If you’ll notice - I’m rarely ever the first to post about ‘breaking news’...I mean...I’m not a journalist and I’m not a news source...
I’m just a dude that has some thoughts about shoes from time to time. I definitely know that I hear about it well before the blogs and media sources take hold, but I’m rarely ever the first to post on anything because I like to take my time with most things and I like to think them through...I don’t like reactionary responses to things. There’s rarely any time some game-changing news has me up in arms without thorough consideration, and this week-old news story isn’t really an exception. This is kind of more of a ‘stream of thought’ post than anything...I’ll have to see how it plays out. But...
...It looks like Nike has *officially* begun selling refurbished shoes at Outlets and Clearance Stores...anyone who has spent more than a few minutes in any one of these stores can tell you that plenty of used shoes have seen the hash wall *unofficially*, but it’s nice that there’s going to be some *official-ness* to it.
IMO, though, this is another nail in the coffin for outside retailers. Nike pulled accounts from a number of major box stores lately, and this all looks like more consolidation...Nike is eliminating the middleman and going direct to consumers...it just might make searching at Nike Outlets a bit more fun, but will probably negate itself because more people will be scouring the aisles. It’s also likely going to limit the crazy stuff folks have been finding at discount retailers (like Ross and TJ Maxx).
The articles also talk about Nike ‘grading’ their shoes into 3 categories - sure. That’s what GOAT did, too. That’s what the baseball card price guides used to do back in the day, too, - ‘mint’ or ‘near mint’. Good enough for a utility but not good enough for a collectible…which is why I think there’s a market for what I’m trying to provide.
Anyway...the question that comes to mind...at what point of wear is something worth putting on shelves or recycling? What about the age of the sneaker? How different will prices be between ‘used’ and ‘near new’?