ATLANTA , Georgia ( CNN ) -- OutKast 's Big Boi is a junkie , has been for years . Big Boi : `` You can really tell a lot about a person through the shoes , so I always like to keep me a fresh pair . '' The multiplatinum rap star got his first shoe fix back when he was better known as Antwan Patton , a busboy at Steak and Ale . He saved up his paychecks and rushed to a dealer to cop the only thing that could cure his jones -- a pair of British Knights tennis shoes . `` I 've actually been into sneakers since I was a little kid , '' Big Boi , 34 , said backstage before his concert this month at the Sneaker Pimps exhibition in Atlanta . `` You can really tell a lot about a person through the shoes , so I always like to keep me a fresh pair . '' Sneaker culture has thrived for decades , but shoe companies have increasingly capitalized on the demand for one-of-a-kind kicks . Collectors , known as sneakerheads , have lined up to pay hundreds , even thousands , of dollars to ensure few people are wearing the same shoes . See some of the rarest shoes » . `` Coming up , my mom got five kids so there was n't a whole lot of stylish tennis shoes around the house , so I used to want a lot of sneakers , '' Big Boi said , explaining that he started making up for lost time -- and shoes -- long before OutKast 's 1994 debut , `` Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik . '' Juan Castaneda , 27 , also grew up in a family of modest means and longed to don the fresh kicks he saw his peers wearing . `` When I got money to buy them , I started catching up , '' said Castaneda , who works at a nursing home in Hendersonville , North Carolina . He estimates he owns about 200 pairs of sneakers , including a pair of Nike Air Jordan XIs with patent-leather trim called `` Space Jams . '' They cost him $ 500 . It 's supply and demand at its simplest , said Elliott Curtis , a former Carnegie Mellon University basketball player who for two semesters taught Sneakerology 101 , billed as the first accredited class on sneaker culture . Shoe companies create a limited number ( say , a few hundred pairs ) of shoes -- even if it 's just an old model with new colors or materials -- and demand automatically spikes . `` It 's like a status symbol . If Nike is selling a shoe for $ 2,000 , they 're not expecting to sell that many , '' the recent graduate said , adding that sneakerheads are drawn to scarcity . `` If they 've got money , they can buy coolness , '' Curtis said . Curtis goes to garage sales and mom-and-pop stores seeking rare and retro sneakers for his 75-pair collection , but he concedes he 's waited in line for limited editions and paid as much as $ 250 for a pair . Sporting an ultra-rare set of blue-and-red `` Bugs Bunny '' Nike Air Jordan VIIIs , Big Boi said he today boasts at least 400 pairs of sneakers , but he rarely pays for them because shoe companies send him pairs . His most expensive , a pair of crocodile-skin Nike Air Force 1s , sell on various auction sites for up to $ 1,800 . Big Boi has never worn them , but he plans on taking them out of their Nike lockbox this summer so he can wear them in a video for his upcoming solo album . To Peter Fahey , the mastermind behind Sneaker Pimps shoe shows , Big Boi 's enthusiasm is typical . Sneaker culture got its start in New York in the 1970s , mostly among playground streetballers and practitioners of an emerging genre of music called hip-hop . Over the next three decades , rappers and basketball players -- most notably , Run DMC and Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan -- would play integral roles in boosting the popularity of rare kicks . `` Run DMC were probably at the height of the whole movement . It was the first time music and sneakers crossed like this , '' Fahey said of the group 's 1986 hit , `` My Adidas . '' Today , Adidas , Nike and Puma compete with luxury brands such as Chanel , Prada and Gucci . The major sports shoe companies also allow customers to design their own shoes . Upstarts such as San Francisco 's JB Classics and Japan 's Madfoot and KKOK have snatched up market share as well . Shoe companies realize hip-hop 's influence and work hard to get `` a fresh pair of steps '' on a rapper 's feet . Earlier this year , Converse released a line of its iconic All-Stars in tandem with Chicago rhymesmith Lupe Fiasco . Nike has issued two versions of the Air Yeezy , inspired by rapper-producer Kanye West . Louis Vuitton also has teamed up with West . Some lines , such as the Yeezys , quickly become collectors ' items . Die-hard sneakerheads keep them in their original boxes like `` Star Wars '' action figures and ferret them away in closets , their soles never to be scuffed by a sidewalk . Bryan Lyle , 22 , of Stockbridge , Georgia , said he recently camped out three nights at an Atlanta boutique to get one of the shop 's eight pairs of Air Yeezys . Lyle paid $ 300 , a small fortune for shoes , but Castaneda said the price more than doubled within days . He got a pair of Yeezys from an eBay merchant in Hong Kong . The damage ? $ 700 . Melissa Bailey of Hendersonville , North Carolina , takes photos at the Sneaker Pimps show . Castaneda 's girlfriend , Melissa Bailey , 26 , said Castaneda actually bought three pairs . He found two online and paid someone to camp out for the others . Castaneda 's modus operandi is to buy three pairs of his favorite shoes -- one to wear , one to store for later and one to sell or trade , she said . `` He will not walk through grass . He will not walk through dirt , '' Bailey said . For the last six years , Fahey has had a front-row seat for the evolution of sneaker culture . He held the first Sneaker Pimps show in Sydney , Australia , in 2003 , but only 200 people showed up , belying the trend 's rising popularity . Soon , however , tens of thousands would attend shows in more than 60 cities . A 2006 show in Jakarta , Indonesia , drew about 13,000 sneakerheads . The shows now feature between 1,000 and 1,500 shoes . Some are rare . Others are signed by celebrities . Hip-hop acts are a staple , as is artwork -- on both kicks and canvas . At this month 's show , hundreds of sneaker enthusiasts filed through Atlanta 's Tabernacle with the decorum of museum patrons , stopping to admire the shoes displayed on swaths of chain-link fence . There were novice sneakerheads , such as Chris Shepherd , 20 , and Charnelle Cook , 20 , an Atlanta couple who marveled over the DC Comics and Transformers sneakers . Asked about her multicolored hightops , Cook said , `` I could n't tell you what these are called . All I know is they 're Reeboks , and they 're fly . '' There were seasoned collectors , such as Kyle Self , 35 , of Decatur , Georgia , who said he had about 25 pairs , some of them still in their boxes . Included in the group are three pairs of $ 400 low-top Pradas , which he called his `` everyday sneakers . '' There were even female collectors , such as artist Estasha Goodwin , 23 , who modeled a pair of shimmering gold , winged -- yes , winged -- hightops made by Adidas and designer Jeremy Scott . She complained that shoe companies too often focus on the male market and ignored female aficionados . `` When they do cater to us , it 's always bubblegum pink . They do n't even make them in our sizes , '' she said . `` I know women who know more about sneakers than any dude out here today . '' Incidentally , her favorite of the 15 pairs she owns were made for men -- the Nike `` Ace of Spades '' Dunks , inspired by the Detroit Tigers ' high-kicking pitcher , Dontrelle Willis , who is prominently featured on the black-and-aqua shoe 's hightop . Asked why she shelled out $ 250 for them , she gave a familiar response : `` It 's a feeling you get when you know you 're the only one that has something . Even if you 're not , it 's the way you walk it . ''
Big Boi says he has 400 pairs , including crocodile-skin Nikes he 's never worn . Score: 6 Sneakerology teacher : `` If they 've got money , they can buy coolness '' Woman says boyfriend `` will not walk through grass . He will not walk through dirt ''