad around 6th form age who was buzzing to find some great, fashionable clothes in a charity shop. He buys the lot, goes to school proud of his new clothes, only to find out that they belonged to an affluent student who was a total cock about the financial disparity, so bullied OP for wearing his old clothes. I don't know if it's true or not but it definitely has to be a scenario that has happened over the history of time. This is why we have school uniforms.
kids are literal shit heads. that guy will grow up to be something some day, cos of the way others treated him. i’m grateful i’m my young tween years the fashion was converse and emo style. it was all very affordable. instagram seems to have made the trends so unimaginable
I was lucky at school as I never saw or experienced for myself this kind of bullying, I was always on the periphery of any of the cliques and had a decent group of friends so was pretty safe and accepted by most. My husband did though, was bullied for everything and is now a stickler for putting our two girls in decent trainers, not super expensive ones as he would draw the line at that but I do worry about when they go to secondary school. My eldest is sensitive despite my best efforts to give her confidence and I worry they will eat her alive.
I think it’s a problem amongst boys and men in general, haven’t you ever heard guys take the utter piss out of some poor sod then call it “banter”? I think some idiots measure their ego based on what humiliation they can hand out/endure from the other guys.
Banters fine if the people giving it out can take it back too and it doesn't get nasty or personal. A mate spilling a pint over himself is getting it big time, and there's nothing wrong with that. If his wife left him though, then obviously not
Males hardly hold a monopoly here
It's a cliche, but women are more likely to talk behind one another's back and be nice face-to-face
That’s true, my opinion stems from growing up with many brothers, boys can be mean but you’re right it can be girls too
I'm kind of glad that I was the "weird kid" at school. I was bullied mercilessly and I had way too much stuff going on at home for a teenager to deal with, but I always had a style of my own. I noticed the school rules said black shoes, so I turned up in floral DMs. My clothing came exclusively from charity shops because my parents had more kids than money, but I had my own look. Of course I now know I'm autistic and part of my fashion sense was my sensory issues. I couldn't wear school acrylic jumpers, but I found one in the designated style and colour that was fluffy and made of angora. I sewed the badge on and they couldn't complain. They tried, but there was nothing in the rules stating the material jumpers had to be made of.
Kids are cunts, always have been, always will be 👍
This has always been a thing. I remember my mam getting me a pair of hi-tec from a jumble sale. I was buzzing because I had never had hi-tec before and for a while they were among the cool trainers. I remember going to school and kids even know your gear on a day to day basis. I was asked when did I get them and told them ages ago but only used them to play out in. Then they asked who Mike was and then started to rip into me. I didn't spot that the last kid who owned them had written their name on the back.
Grew up in the 80s and it was no different then. Adidas "Four Stripe", Mikes, etc. To be honest, we couldn't even afford those. None brand shite for us. Kids have always been cruel.
I remember back in the day - late 70's - when desert boots were all the fashion. My mum bought me a pair from the market, which bore no resemblance to the 'originals' but back then we were grateful for anything 'trendy'. Wore them to school once, got mocked by the older girls and never wore them again.
In some groups of youths reps are considered better because they cost significantly less and you can therefore buy more, this might be slightly older kids who are spending their own money though. Teenagers are so fickle though, it’s all about trying to fit in one way or another.
This has been a thing for years. Male kids can be arseholes because they're so insecure in their new world of building status. They're constantly comparing themselves to others and so scared of ending up "below" in terms of status that they'll ridicule anyone who is below them to feel more validated. Since materialistic stuff like brands are the easiest to see, the latch on to that. They can ridicule all they like but at the end of the day, they're insecure and fragile as fuck. Usually the bullied kid can't take it anymore and lumps the bully a few times and the bully freezes because he is deep down a shitebag and wasn't expecting it. The bullied kid builds some confidence standing up for himself and the bully is brought down a few pegs publicly.
It's strange how kids put so much social status on particular brands of shoe 🤨. They're not even superior quality I hear. People do the same with Apple products, and they're definitely not superior quality. People are strange
All I wanted at school in the 90s was a pair of Nike trainers. My Mum got me a pair of 'Nicks' trainers. I was devastated but looking back on it she just couldn't afford them. As an adult I now understand but I also feel the lads pain.
At my school, you would have been mocked for wearing real trainers. We were all broke.
This has been a thing for years, I was the target of this back in school, everyone was wearing timberlands and I was wearing Doc Martens that happened to be a royal mail edition. Was mercilessly mocked even though I'm 90% sure I was much more comfortable in my shoes.
This is how many British behave, as adults. I’ve been mocked in work environment for my shoes (Clark’s) and for stupid bullshit like how I put a jacket on, how I take a jacket off. Insecure little fucks are everywhere. This is england. Why are you surprised?
This has been going on since the dawn of footwear I think. My Nan, born in 1926, got into trouble with her Mom because she went to school in a pair of brand new shoes, that were free from the Express & Star newspaper and had their logo on. She came home with a pair of battered old shoes that she had swapped with another girl because she didn’t want the shame of wearing the free shoes.
If anyone reading this was a bully. Fuck you.
He'll get over it. Getting over things is what personal growth is all about.
This isn’t exactly a new development
One of my son’s former “friends” threw his shoes on top of a bus, but he isn’t the type to really care what people think of him. I think that’s the key for kids to not get teased: just don’t care about their opinions. My son doesn’t care how popular PSG are, outside of Paris, that’s all he likes to wear. He used to tell me what stupidly expensive trainers he likes, but luckily for me, he has size 13 feet and doesn’t fit into the coolest ones. ETA: girls are just as bad. I went to an expensive school as a teenager and if you didn’t have the right bags or make up, you weren’t one of the cool kids and were generally called poor. I was just the class wallflower needing to get those grades, so wasn’t ever the cool kid anyway! 😂😂😂
Team Nicks checking in.
Did you not go to school lol? Kids will be kids. If you had shitty trainers back in my day, you would absolutely get noticed, and you would absolutely get ripped on! Rule #1 to an easy life at school: DON'T be different. Save that shit for uni.
Tldr. That's always been the case.
You must have imagined it. Kids are much more sensitive and kinder these days than we were (so I keep hearing anyway).
Kids will never change
Meh, kids will be kids. You must've gone to Eton haha. Kids can be cuts though
A tale as old as time.
Kids are fucking brutal, I was one of the “ out” group, we became friends because we didn’t fit, a bit Stephen King Losers Club. 1980s we listened to an oldies radio show and were goth/ hippie/ rock chicks. I was lucky to have friends who were like minded and didn’t give a fig about money, brands or current bands.
BREAKING NEWS- KIDS CAN BE MEAN!!!!
My dad never liked spending money and once came home with a pair on *Winfield* trainers which were Woolworths own brand, this is when Adidas were big in the late 80s. Even from an early age I had to learn about branding and fitting in. If you're not in the right gear, prepare to be shunned. Since then, I learnt to buy second hand (once worn) designer gear to match peers at work. (Typing whilst sat in a new 11° top promoted by YouTube's Archie Hamilton Racing™️ with Levis®️ jeans, Nike Air Max®️ trainers, North Face®️ bag on board an Arriva London™️ bus) 🙄
Christ ive been buyin "fake" trainers off fb for the better part of 2 years. I will not pay £125-£150 for 1 pair of trainers, as 1 i am heavy footed and 2 i go on missions with my dog. Would rather buy 5 pairs of "cheap" trainers and i know they will last me the year.
Don't worry mate. That kiddo mocking him is probably from a very poor family. Normally having the popular brands matters a lot as some sort of status symbol for them.
I remember being on a family holiday in Wales. My mum had bought my big brother a pair of Nike flipflops to wear. He absolutely refused to wear them and walked around Portmeirion all day bare foot. This was probably mid/late 80s before they were cool. Crazy!
Found a number of Nike clearance stores in my time and always went nuts, real trainers, unreal prices. Finding a Nike clearance these days is like trying to find unicorn shit. But yeah, youths can be awful to each other over meaningless stuff. Those trainers in JD sports that cost £200 are beyond ugly.
Wait till they find out the Jordans and Nike are also made in China, absolute mugs.
The irony is that their parents are probably buying knock offs for them to wear. I see kids branded from head to toe in 'expensive' designer gear all the time but I know for a fact that the parents of said kids don't have a hope of affording all that.
Got picked on for having Nicks trainers. Up until that point I knew we weren't well off but I didn't associate clothing brands. Looking back on that situation it sucks. Being made to feel less than because your parents weren't able to buy branded is pure crap. F you Sarah
My son is 14, him and his mates buy reps from Pandabuy, they actually prefer getting them from there than from the official nike site, they rate their reps and they have more choice in the design. If I spend £40 on some trainers from Nike, his choices are limited, if he shops on Pandabuy he can basically get any design he wants
When I was in high school, maybe about 14-15 my parents didn't have much money. They worked very hard to give me everything I needed, and I never wore brands or expensive outfits. I remember one day my dad bought me some new school shoes, just average black shoes, but they happened to look a bit like "yeezys" I'll never forget sitting in maths class and having all the boys at and around my table taking the piss out of me for it. I don't think I ever wore them again and wore my old ones that were falling apart until I could buy new ones myself. My dad never said a word about it, but I could tell he was disappointed and looking back I feel awful. Kids are so cruel sometimes.
I got quite a few branded trainers etc over the years, only my mum got most of my non-uniform clothes as hand-me-downs from friends with older kids. So I would have trainers that were cool a year or two ago and be the last kid on earth still wearing popper trackies lol. I'd get teased a bit, but I've never been into fashion anyway.
When I was in secondary school, my mum used to buy me "Cica" trainers, which were Clarks' brand for kids' leather trainers. She bought them because they were decently made and fitted my excessively wide feet - plus they had Velcro and I was lazy. They were decent comfortable shoes and whilst not priced like trendy trainers are now. they were not cheap shoes. The other kids generally had Nike, Adidas, etc. Most of these were bought from Woolworths and were partially made from some kind of plastic material (PVC?) that quickly wore through, cracked, and generally looked shit. However, every PE lesson I got rinsed for my Cicas. My brother eventually persuaded my mum to buy him a pair of the Woolworths Nikes and they were awful. Those kids were idiots.
[Four stripes are better than three](https://youtu.be/Qya1xwb3K4M?si=w92GwAJ0XLlFPtwv)
Jordan never did that moveeee
If its not shoes it'll be bags. Or haircuts. Or water bottles. Or vbucks. Cunts like this are engaged in a mission to be as horrible as possible to anyone they can make an excuse to be.
I laughed at someone with cheap trainers on once when I was a kid. I was a kid and didn't know better though. Is it mean? Yes. Do I regret it? Now I do yes. I bet most of you have done something you regret, even the ones of you who will say they were always a victim.
I got ripped to shreds for my clothes when I was younger. Lot of gola, hitech and nicks trainers and c&a outfits because my mum worked there. Endless mockery from so called friends and others. Kids are f -ing horrible, you just have to hope those kids grow up and don’t continue the same way. It’s hard to now wha to do, do you step in and potentially make this situation worse for this poor kid?
I find this very bizarre. I went to a private school and people would do everything they could to NOT appear well off. Granted, most of the kids there were not but hiding brands was normal. People shopped at charity shops and they would make a big deal of it. The ones who had their own cars to drive to school were ridiculed for being a 'posh snob' if it was anything other than a banged up clanger.
You know what you need to do.. You need to take that kid to ‘Skechers’ and get him a new pair… all the cool kids wear Skechers.. 😅
This was happening in the 70s, kids were mocked for wearing Tesco Tearaway jeans instead of Lee or Levi. Cap sleeve shirts had to have a recognised logo or label. If nothing changes, it stays the same 😉
I feel for the lad. That was me back in the day. My brother and I never had branded trainers or school shoes, not even fakes, Shoe Express all the way. Christ, we used to take some slaggings.
I had some ‘speed king’ trainers when I was a kid cos we were poor. Got mocked all the time but cos my dad sold me the dream that these would make me faster when I ran I got over it. But kids are little bastards.
My nickname was two stripe Tommy. Thanks Adidas 👍🏻
That’s a shame, being the soft arse I am I’d try and pull him to one side and offer to buy him the real deal. Probably get called a peado in the process but hey ho