Grey market discussion thread (Let's keep the discussion mature) Rules on pg 1 please read before yo

[cdynasty24]

Fake LV bags aren't Italian leather, you pay less becuse the material is cheaper. GM's are retail without the resell mark-up after said shoe had sold out.

I will think about changing my tune when someone with time and money to burn can do a dissection comparison video. Can't tell everything from the outside, and clearly there are some visible differences there, so would like to see the insides

 

[jacksodk]

How have women been able to admit to purchasing fake LV bags for years, and Men have to come up with terms like "Grey Market"?

Women have also understood the saaaame explanation about their bags. The Manufacturer has the design/mold and just produces more bags. Man up lol

I said this very early on when the thread initially started before the Adkins canceled that thread to create this one. Two different concepts. Those bags are fake! Not the same bags from the place where real lv bags are made. I have a wife and got her several lv bags and we have seen even the super fakes. Craftsmanship is by far superior on the real lv bags. Besides, lv take specific steps to ensure to tell the difference even down to the exact stitching. Nike mass produce their product so that this type of craftsmanship isn't possible.

 

[baig]

So, just got my GM Black Grapes.  Good enough for me to rock, but I have a RD pair as well and even without the RD pair to compare to, I could tell there were quality issues with the pair I received.  The biggest issue is the paint on the midsole - cheaply done.  Also, for the record, the material on the tongue, though close, is not identical to my RD pair.

So yeah, could care less about the tongue material - it's the lack of quality that irks me.  This was one of the 'authentic' pairs - not 'replica/aaa/perfect/etc'...

When comparing to my RD pair, the midsole paint was not as vibrant, not as smooth - a fair amount of rough areas/edges.  

Also, that area at the top near the ankle where you insert the laces - that piece, whatever its called, was done poorly.  Falling apart at the edges, and you can see the padding material through the lace holes...

Anyways, lesson learned - guess I didn't luck out and get a top notch pair.  May do it again, if the price is right, and if these don't fall apart quicker than a RD pair...  

f

 

[theonewskill]

Good info^ I'd like to see more in detail like that

 

[castomere]

Good info^ I'd like to see more in detail like that

Here's a video made by a NTer.

 

[castomere]

So, just got my GM Black Grapes.  Good enough for me to rock, but I have a RD pair as well and even without the RD pair to compare to, I could tell there were quality issues with the pair I received.  The biggest issue is the paint on the midsole - cheaply done.  Also, for the record, the material on the tongue, though close, is not identical to my RD pair.

So yeah, could care less about the tongue material - it's the lack of quality that irks me.  This was one of the 'authentic' pairs - not 'replica/aaa/perfect/etc'...

When comparing to my RD pair, the midsole paint was not as vibrant, not as smooth - a fair amount of rough areas/edges.  

Also, that area at the top near the ankle where you insert the laces - that piece, whatever its called, was done poorly.  Falling apart at the edges, and you can see the padding material through the lace holes...

Anyways, lesson learned - guess I didn't luck out and get a top notch pair.  May do it again, if the price is right, and if these don't fall apart quicker than a RD pair...  

Did you use an agent when you ordered?

My pair looks perfect, even better than the one from Foot Locker. The only problem is it's ashy, but that's to be expected.

 

[bcdagr8]

the mod's agreeing doesnt mean its a fact, not going at them but they know as much as we do. just because they agree/disagree its nothing but their own opinion. Just like my own opinion, yours, and who ever elses.

while most of us in here who actually know a thing or two we have come to the conclusion that these are real but crappy quality since they are extra pairs being made and not going through any sort of QC. pretty much a reject IMO.

while some have no flaw, majority especially from shady sellers will come with some sort of flaw.

i think im done in this thread, unless something mind blowing happens (which wont) there really is nothing else to say. THE SHOES ARE MADE IN FACTORY AS ALL OTHERS, SAME WORKS, SAME EXACT MATERIALS, SAME INSOLES, SAME AIR, SAME TECHS only issue is minor imperfections but the shoe is real deal.

I couldn't say it better myself this is a never ending conversation like who's better biggie or 2pac

 

[dunks318ti]

Here's a comparison to my 2009 space jams that I purchased through FTL and noted some of the differences.  


View media item 485887

I think that looks closer to the 2000 release space jams.

nice observations, but I think size makes a difference as well. I compared the same as what you did to my same size RD 09 jams and its the same as the GM. The only difference is the patent is a slight higher cut than my RD pair (but I also posted a pic of a different pair of GM jams with a damn low cut/identical to RD pairs), and that "curved heel tab" opposed to flat, but I just pulled on the heel tab then they formed to exactly the same as my RD pair. ill edit a pic to show side by side when I charge my phone real quick...

EDIT HERE IS COMPARISON:

View media item 487011
The one on the bottom is the RD 09 pair (more yellowed)

The top pair is GM

I'm telling you guys that **** is a splitting image. EVERYTHING. All the materials is EXACTLY the same. Even the SPECIFIC carbon fiber pattern for this model. 2 3 on heel, tongue tag, patent material, upper mesh material, leather ankle material, pull tab, etc...

 

[castomere]

nice observations, but I think size makes a difference as well. I compared the same as what you did to my same size RD 09 jams and its the same as the GM. The only difference is the patent is a slight higher cut than my RD pair (but I also posted a pic of a different pair of GM jams with a damn low cut/identical to RD pairs), and that "curved heel tab" opposed to flat, but I just pulled on the heel tab then they formed to exactly the same as my RD pair. ill edit a pic to show side by side when I charge my phone real quick...

EDIT HERE IS COMPARISON:



The one on the bottom is the RD 09 pair (more yellowed)

The top pair is GM

I'm telling you guys that **** is a splitting image. EVERYTHING. All the materials is EXACTLY the same. Even the SPECIFIC carbon fiber pattern for this model. 2 3 on heel, tongue tag, patent material, upper mesh material, leather ankle material, pull tab, etc...

When did you get your GM pair?

Were the soles already yellowed when you got them?

 

[castomere]

The Doernbecher 3s will supposedly be coming out next week. How come we haven't seen any on sale on the grey market? 

 

[isniker]

^royals didnt come out right away (at least most that we see now)

 

[castomere]

^royals didnt come out right away (at least most that we see now)

You all know that I'm am a believer of grey market shoes but things like this makes me question them.

Why did it take so long for the Royals to flood the grey market? 

What's with the delay?

Could it be that the grey market sellers are mixing their stock with high quality fakes? 

 

[isniker]

 maybe they didn't know there was so much demand for these NA 1s, since there wasnt that much for the knicks

 

[frenchbreadbuilds]

You all know that I'm am a believer of grey market shoes but things like this makes me question them.

Why did it take so long for the Royals to flood the grey market? 

What's with the delay?

Could it be that the grey market sellers are mixing their stock with high quality fakes? 

A lot of limited releases are done under supervised production. Also smaller quantity releases are done with less factories, while larger releases may need multiple factories to produce quantity needed by Nike. It's likely that yeezys, black patent 1s, and royals were made in one or two supervised and controlled factory making it harder to get things such as prints, molds, and tech packs. As opposed to a release like the Breds that had upwards of 500k + had multiple factories producing multiple production runs making the tools necessary to make these shoes more widly available.

 

[Magic33]

Gm or not, the 3's right now would be the easier to replicate. The elephant print doesn't match at all on most release day pairs. Look at my avatar. None of the shoes are no where close to the same.

Elephant print always matched? Did you just started buying III's in the past two years?

There is quality control if you use an agent. The ppl who get bad pairs are the ones who dont use agents. They dont even send bad pairs to agents b/c they know they'll send them right back and get the money back.

What?

 

[dunks318ti]

When did you get your GM pair?

Were the soles already yellowed when you got them?

Nope they were tinted blue...I just blatantly disrespected the soles. I wore them in the snow, walked in puddles, played outdoor basketball in them, etc. I didn't care about them as I already had a rd pair so I used them as beaters basically...

 

[baig]

Did you use an agent when you ordered?

My pair looks perfect, even better than the one from Foot Locker. The only problem is it's ashy, but that's to be expected.

Nope - I just used one of those websites.  It's the same site that the kid in the youtube video several posts back uses.  You lucked out man - I don't think it has anything to do with an agent - I think you just win some and you lose some.  Don't get me wrong - my pair ain't bad.  It's just not something I'd go out of my way to maintain/take care of because of the flaws that it has.

 

[Sneaker P]

nice observations, but I think size makes a difference as well. I compared the same as what you did to my same size RD 09 jams and its the same as the GM. The only difference is the patent is a slight higher cut than my RD pair (but I also posted a pic of a different pair of GM jams with a damn low cut/identical to RD pairs), and that "curved heel tab" opposed to flat, but I just pulled on the heel tab then they formed to exactly the same as my RD pair. ill edit a pic to show side by side when I charge my phone real quick...

EDIT HERE IS COMPARISON:

View media item 487011
The one on the bottom is the RD 09 pair (more yellowed)

The top pair is GM

I'm telling you guys that **** is a splitting image. EVERYTHING. All the materials is EXACTLY the same. Even the SPECIFIC carbon fiber pattern for this model. 2 3 on heel, tongue tag, patent material, upper mesh material, leather ankle material, pull tab, etc...

Those don't look like the same size. I can still see noticeable differences.

 

[cdynasty24]

nice observations, but I think size makes a difference as well. I compared the same as what you did to my same size RD 09 jams and its the same as the GM. The only difference is the patent is a slight higher cut than my RD pair (but I also posted a pic of a different pair of GM jams with a damn low cut/identical to RD pairs), and that "curved heel tab" opposed to flat, but I just pulled on the heel tab then they formed to exactly the same as my RD pair. ill edit a pic to show side by side when I charge my phone real quick...

EDIT HERE IS COMPARISON:

View media item 487011
The one on the bottom is the RD 09 pair (more yellowed)

The top pair is GM

I'm telling you guys that **** is a splitting image. EVERYTHING. All the materials is EXACTLY the same. Even the SPECIFIC carbon fiber pattern for this model. 2 3 on heel, tongue tag, patent material, upper mesh material, leather ankle material, pull tab, etc...

As we've seen on a many other comparisons, the toe boxes do not match, midsoles are slightly shorter on the GM pair (more visible towards the rear of the shoe), and the shape is closer to a worn 2000 pair than the 2009 curved toe.

These trusted GM companies might as well be using the Silver/Black Jordan face box, and passing these off as OG with OG tags versus newer box, packaging, tags.

 

[dunks318ti]

Those are the same size. Its hard to compare as well as one has been worn since 2009 and one have been worn less than a year...just saying.

Its like comparing 2 pairs of all white air force ones, they're not going to have same wear/creases/worn ankle padding etc...

Its obvious the GM jams didn't get "stolen" "slipped out the back door" etc...these were reproduced using excess or left over materials. Like you said the shape isn't bananna like, we haven't gotten bananna curved toed XI's since cdp XI and 09 sj XI. They are using the current bred/playoff, concord, and soon to be gamma XI molds...and using authentic nike materials to each specific model (I.E. carbon fiber pattern)

Yall do you though. I'm just putting that out there. Its the same ****.

If you want I can post 2 of my release day 88s and you guys can bicker on how you can see "noticable differences" between the two. Then you'll have the same arguement on authentic vs authentic. Lol

I'm done here.

 

[Bert.]

so they look like OGs? isnt that better?

yes im back in here.

 

[castomere]

Nope - I just used one of those websites.  It's the same site that the kid in the youtube video several posts back uses.  You lucked out man - I don't think it has anything to do with an agent - I think you just win some and you lose some.  Don't get me wrong - my pair ain't bad.  It's just not something I'd go out of my way to maintain/take care of because of the flaws that it has.

Oh, I know what you're talking about. I tend to stay away from them because of the very high markup. 

It's much cheaper to get an agent and buy from the source itself than to get them from rep sites. 

They can consolidate your purchases and send you pictures before they ship them out.

Sellers won't also try to give you  fakes or ugly pairs because they know that you can easily return them.

 

[Bert.]

yea because they know they are agents? stop, sure you can see pics but people get crappy pairs from agents all the time.

 

[cdynasty24]

so they look like OGs? isnt that better?

yes im back in here.

Zyzz, this actually made me go and open my OG Jams, and I'll correct part of my statement. OG Jams still actually have more of a bump at the top of the toebox, however, the GMs have a similar flat sole than the curved 2009 pair.

Honestly, I hated the 2009's, so I sold mine, and I'll give the GM shops credit for "correcting" the sole shape, however, still I'm pointing out the inconsistencies of the GM shoe. In that, IF they are using the same mold to produce 2009 Space Jams, why aren't all of these technical aspects matching up? Yes, there are flaws between retail released pairs, but not shape-wise. Every 2009 retail pair that I've seen at least had the same curved sole! I've seen extra glue, dents to midsole, marks on patent leather, but the sole never changed.

The shape of their new Space Jams are more like the shape of the 2011 Concords, though they are technically marketed as the 2009 Space Jams. If they're using the 2011 Concord mold to sell Space Jams, are they still Authentic Space Jams? C'mon.

 

[Sneaker P]

Those are the same size. Its hard to compare as well as one has been worn since 2009 and one have been worn less than a year...just saying.

Its like comparing 2 pairs of all white air force ones, they're not going to have same wear/creases/worn ankle padding etc...

Yall do you though. I'm just putting that out there. Its the same ****.

If you want I can post 2 of my release day 88s and you guys can bicker on how you can see "noticable differences" between the two. Then you'll have the same arguement on authentic vs authentic. Lol

I'm done here.

View media item 487308
On the real, thanks for contributing to this thread. When I said "Noticeable differences" I wasn't talking about creases. Just some inconsistencies that caught my eye. No one would argue on RD 88s, especially with the different/mismatching elephant print.

View media item 487325