When you have a passion for sneakers, finding a career in the industry seems like a stretch. Sneakerschool grad John Cotton, aka @JaeTips, is a sneakerhead at heart. His love for sneakers has been a thing since he was a kid. As he got older, he found ways to turn his passion into profit so that he could potentially pursue a career in the sneaker industry. 

He decided to try his hand at sneaker design and headed over to the Nike Bespoke lab in New York City. There, with the help of the designers (who are also Sneakerschool students),  he brought his sneaker idea to life. He created his iconic 1 of 1 shoe. His “Air Tips” design is one for the books and has been the talk of the town since its creation. As a final project, students have to create an unboxing video and Jae Tips used his famed Bespoke 1 of 1 for his presentation. We bumped into John at ComplexCon Chicago this past summer (pre-Air Tips) and watching him grow through his sneaker passion into potential designer status is dope. 

In this live ZOOM, he tells us all about his sneaker journey, shows off his unboxing final Sneakerschool project, and answers viewer questions about how to turn your passion into a career. ICYMI, drop your email in the section below to hear the whole convo. If a career in the sneaker industry is something you want to know more about, visit Yellowbrick.co/sneakers for info. 

Students get insider access to key areas of the industry with 45+ on-demand video lessons, and build real-world skills through self-paced projects and simulations.