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

[frenchbreadbuilds]

What I find odd is that, why haven't the Black Tongue Fire Red Vs not on the Grey Market? Don't those come out in August? Prolly made in a different factory I assume.

I've seen them, they're out there and available. Seems like there just isn't a large enough demand.

 

[lewi1913]

One of my boys messes with the GM pairs, does reviews for them on youtube and gets them free from the chinese sellers. He sent me a pair of Space Jams to look at, since I have nay sayed him for ever on this crap.

They look and feel good, only think is the carbon fiber off a bit, and the sole is super icy. :\

 

[Bert.]

What I find odd is that, why haven't the Black Tongue Fire Red Vs not on the Grey Market? Don't those come out in August? Prolly made in a different factory I assume.

i bet they will be on the market by the end of June.

actually im 99% sure they will

 

[Sneaker P]

One of my boys messes with the GM pairs, does reviews for them on youtube and gets them free from the chinese sellers. He sent me a pair of Space Jams to look at, since I have nay sayed him for ever on this crap.

They look and feel good, only think is the carbon fiber off a bit, and the sole is super icy. :\

Does he have a video on GM Royals? Would love to see that.

 

[Bert.]

One of my boys messes with the GM pairs, does reviews for them on youtube and gets them free from the chinese sellers. He sent me a pair of Space Jams to look at, since I have nay sayed him for ever on this crap.

They look and feel good, only think is the carbon fiber off a bit, and the sole is super icy. :\

post his videos?

 

[ninjahood]

great video comparing da perfect space jam replicas to da grey market authentics.

replica community?

yea man..my sneaker era is coming to a end soon anyways...ill always be on NT, but as far as hoarding kicks?

da sun is setting on that soon..

 

[puffin85]

Grey Market and Replicas aint for me. I don't care how good they may look ,but if others like them and buy them more power to them.

 

[Bert.]

those replicas next to the authentics... :x

what the hell man

 

[lewi1913]

I used to be DEAD SERIOUS against anything "fake" or replica. But now I ask myself, if the materials are REAL, and made by the same chinese workers, are they really fakes?

That "authentic" pair in the video looks spot on, I would rock those. Not paying $700+ for some DS Nike issued ones with piss yellow soles already...

 

[tbone97]

The retros now are variant quality compared to og's or early 2000 retros as it is. Grey market kicks or not nike is becoming the walmart of materials buying only the cheapest there is. Whats the difference the whole jordan line is trashed. nike itself is putting out grey market retros quality wise that sell out regardless so screw it

 

[jchambers]

great video comparing da perfect space jam replicas to da grey market authentics.

replica community?

yea man..my sneaker era is coming to a end soon anyways...ill always be on NT, but as far as hoarding kicks?

da sun is setting on that soon..

Right there with you, bruh. I am running out of room.

 

[Tony $now]

Like ninja hood said....my exit from shoe "collecting" is coming soon. I may buy a pair here or there, but truthfully I have all the pairs that were my "grails". This whole grey market/perfect shoes has my mind blown.

 

[ninjahood]

those replicas next to the authentics...

what the hell man

yea i told you about da perfect pair a few pages back.

welp...catch me in da jewelry section with jchambers, can't fake da funk over there (for da most part)

 

[lewi1913]

great video comparing da perfect space jam replicas to da grey market authentics.

replica community?

yea man..my sneaker era is coming to a end soon anyways...ill always be on NT, but as far as hoarding kicks?

da sun is setting on that soon..

So are the "perfect" considered fakes and the authentic ones they have grey market?

 

[Bert.]

Like ninja hood said....my exit from shoe "collecting" is coming soon. I may buy a pair here or there, but truthfully I have all the pairs that were my "grails". This whole grey market/perfect shoes has my mind blown.

im done after this year as well. too much headache

ill come back when all the hypebeasts are gone and i can easily get a pair on RD without a freakin hassle and shoes sit for a week or two.

 

[joeyd12]

So are the "perfect" considered fakes and the authentic ones they have grey market?

Affirmative. Anything with "perfect" in the name is describing that it's as close to perfect as a replica can get. There are different grades of replica shoes, price depending on how much they look like the authentic shoe, which obviously increases price because they use the same or very close materials. "Perfect" versions still have no real carbon fiber. That's honestly the only differentiating flaw on these pairs tho.

So essentially they have made an exact replication of a space jam, and u can buy it with plastic where the carbon fiber is supposed to be for $100.

But because one has a plastic shank it's "fake" and because the other has carbon fiber like it's supposed too it's "grey market authentic"

the end all, be all of this thread should be "wear and buy what your comfortable with"

 

[bigmike24000]

yea i told you about da perfect pair a few pages back.

welp...catch me in da jewelry section with jchambers, can't fake da funk over there (for da most part)

Well the day has come.  Ran into a guy on kixify selling off his collection to get money to buy wholesale GM jordans.  After texting back and forth he revealed that his supplier indeed buys the pairs directly from the nike factories overseas as previously discussed as many have disclosed.  This guy knew nothing about GM jordans... he just knew he was buying Jordans wholesale and they weren't the crap fakes everyone laughs at.

I asked him about his order and he had the usual: Space jams, concords and cool greys and cement 3 '88... BUT he also had the black cement 3's, white cement 3's true blue 3's bred 4's, white cement 4's and cav. 4's toro 4's, black and white grapes v's and more... he offered to put me on as he can get more product with a larger order....and I was like naaa bro..

Though I declined, now buying shoes after release date is gonna be a circus.  BTW this guy is located in North Carolina.  You are no longer safe... these pairs are on ebay, kixify craigslist, sole collector...a da truth is no collection is safe...and some of us already have pairs and do't even know it....please don't Pm me for this guys number I don't support this...

And finally what is scary the most is we have all heard of the rumored online only DB release.  Once these guys get their hands on those you are going to see GM db's floating around (they already have db 4's).  Also the DB drop could be a feeble attempt by nike to identify locations who violate their policies.  Since these are  likely to be made at one factory if grey market pairs show up Nike can easily put that factory under a microscope... ish just got real... reall real.

 

[vood99]

I used to be DEAD SERIOUS against anything "fake" or replica. But now I ask myself, if the materials are REAL, and made by the same chinese workers, are they really fakes?

That "authentic" pair in the video looks spot on, I would rock those. Not paying $700+ for some DS Nike issued ones with piss yellow soles already...

My man the whole issue lies with the materials. The tools to cut, mold, glue and sew are universal - but high quality materials are not. Nike has been cheapening/worsening their product to variant-like levels so much so that the variant makers or GM producers really don't have to spend any extra out of pocket to match them. Don't even get started with the plastic and polyester Hyperfuse/Hyperflight/Flyknit product - China has dominated this industry since the early 90s when more and more plastic manufacturing was being moved there. If the profit margins exist - the plastic Nike/JBs will be reproduced.

If Nike/JB gave a damn about releasing a higher quality product it would be harder for the variant or GM guys to justify producing so many unauthorized units due to increasingly high margins. We're talking about properly padding sock-liners, running real leather, going back to 90s constructions methods and dropping the one-piece, embossed crap but that would make too much sense for Nike/JB.

 

[lewi1913]

I really think what has happened, is that JB quality has declined so much, and replica quality has increased so much, that the 2 have both met at the mediocre level now and are pretty much the same. Hate to say it, but Nike did this to themselves by cheaping out on materials, and trying to make better margins on masses who buy retros.

Replica or GM, a lot of these shoes look/feel pretty dang close to the authentic.

 

[bigj505]

I really think what has happened, is that JB quality has declined so much, and replica quality has increased so much, that the 2 have both met at the mediocre level now and are pretty much the same. Hate to say it, but Nike did this to themselves by cheaping out on materials, and trying to make better margins on masses who buy retros.

Replica or GM, a lot of these shoes look/feel pretty dang close to the authentic.

statement is invalidated when you actually realize that they are using the same materials from the same source. older fakes used different materials which allowed for dead giveaways.

its been stated a million times now that the gm pairs come from the same people that are producing the retail pairs. its nothing new since we have known about gm shoes for years... we just called them early release shoes.

It seems like the floodgates really opened when production shifted from Taiwan to China... a prime example is with the foamposite line. Pre 2010 - you could hardly find a pair of early release foams. Once production moved to China, every foam sans Galaxies maybe has been available months in advance. Air Randy started carrying foams then and he had them in huge, huge numbers. Factories in China just arent regulated like Taiwan and are cheaper.

 

[csp23]

Agree with both.. Material has went down on some shoes... Quality was given up to increase profit. Pretty sad for the collectors.

 

[bigj505]

Agree with both.. Material has went down on some shoes... Quality was given up to increase profit. Pretty sad for the collectors.

huh? quality of the materials has nothing to do with grey market shoes. they use the same materials as the production pairs since ITS FROM THE SAME SOURCE.

 

[victorious]

im done after this year as well. too much headache

ill come back when all the hypebeasts are gone and i can easily get a pair on RD without a freakin hassle and shoes sit for a week or two.

Guess you won't come back because those days are long gone.

 

[Bert.]

im done after this year as well. too much headache

ill come back when all the hypebeasts are gone and i can easily get a pair on RD without a freakin hassle and shoes sit for a week or two.

Guess you won't come back because those days are long gone.

hey man, these things dont last for ever. could be a few years but one day all this people will stop wasting money on Jordans.

 

[vood99]

huh? quality of the materials has nothing to do with grey market shoes. they use the same materials as the production pairs since ITS FROM THE SAME SOURCE.

BigJ, what they are saying in not so many words is that Nike/JB themselves have been selling us 'grey market' pairs.