Jared Moskowitz grows sneaker culture on the Hill

The halls of Congress turned briefly into a sneaker museum as U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz hosted Sneaker Day on the Hill.

It’s the fourth year the Parkland Democrat hosted the event, one which also featured a panel discussion on the significance of the footwear industry to American culture and the economy. But while the event proved jovial, Moskowitz shared that he has faced resistance to those upset at him for wearing rubber soles through the U.S. Capitol.

“People were really offended when I first started doing it, like it was somehow hurting decorum. I was like, based on some of the things that get said around here, I don’t think decorum is really our problem,” Moskowitz said.

“We don’t wear powdered wigs here anymore. Styles change, right? Things change.”

But he has found a love of footwear to be one that transcends standard political lines. The staff marching through office buildings and flights of stairs in Washington almost universally adorn sneakers just for the sake of comfort.

At the event, speeches were given by Moskowitz, wearing a pair of Union LA Air Jordan 4 shows, and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat and founder of the World Cup Caucus. With her participation, a number of special soccer cleats were also put on display. So were a series of historic Adidas shoes, from a pair designed for Run DMC, the first non-sports partnership between a shoe company and celebrity, and the first Adidas sneakers equipped with step counters.

Pensole Footwear Design Academy founder D’Wayne Edwards, the designer of multiple Nike Air Jordans, discussed how sneakers changed his life and gave him opportunities undreamed of as a youth. He discussed starting as a clerk and dropping shoe designs in a work suggestion box for months until L.A. Gear finally gave him a job

Meanwhile, SOLEcial Studies CommUNITY Academy co-founder Sean Williams advocated for sneakers as a form of vital self-expression. The owner of thousands of pairs himself, he encouraged congressional staffers to kick off hard-souled shoes and find a way to stand out and stand up.

“Don’t be afraid to be yourself. And I think that’s what sneakers allow you to do, is to be who you are, and be comfortable with who you are,” Williams said, “and it gives you natural powers that are already within you, just gives you an actual level of freedom to truly express yourself.”

Andy Polk, of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America and a former congressional staffer, said in a strange way, shoes can beat out a path to understanding in even tense political environments.

“I think that’s where we’re having a lot of strife in Congress and elsewhere, where we need to find understanding,” he said. “We need to accept that we’re not all going to agree on everything, but we can understand where each other comes from.”

Moskowitz’s own shoes tell a personal story, one of a connection with his late father, who would take him to the mall each day when Air Jordans were released.

“I’m a sneaker head, and I wear them in the Capitol to show some individuality up here,” he said, “but also, it was a good way for me to, like, bring my dad and my memories of my dad through the process.”