The fever for collectible tennis shoes has been a watershed for different types of businesses. However, sneaker resale has become one of the most profitable, as the prices of these items get so high that many fans have opted for replicas.
According to the Streetwear Impact Report prepared by the medium Hypebeast and the consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), of the 40,960 consumers surveyed, 28 percent go to resale sites to purchase tennis and exclusive items, while the 13 percent contact merchants on social media. This could reflect that almost half do not have access to direct sales in brand stores.
Fanaticism increases resale prices
From the perspective of the digital reseller and founder of Snap Style Mx, Osiris Pérez, who is a fan of Space Jam and the icon of Nike, the Air Max 1, the rise in prices of sneakers is due to the frenzy of the communities towards urban fashion and sports shoe launches.
Therefore, this causes brands to develop advertising strategies to promote desire in consumers, as well as the “drop model” or “drops” that limits the number of pieces.
“They try to have the greatest impact before it is released, that you can see how such an artist brings it and say” I already want it to come out because I want to have it, because I want to be like him. We (the resellers) are the ones who give, to a certain extent, life to that so exclusive pair that is going to come out wants to be consumed by people. ”, Explains the Snap Style Mx reseller.
An example of this are the Jordan 1 High in collaboration with Fragment and singer Travis Scott. On July 29 of this year, its launch price was $ 200, about four thousand pesos; Currently, the resale of one of these pairs in Stock X reaches up to 74,900 pesos.
However, any negative event or scandal regarding the brand or artist can generate a cancellation phenomenon, such as what happened with the Nike Air Max 1 Cactus Jack, the rapper’s latest collaboration that was postponed due to the ten deaths caused by a stampede. at the Astroworld festival, as well as the wrongful death lawsuits against him.
“In the case of Travis Scott, it affected his image so badly that prices have been falling or that the same brand canceled several collaborations that it had on the doorstep with him,” explains the sneaker merchant Osiris Pérez.
Although Travis Scott is an influential character, consumer morale trumps bigotry. This aspect is visible in the same Streetwear Impact Report from Hypebeast and PwC, where 47 percent of those surveyed mentioned stopping buying items from a brand due to inappropriate behavior.
Stores vs. Resellers
Over time, Osiris Pérez has made friends focused on collecting and selling sneakers in Mexico and Europe, people he regularly contacts when it is difficult to find a specific pair.
However, he commented that some stores carry out filters or digital raffles in the launches to win the purchase right, the purpose is to market fairly and avoid both the monopoly and the profit of the articles, caused by reselling.
“It is a digital raffle, where the publication of the store of the pair to be sold launches, and you comment on your name, your size. Sometimes they make you take off your pair of tennis shoes and measure your foot to check that you really are that size […] and if you are not, they deny you the right to purchase […] or that, when you buy the pair, you go out walking with it so that you can get it dirty and ‘don’t sell it’, in quotes, because there are people who still end up selling it, ”the reseller stressed.
In this case, digital raffles do not always work, as there are those who manage to circumvent the filters. Something similar happened in March of this year, when the son of the vice president and general manager of Nike North America, Ann Herbet, used bots to win raffles and buy 32 thousand dollars, about 640 thousand pesos, in exclusive pairs, with the in order to resell them at your West Coast Streetwear store. Due to company policies, the young man’s mother resigned her position.
Future of sneaker sales
Analysts at Grand View Research, Inc. forecast the global athletic shoe market to grow 5.1% by 2025, with earnings of more than $ 95 billion. On the other hand, will the number of people willing to pay large amounts of money for a pair of tennis shoes be reduced?
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