The same day I was inundated with posts about Kobe leaving Nike, I was also inundated with a post from @futurevvorld discussing the merits of Nike (or other sneaker companies)
running with ‘The Pre-Order Model’. The more I thought about it...the more I thought ‘Pre-Orders’ would have been the PERFECT test case for both Vanessa Bryant AND Nike.
From what I understand - Vanessa Bryant was unhappy with how limited retro Kobe runs were/are. I have no idea WHY Nike was limiting production of certain Kobe retros - I thought they’d be milking the shit out of it by now - but for whatever reason, they’ve been relatively quiet on the whole thing.
A lot of people have been pushing the ‘pre-order’ concept and, although I think it’d be interesting, it’s almost completely antithetical to Nike’s WHOLE business model. A tough pill to swallow.
I don’t know how I’d feel if Kobe retros hit Jordan retro numbers, but the market for Kobes is a difficult one to peg. I don’t know how any company is supposed to deal with the void when one of it’s marquee athletes passes away unexpectedly. The Kobe line is the one line where most people seem to think it’s in poor taste to profit over it, yet almost everyone is doing it. I got into it a bit with someone in the comments about how, when a lot of these colorways came out, they hit outlets. No one cared much for them. Sure - a few pairs were desirable, but probably 30-40% of the numbered Kobe colorways hit outlets and sales racks - you can STILL find some of these Kobe ADs for DUMB cheap, but no one seems to want those…
But...imagine a scenario...once or twice a year for a few days at a time...maybe on or around Mamba Day...where Nike opened up a handful of Kobe retros for pre-order - thereby virtually ENSURING that anyone who wanted a pair got a pair. Obviously, it’d take a bit of time to meet demand, but I couldn’t imagine a better solution. The fans would get what they want, VB would get what she wants, and Nike would do what they should be doing - creating shoes.
To me, pre-orders would be PERFECT for this line and this line only...tell me where I’m wrong.