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

[frenchbreadbuilds]

Quick story that may be of interest to some of the posters in here (or maybe not).

I work for one of the huge consumer products companies, with a large share of our product manufactured in China. Couple of weeks ago, we shuffled the seating arrangement on our floor. My new neighbors are part of the legal team that fights piracy. One of the team members had two copies of a product on her desk, so I asked her about them.

She explained that one was an authentic product while the other was made by a licensee whose license had expired, but was continuing to produce product. There were a couple of minor, but noticeable differences between the two. She explained that they had the know-how and molds required to produce the product, but no longer had access to the same materials because we did not allow them to source the materials themselves. Our supply chain team sources materials from Party A and ships them to Party B in prescribed volumes.

If Nike follows a similar approach, this could explain a) why many GM shoes are very close, but have slight differences (think the lining on the DB4s) and b) why the latest Black and Royals have far different materials.

. This makes sense and is most definitely plausible but does the factory gain the licenses per release or does it happen fur the factory as a whole? So does a factory producing 4 different shoes have 4 licenses?

The only thing is these factories are keeping up with the most current releases meaning they still have access to the materials. So they still have licenses.

 

[alburrto]

Dudes the answer is simple. Buy legit royals and get raped or drop 240 on sneakerape. Stay away from taobao for royals!

 

[lewi1913]

Quick story that may be of interest to some of the posters in here (or maybe not).

I work for one of the huge consumer products companies, with a large share of our product manufactured in China. Couple of weeks ago, we shuffled the seating arrangement on our floor. My new neighbors are part of the legal team that fights piracy. One of the team members had two copies of a product on her desk, so I asked her about them.

She explained that one was an authentic product while the other was made by a licensee whose license had expired, but was continuing to produce product. There were a couple of minor, but noticeable differences between the two. She explained that they had the know-how and molds required to produce the product, but no longer had access to the same materials because we did not allow them to source the materials themselves. Our supply chain team sources materials from Party A and ships them to Party B in prescribed volumes.

If Nike follows a similar approach, this could explain a) why many GM shoes are very close, but have slight differences (think the lining on the DB4s) and b) why the latest Black and Royals have far different materials.

Damn. So we were right....

Exactly. That's sounds spot on to me. So if they r not authentic, then?

High quality replicas.

I appreciate the info, but lets not all become sheep here assuming we know how nike does business and their supply chain model. As stated before, we have no idea on that info.

Even if nike did source their materials in this way, I am pretty sure those materials are manufactured by someone in China, and what's to keep Party A from selling directly to Party B after the nike contract ends?

The truth is, we really have no idea, but some shoe models seem to be identical, albeit a few flaws from lack of quality control...

 

[lewi1913]

 2001's,

I spy...widows peak.

Widows peak, smaller logo, are these really replicas? I would be interested to see the 2001 bottom sole vs taobao pairs. There were notable differences on comparison pics.

 

[amiina]

if the whole royal 1s was materials, then how do you explain the mold? its that if the 2001 release. my gut tells me that all sellers are getting them from same factory that never actually produced the og royals of this year, and still have the tech/mold of 2001. this seems more like it hence the placement and size of the wings logo. if it were that the materials had ran out, the placement would all be spot on, just different feel bit that's not the case here. its not too far fetched that this factory supplying the GM pairs to the sellers had old tech, look at the xviis they are making, that's way old tech.

 

[cream1]

Can somebody tell me where to order a pair of GM 88s? Missed out on release for obvious reasons, really want a pair, but not for ebay prices. I saw pics of a GM pair a few pages back and they look great, near identical. So yh where can I buy a pair? Shipped to the UK.

This whole GM discussion is getting me confused, what I do know is that I'll be happy with a pair of those GM 88s I saw lol.

 

[frenchbreadbuilds]

if the whole royal 1s was materials, then how do you explain the mold? its that if the 2001 release. my gut tells me that all sellers are getting them from same factory that never actually produced the og royals of this year, and still have the tech/mold of 2001. this seems more like it hence the placement and size of the wings logo. if it were that the materials had ran out, the placement would all be spot on, just different feel bit that's not the case here. its not too far fetched that this factory supplying the GM pairs to the sellers had old tech, look at the xviis they are making, that's way old tech.

Again i think we're thinking a little to hard about this. The retro 1 is literally one of, if not the most, retroed models to be released under JB. If they needed a mold/tech pack they wouldnt be using one from over 10 years ago when production wasnt in china and from the time molds were destroyed after production, especially when there are tons of molds/tech packs from 1 mids, 1 highs, 1 high straps, 1 OG hi, AJ 1 KO that have been from the past 5 years alone. Plenty of molds, plenty of reasons why they came out so messed up.

 

[lewi1913]

Can somebody tell me where to order a pair of GM 88s? Missed out on release for obvious reasons, really want a pair, but not for ebay prices. I saw pics of a GM pair a few pages back and they look great, near identical. So yh where can I buy a pair? Shipped to the UK.


This whole GM discussion is getting me confused, what I do know is that I'll be happy with a pair of those GM 88s I saw lol.

Read the thread, the whole thread. Then you will be a pro.

 

[amiina]

Here are some shots with my GM jams, next to release date pairs of concords and breds all size 9.5

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[frenchbreadbuilds]

Here are some shots with my GM jams, next to release date pairs of concords and breds all size 9.5



 

Those look amazing to me. A lot of these GM space jams are more than just "decent".

 

[lewi1913]

Here are some shots with my GM jams, next to release date pairs of concords and breds all size 9.5

View media item 527123

Look great, how much total did you pay?

 

[amiina]

I went through an agent, paid about $200 total shipped.

 

[nick3232]

Expensive agent mine will come out to like $160 in total

 

[castomere]

Thunder 4's arrived at my agent's place.

 

[nick3232]

Is it me or is the jordan in the insole too far to the right?

 

[mints]

Is it me or is the jordan in the insole too far to the right?

could be, but that picture is taken at a funny angle. It wouldn't be the first time there's some weird goof up on the insoles though.

 

[mikeysneaks]

man those widow peaks on the thunders

 

[bossdonvah]

I'm glad people are realizing these "gm" shoes are high quality fakes ....the whole same factory and same materials theory is completely falling apart

 

[coldcity]

I'm glad people are realizing these "gm" shoes are high quality fakes ....the whole same factory and same materials theory is completely falling apart

it never had any weight just dudes turining a blind eye to it

 

[frenchbreadbuilds]

I'm glad people are realizing these "gm" shoes are high quality fakes ....the whole same factory and same materials theory is completely falling apart

Some times I wonder if I'm reading the same posts that others are reading. The only thing that was realized is that taobao sellers can also sell high quality fakes a long with their GM shoes. Much like how a lot of sites that sell replicas have an "authentic" section that is filled with GM shoes. No theory is falling apart here.

 

[frenchbreadbuilds]

it never had any weight just dudes turining a blind eye to it

lol

 

[ninjahood]

I'm glad people are realizing these "gm" shoes are high quality fakes ....the whole same factory and same materials theory is completely falling apart

it never had any weight just dudes turining a blind eye to it

Here are some shots with my GM jams, next to release date pairs of concords and breds all size 9.5

sounds like you guys are da ones wit blind eyes...

 

[nick3232]

I'm glad people are realizing these "gm" shoes are high quality fakes ....the whole same factory and same materials theory is completely falling apart

You must be reading NikeTalk V2 Parallel Universe cause no theory is falling apart

 

[amiina]

Some times I wonder if I'm reading the same posts that others are reading. The only thing that was realized is that taobao sellers can also sell high quality fakes a long with their GM shoes. Much like how a lot of sites that sell replicas have an "authentic" section that is filled with GM shoes. No theory is falling apart here.

I think most people with the opinion of fakes haven't taken the time to read the whole thread, or held each pair side by side comparison.

 

[coldcity]

non uniform cf ... you were saying