I’ve been keeping an eye on these AJ1 Mid Pink all week and I have to say I’m surprised I could just pick them up right now. 9K Art Basel shoe or $120 Mid to beat up? Easy choice. There was something else I was tracking that’s slipped my mind but both very easy to buy for retail this week. There could be a lot of variables at play here but I’m going to take this as a positive sign of things to come as logistics shift to normalcy AND brand production runs catch up to demand.
I saw a lot of snarky comments last week about how resell is needed for the sneaker industry to matter which is 100% stupid. The culture was fine for 3 decades until it got invaded by botters and mass resellers. But my point: I think the brands are only going to get better from here on out with production estimates, balancing demand and maximizing profit. Never forget, Nike Inc and adidas Inc etc want more profit. You dont get any of that by making product scarce and letting resell thrive. Finding that balance is key and I believe Nike/Jordan will be the first to do it properly. New Balance is experimenting a lot as well. adidas is a few years behind as they learn the ropes from their mistakes in 2019 and 2020 but they are figuring it out.
The best example I can give of this right now is the Air Max 90 Bacon. Very hyped shoe that was mass produced to supply demand perfectly for them (easy sell out, still desirable), maximize revenue for Nike and kill resell. Win win for everyone but resellers. I think we will see a lot more of this in 2022 where the above retail margins become slimmer for resellers and they stay away from low profit product because of higher risk. Brands will use very hype collabs to keep excitement high but even then are producing more than ever before to lower resell prices like the AMM3s.
Anyways, just wanted to share some thoughts. Feels good to be back and on my beat. Enjoy your weekends!