I had this real long conversation with a student earlier - a student I had never met - who was interviewing me on the industry for his AP writing class.
It was cool just talking sneakers with someone who had an interest in hearing more than who ‘my plug is’ 😂 ...I feel like I could talk about this stuff for hours. What’s funny is I really have no experience whatsoever in ‘the industry’, but I sure seem to speculate a lot about how it works. I’ve actually been trying to ‘break into’ the sneaker collectibles industry for a good 5 years now and I have very little to show for it.
One of the things we were discussing was the sheer lack of product that Nike has been supplying the market with. I was reminded that the process for getting a shoe into production and onto the streets can be a VERY long process.
I’ve frequently complained AT LENGTH about how I don’t understand how Nike could release only 25-35k pairs of the Grateful Dead dunks knowing full well that there were more than 1.5m signups on the Grateful Dead website in less than 24 hours. That means that 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE - those who actually KNEW about the signup - wanted those shoes...and only 25-35,000 pairs were actually ‘released’. That’s a gap of more than 1.45 MILLION PAIRS OF SHOES. And people are asking why the fakes are so strong now? Where is the disconnect? We’re talking a gap of more than 98% in supply vs. demand. WTF? Is that all Nikes fault or...is it Travis Scott’s fault or...the resellers? StockX?
And then I kind of looked at my own experience in releasing products. It can take years. Based on heresay and my prior knowledge...I guess I’d have to assume that this past season’s dunk lineup has been in the works for roughly 2 years. That means - Nike probably submitted the designs and placed the order for the 2020 lineup in 2018. And where was the dunk game in 2018? In all seriousness...no one gave a shit about the dunk game in 2018. I was picking up Dunk SBs for $30 at the Nike outlets a year ago. 30k pairs was actually probably a pretty good estimate 2 years ago. But today? 1M pairs woulda probably made more a bit more sense…
Anyway...no question here...I'm just rambling...