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April 2013. A crowd gathers in the lobby of the Bada Shu Museum in downtown Toronto.

And not necessarily the typical museum crowd either. Then again, this is no typical museum.

Yes, there are the usual wealthy patrons and suits and evening dresses.

But so was a younger contingent decked out in jeans and t-shirts and leather jackets.

There's a DJ and there's a hip hop dancer who drops down to the floor and spins around on his back.

His feet extended high in the air. Founded in 1995, the Bada is the brainchild of Sonya Bada.

A Swiss-born philanthropist whose family was a mainstay in the high fashion shoe industry

for more than a century. Her collection is world class.

Big name designers and celebrity footwear. Elvis Presley's checkered loafers are here.

So are one of the first pairs of stiletto heels. Tonight's exhibition, though, is a very different

beast. Dubbed out of the box, the rise of sneaker culture. The show follows the rise of the sneaker

from humble athletic tool to a mainstay of the contemporary fashion world. Drinks in hand,

the guests are directed past a line of glass cases. The document, shoe by shoe, the sneaker's evolution.

First, the tattered old 19th century track sneakers and the iconic converse all-stars from the

early 1920s. Next, black and white soma sneakers by Adidasler, the founder of Adidas, with their

trademark three stripes. And nearby, competing suede kicks by Puma, the company run by Adi's

estranged brother Rudy Dostler. Soon, we're in the early 1970s, years when the young American

company Nike first began to experience serious growth. And years when the modern sneaker wars

really got started. In one of the glass cases, it's a pair of Nike waffle racers created by Nike

co-founder Bill Bowerman and made famous by Steve Prifontane. In another, the rounded toe Nike

Cortez still considered one of the coolest sneakers ever made, and the sneaker that brought

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