like seriously why not make a ton more of them if they're gonna be so sought-after? they land at outlets? so? nike still makes money off that.
the only reason to keep making them so limited is that they KNOW all that matters is the profit on the flip and if they were readily available FEWER people would want them, not more
the whole system is super broken, but it's just gonna go the way it goes, because at this point it all caters to the secondary market. the only reason Nike can sell Jordan 1s for $200 is because the people buying them can flip them for $500
adjusted for inflation, a $65 AJ1 in 1985 is like $160—and modern-day AJ1s are made from cheaper materials in factories staffed by cheaper workers. they don't HAVE to be $200 retail. but the secondary market nuked the whole concept of what sneakers are "worth"
and heck, they could be cheaper than that because there's no need for Nike or Jordan to even market retro product. just announce the drop and watch it sell out to speculators. they're not releases anymore, they're IPOs.
and that changed who the market is. I don't care how much you love, say, the white/black/red AJ1, you're not gonna pay $1500 for a pair unless money doesn't matter to you. not just because you like them a lot.
you WILL pay $1500 for them if you think they can give you some kind of clout, as an athlete or a celeb, or if you think the "value" is just going to keep going up. regardless, far fewer regular people are gonna just wear them. which seems bad.
the entire reason shoes like that are so popular is because they WERE worn by a lot of people. and those people—my generation—hyped them up to the next generation. how long is that gonna last? why is the NEXT generation gonna want something they don't even see kids wearing?
at this point original colorway Jordan 1 highs are—for most—strictly aspirational shit. you can't get them at retail because they sell out in minutes and you can't afford them on the secondary market. this for something that should be a STAPLE.
like, imagine if Levi's 501s sold out in seconds and went for four figures on a resale market and basically only celebs and pro athletes wore them. would they stay a staple? or would they just eventually be yet another "oh those are cool but I could never justify them" thing
Air Jordan 1s popped off so major because Nike flooded the market to such a degree that they were available for YEARS, and got dirt cheap as they lingered. They didn't become a skate staple because they were exclusive, they became one because they were ubiquitous.
And now Nike's doing exactly the opposite with the most desirable Jordans and Dunks, making them nearly impossible for the regular consumer to buy and making it illogical for them to keep or wear them if they CAN buy them at retail. What do they think the endgame is?
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Kind of dig the Jazz locking in Gobert and Mitchell even though I don't know if that's a championship core. There's a lot to be said just for competitiveness and continuity. Fanbases need that too.
Stockton and Malone got statues in Utah and remain beloved despite not winning a championship. You don't always need to blow it up and chase rings every year. Because then you risk no continuity AND no championships (cough, Rockets, cough).
Maybe the Jazz put the right pieces around Rudy and Donovan and win. Maybe they don't. But at the very least a fan can root for a guy knowing he'll be there, can buy a jersey and watch him for years. There's value in that.
surely having to plan every trip to a store like it's a trip behind enemy lines for a year straight won't affect how i shop for the rest of my life
we are never going back to any kind of pre-pandemic normal. we could have! some semblance of it anyway. if there was any sort of central response to this. there wasn't. we won't.
there is zero chance even when I get a vaccine that I go back to a mall, or a restaurant, or a sporting event, or an indoor concert, or a movie theater, without thinking long and hard about it. and even being in the position to make that decision seems a long way off.
i don't drink anymore. buying stuff doesn't make me happy. most of the stuff I HAVE already doesn't make me happy. i have seen one friend IRL since...summer? for all intents and purposes i may as well not exist.
this isn't any sort of cry for help because i don't want that either. i just feel like nobody and nothing. at this point it's more acceptance.
america deserves to be burned to the ground and never rebuilt. we are an utterly failed state with a government that does not give a single shit about its most vulnerable citizens, or any of the rest of us unless we're rich.
a pandemic has been sweeping the country for almost a year now and the government has actively resisted helping the population—with our own money—for almost the entire time. we are completely on our own as an openly criminal administration strips everything bare.
I have less than zero respect for the people who we put in charge and do nothing to help us. we're told to do everything ourselves and then when we fail that it's our fault. fuck america. there is no "america." there's just 350,000,000 individuals. fuck you.