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Hot Tracks = Hot Sneaker Deal?

Moving Forward from the post below about sneakers being an art movement, Nike has yet to release 5 collaborations of the classic Nike Air Force 1, this post will focus on one of their release, he who considers himself to be “acid of rap”, Travis Scott.  Having said that, the sneaker community is seen to hold high value commodity, and to have a top track rapper collaborate with Nike even makes the shoe game grow crazy!

Travis Scott is quite big in the rap industry right now, I mean his tracks are catchy and personally hype songs to listen to for that extra pump in the gym. Which also speaks out in an artsy form of way that Virgil was saying about Nike being innovative, because Travis Scotts’ rap persona cannot be tamed as classic as these Air Forces’ as he describes his vision of the shoe design to set the tone of going crazy at his shows, and “ the making of this shoe [to be] the same way [he] make[s] an album” (Welty, 2017).  As described in the video, Nike has turned the classic shoe design into something that depicts his music and lifestyle. Definitely something new and unique that Nike is producing this year-end.

 This shoe will release on December 2nd, 2017. Who’s going to cop a pair?

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Off White x Nike:  Transforming Sneakers into an Art Movement

This post will briefly discuss where high-end fashion designer, Virgil Abloh meets Nike and how it is changing the sneaker culture.  Virgil Abloh founder of the Off White designer brand has teamed up with Nike to redesign 10 sneakers. This collaboration is called “The Ten”. Virgil’s simple redesigns on these shoes appear to convey a deeper malaise on consumerism, and the sneaker society is simply buying into it! What’s selling in the sneaker community?

If you look closely to the collection, Virgil redesigning these shoes legitimately looks effortless as he claims in his video posted below, “ street wear is an art movement” (Hypebeast, 2017). Where His concept was to redesign 10 sneakers to look as one. From a personal experience, trying to get a hold of any pair of this release has a far less chance than actually winning a free ticket for LottoMax. 

(Source: http://www.complex.com/sneakers/2017/11/no-one-could-buy-off-white-nike-and-thats-ok)

 In the article that Matt Welty wrote he expressed that these shoes hold heavy significance stating “that you have something that others don’t, all the way down to the red plastic zip tie—commonly placed on shoes at outlet shops to prevent shop lifting” (2017). The meaning behind this collection with its design of that red tag simply says “ Sorry you can’t have these” (Welty, 2017).  Is this Nike’s true intention for this line? Well it succeeded.

In the video below, you will hear Virgil Abloh explain the concept of the design,

Something to take away from this would be how Off-White has commoditized the Sneakers to equally be highly valued as Art, not as $$$ as Banksy or the Mona Lisa, but it is up there for sneaker value.

 Purpose of off campus “ we’re not here lining up and leave, we’re actually here intellectualizing why sneakers are important, why Nike is important as an innovative athletic company. That’s what off-campus is, it’s an off-white Nike concept to engage with the public and design together” (Virgil Abloh, HypeBeast, 2017)

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New Balance: Who?

 Now over here, we are looking at another shoe brand differentiating themselves from others through speedy shoe customizations, as well as being locally manufactured; providing employment to communities, and contributing to the American Economy.

New Balance, unlike the other companies strongly believe in quality as it advocates that “[they] deliver a product that is highly superior in term of craftsmanship and quality” (Schlesinger, 2015).  Their branding and strong dedication to keep their shoes being made in the USA strongly shows patriotism when the U.S. Director of Operations of New Balance speaks out and says, “our associates have a lot of price when they see their product that they’ve crafted on a celebrity’s foot” (2015).  

Having said this, the company takes “a lot of thought and pride in who we choose to sponsor in terms of athletes. We not only make sure that we get the top performers on the field but also off the field, were we partner with them in their charitable-giving organizations”, said Brendan Melly, the Director US operations.

When Melly mentions this, does the brand selectively target specific consumers?

I personally have never owned a pair of NB, nor heard much hype about it, and the fact that Nike & Adidas already endorsing majority of all sports it leaves little room for New Balance to get their brand out there.  Point being in this article it stated that NB commonly found on Major league Baseball athletes.  But the common brands are Nike & Adidas, is NB able to keep up? Will NB have to change in order to even be highly competitive with these brands? Do you think they will go out of business if they don’t change and give what consumers want? Watch the video below and see what Brendan Melly has to say about NB.

Made in U.S. Sneakernomics from CNBC.

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Adidas BOOSTs’ Up!

Based upon the brief survey done by the visitors on this site, definitely proves my point being that Adidas’ has rebranded themselves since “the performance aspect of the brand lacked a defining trait for Adidas to really call its own” (So, 2015). 

Adidas introduced “Boost” into their shoes that changed the sneaker game when they dropped the Pure Boost. It “was hailed as a super stylish runner that was equally comfortable” (So, 2015), as boost is a “revolutionary cushioning tech that delivered the highest energy return in any running product”. Another fact to consider is how Adidas successfully rebranded themselves with having a very socialite influential brand ambassador, Kanye West. Pure Boost shoes blew up more when Kanye was spotted wearing them and he quoted that they were amazing, where he wanted to have Boost in his sneaker line.  In his line, he has Yeezy Boost 350, 350 V2, and 750 as they lean more on the high-end on lifestyle sneakers.

I think it was very ingenious of Adidas reinventing runners and incorporating a person like Kanye West with Boost to drive their sales up making them able to compete with Nike and “finally dig themselves out of second place” (So, 2015).  

Having said this, let’s make a short comparison of the demand in Nike Retro Jordan shoes and Yeezy Boosts.  Adidas has made limited pairs of Kanye’s shoes where it is always higher in demand than in supply, thus driving the resell price higher. Whereas the Jordan releases do not hold much precedence over the sneaker community as there’s more stock, and the product quality of it has lowered. Having said this, Boost has made a breakthrough for Adidas and they might have a chance surpassing Nike in years to come. Do you agree? Send a Message I’d like to hear your opinion! :) 

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbI6Kxo7lac)

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Scroll down for the KING

Growing up around the famous shoe brands of Nike and Adidas, it was quite obvious what brand to choose at that time: Nike. Why? Because their shoes looked more appealing to wear, it was more popular to wear Nike’s Jordan Brand or a famous Basketball player’s shoes made by Nike. 

The topic today is about how famous athletes performance can increase sales from wearing their own shoe product on court. A prime example would be LeBron James, in last year’s 2016 NBA finals in Game Three.  According to Complex news article, Lebron James “could very well change the money he makes from his recently signed lifetime deal with Nike: He changed shoes” (Bengtson, 2016).  Lebron James wore his  $200 LeBron 13 Elites and switched into the triple-strapped Soldier 10s for Game Three. Then half way in Game Four, which they have lost; LBJ went back to wearing his Elites, shortly then he switched back to the Soldier 10s, which then landed the Cavs the title of winning the NBA championship in 2016.

Prior from that game, Nike began to market the shoes LeBron wore in the finals for one day only on NikeID where people are able to customize to replicate the shoes he wore that won the Cavs the title. It was very successful that it had sold out quite fast.  From my previous work experience from working at Champs Sports, I always had 6 out of 10 customers interested to buy the LeBron Soldier 10s; let it be in Men’s or Grade school size, the shoes were flying off the shelves as only select retailers sold the gum-bottom black pair.

What a release! It could correlate to the Cavaliers making history being the first team to win the NBA finals after being down 3 – 1. Above this post is a YouTube video of LeBron’s Nike ad of “Always Believe”, where he has made the promise to win a championship for Cleveland.  This Ad definitely delivered the message that LeBron James keeps his promise. Wouldn’t you want to go out and buy his shoes that won the Finals?  

References 

Did LeBron James and the Cavaliers Save Nike Basketball?