The Book of Eastbay: How Two Friends Built the Business That Launched Sneakerhead Culture

Unable to contain himself, Rick pitched Art: move back to Wausau and start a business selling shoes. Art said, "What are you, an idiot? Selling shoes? How is this even worth trying?"

This is the story of Eastbay, a startup tale unlike most you've heard. First it was $5,000 worth of track sneakers sold out of the back of an AMC Gremlin. Then it was a quiet storefront in Wausau, Wisconsin. Then it became a catalog, a bible to GenX kids growing up in the 1980s and '90s, a powerful tastemaker so authentic that pro athletes swore by it. Sneakerhead culture started here.

Eastbay was a company ahead of its time that mastered mail-order selling before Amazon existed. That grew so fast and was so successful in the first athletic mail-order wholesale shoe business that Nike pulled its AIR products from the catalog. After five years, Nike decided to allow AIR products back into the Eastbay catalog and ultimately Eastbay partnered with Nike to produce several Nike catalogs.

Sneakers are a global obsession, and it all started here, where kids were encouraged to dream big, and dream often, which is just what the founders were doing all along. This is their story. This is The Book of Eastbay.

© 2026 Ascent Audio (Audiobook): 9781663752567

Release date

Audiobook: 14 April 2026