I don’t know the parents and the article didn’t say
When I was a teenager I bought my own clothes without parental help or supervision
You lived in a different time where wearing certain colors, symbols and Air Jordans/Niki/Adidas weren’t going to get you killed.
“Looking back at Sports Illustrated’s famous 1990 cover story, “Your Sneakers or Your Life,” which focused on the murder of a 15-year-old boy over his Jordans and brought sneaker violence to national attention” https://qz.com/554784/1200-people-are-killed-each-year-over-sneakers/
Notice the date. 1990.