I Witnessed the Future of Retail. I Didn\'t Like What I Saw

I Witnessed the Future of Retail. I Didn’t Like What I Saw

I paid a visit to ComplexCon, a shoppable trade show of sneakers and hyped-up streetwear. It was a trip I’d like to forget

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THE FIRST THING I noticed was the trash. As I approached the Long Beach Convention Center this past weekend after braving a lengthy security line, my loafers crunched over empty pizza boxes and discarded blunt wrappers. I passed an orphaned folding chair. This was the forgotten flotsam of the fanatical sneakerheads who had camped out in order to be the first to enter the sneaker and streetwear festival ComplexCon. The rarest pieces go first. Everyone knows that!

Now in its third year, ComplexCon is a two-day conference organized...