SneakerLAH Founder Bryan "Botak" Chin Interview

15th November 2023 EDT FEATURES

The Head Honcho Bryan “Botak” Chin and His Growing SneakerLAH Brainchild

Ahead of this year's edition, SneakerLAH founder Bryan looks back fondly on past highlights of the street culture convention, as he teases what we can look forward to. Reminiscing and reflecting (and recommending).

The Head Honcho Bryan “Botak” Chin and His Growing SneakerLAH Brainchild

SNKRDUNK is heading to SneakerLAH! To quote one of the greatest poets in contemporary culture, Christopher Wallace: “If you don’t know, now you know.”

It’s SneakerLAH-la land to us with the whole street culture experience all under one roof, but it surely’s no walk in the park for founder Bryan Chin and his team who are now putting on the seventh edition of the convention.

Especially with the integration of ConcertLAH in the first evening, there are more moving parts now as the machine gets bigger. But the bigger the challenges, so are the rewards. And so we ask him what they are, in addition to his outlook and his dreams.

From a career in real estate to a career in the sneaker landscape, not everybody can transform a passion project into a profitable business, but Bryan did. Even when the shoes he has to fill gets bigger every year, his accumulated experience—seven years and counting—ensure they always fit true to size.

What’re some personal highlights from SneakerLAH in the past six editions of the event?

Haha, you are starting off the first question with a tough one. It’s hard because there’s so many. Maybe I would list out the best moments from each year?

2015 [was] our first year, and we were nobodies in the scene, but seeing nearly the whole community coming out to support the event is definitely a very good feeling. I remember just talking non-stop the whole entire day. Saying hi, catching up with friends, some of them I have not seen in years. Definitely a good feeling.

2016, we moved to a larger venue, and I remembered setting up for this event was so damn tiring. Didn’t catch much sleep the entire weekend.

We kept getting power cuts, and there were so many people in the event that it was pretty hot, and the best part is the venue does not have any escalators going directly to the hall, you can only access the hall via lifts. AND IT WAS SUPER SLOW. That was mostly what I remembered from the event, just being super tired with a tonne of problems.

2017 [was] the year we moved to a more “prestigious” venue, KLCC Convention Centre, and they hung our event promo banners all across the venue and some portions of the KLCC mall. I remembered feeling super fulfilled seeing that banner hung there.

The Supreme wall from SneakerLAH 2018 made in collaboration with The Fourheads

In 2018, the SUPREME wall we did a collaboration with The Fourheads. It was the first time we were doing an exhibition of that size, it was a pretty big hit. I think that Supreme wall was on every attendee’s social media.

2019, the year we launched our very own ASICS (GEL-Kayano 5 OG) “Nasi Lemak” sneaker at the event. Seeing the queue, seeing the shoes sell out, definitely a crazy feeling.

2022, I think for this year, the queues were insane. And also we were trying to focus more on the music/concert aspect of the event, because we prepping to launch ConcertLAH in 2023, so when we saw how the community came out to support the local acts we had at the event, it’s a core memory locked-in moment.

The ASICS Malaysia GEL-Kayano 5 OG “Nasi Lemak”

And what’re some of the biggest challenges?

Not gonna lie, the biggest challenge with any event of our scale is definitely money! And also the balancing act between doing things for passion or doing it to make money. You don’t want to make the event feel like a cash grab but at the same time, you don’t wanna do an event purely as a passion project without making profits. Because without profits, how do you plan for the next one, how do you grow the event and add improvements year on year.

Anyways, majority of us on the team are sneakerheads, so sometimes as sneakerheads, we tend to make decisions based on what we like instead of making sound business decisions. So it can be a challenge at times.

What’s the dream for SneakerLAH? How do you see its culmination?

Instead of being just an annual event, the dream is to be an actual sneaker store.

We hope ConcertLAH becomes a mainstay. Say it could happen, name your ultimate ConcertLAH lineup. Any artist anywhere, DOA.

My dream is Kanye West, Jay-Z, John Mayer, Blink-182, Limp Bizkit, and maybe at the end we have Fred (Limp Bizkit) again to close it off at the after-party. You can already tell my age from this line up, right?

This year’s ConcertLAH lineup featuring Lee Hi (KR), Alyph (SG), ForceParkBois (MY), Ethan Low (TO), and Trinidad James (US)

Is there any personality or brand you’re itching to collaborate with?

TBVH, I am very happy working with ASICS. They were the ones who took a chance on a “sneaker event” in Malaysia to collaborate with, not once, but three times. And throughout the years of working together, we have built a trust with each other, and because of that trust, they have entrusted us with more future projects to come. So look out for it.

With that said, If any other brand comes knocking and wanting to work with us, I won’t close the door on that. But to answer your question, no, I don’t have any brand or personality that I am itching to collaborate with.

Pandora’s box was opened when your mother bought you the New Balance 574, and you’ve become a sneakerhead since. For a full circle moment, one day you have a NB collaboration in your hands, what silhouette would you take on and what would you do with it?

For the Malaysian market in mind, and for a full circle moment, definitely the 574 silhouette. It’s priced reasonably and non-pigskin.

“I think reselling has always been a normal thing in any industry. It’s just that over the years, the culture of reselling has become more and more widely accepted with the advancement of technology. In the late ‘90s, it was the eBay hype, in the early 2000s it was forums, in the 2010s it was Facebook groups, and now in the 2020s, it is authentication B2C platforms like SNKRDUNK.”

How would you define sneaker culture in 2023? And your thoughts on bootleg and resell culture, like people reselling the PEAK.KL x SneakerLAH merch last year?

Reselling is so important in our culture. I view reselling [as] like a way to show how much demand and impact your product has in the market. There’re so many factors to think about in relation to the resell price.

Did we release too many or not enough pieces for the launch? Did we do well with our marketing or did our storytelling not go through to the public? Is the price point too high or too low? All these are questions which can [be] answered via the resell price.

So when I saw people reselling our event merch for almost 1000% the retail price, it was good to know how much of an impact the merch had on the market.

Personally, I don’t think there is much that’s changed in sneaker culture. I think reselling has always been a normal thing in any industry. It’s just that over the years, the culture of reselling has become more and more widely accepted with the advancement of technology.

In the late ‘90s, it was the eBay hype, in the early 2000s it was forums, in the 2010s it was Facebook groups, and now in the 2020s, it is authentication B2C platforms like SNKRDUNK.

The PEAK.KL x SneakerLAH jersey from 2022 designed by Fritilldea, and a teaser of the 2023 edition with Umbro Malaysia.

Three things you like most about being a sneakerhead and three things you don’t.

I like smelling [the] new shoe smell, the art of storytelling through the medium of shoes, and most importantly, meeting new people who share the same passion, and eventually forging a friendship with them.

I dislike sneakerheads that wear adidas socks with Nike shoes and vice versa, seeing people wearing two different pairs at the same time. Meeting all the “Mr. Know-it-all + I got all the money in the world to flex + I don’t hang out with GR (general release) shoe owners + gatekeeping OG” combination.

We heard that you run a lot. Recommend us a pair of running shoes.

Okay, not being biased here, but the ASICS GEL-NIMBUS 25 is really something else. I am quite heavy, so I need more cushioning when I run, so the GEL-NIMBUS 25 is really comfy.

You’re a popular and gregarious person, doing a lot for the people by putting these events together every year. When all’s said and done, what would you like them to say about you?

“That bald dude from SneakerLAH? He is a nice guy lah.” That’s it.

As teased earlier, SNKRDUNK will be setting up shop at this year’s SneakerLAH. Keep following us on our Instagram for updates. See you at MITEC Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 7th and 8th October!