Tuesday 16 August 2011

Is Nike toying with their sneaker buyers?

This article is not about a particular shoe, but more about getting shoes in Australia. When I'm referring to shoes, I am specifically referring to sports shoes - usually from Nike, and sometimes from Adidas, that are released in some parts of the world, but not in Australia.

To sum it up - "it's pathetic that Australia gets ignored for certain shoe releases". I currently have a appreciation and a hatred for the shoe resellers. I'm mainly talking about the people that camp out in front of shoe stores when certain limited releases occur, and buy shoes only to sell them later for a marked up profit.

Take for example, the Air Jordan XIII - Ray Allen PE. This shoe retailed for USD$175 in the United States of America. Apparently there were stories that it was going to be a limited release of around 2561 shoes - to coincide with the 3 point record breaking of Ray Allen. People camped out for this shoe, and in some cases, 4 days in advance. I would like to have this shoe, being a long time supporter of the Boston Celtics, but I am not willing to pay the $500+ prices that some people are trying to charge for this shoe. I have even seen in some ebay entries prices of $1100+. This is totally insane.

While these resellers make a massive markup on these types of shoes, the unfortunate truth is that sometimes, being in Australia, you have to deal with them to get shoes that the major sports goods companies do not bring over here.

Something else I would like to make a note of is the amount that has been released. Initially the shoe was set to release in Miami and Boston only. Then it released in some European shoe stores. Then it released in Hong Kong. For such a limited release, it has had a very international market. From my rough calculations, there is still around 1800+ shoes that have not been accounted for. I hope that Nike is going to release these shoes in Australia, in the similar fashion that the Quai54s were originally a Europe-only release, that saw its way to Melbourne.

Otherwise,
WANTED:
  • 2 x size US 11 Air Jordan XIII (13) - Ray Allen PE 414571-125
  • 1 x size US 8 Air Jordan XIII (13) - Ray Allen PE 414571-125
Shipped to Melbourne, Australia.

All reasonable offers for sale will be considered!

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