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- Sep 9, 2010
I have to quote you, because you're speaking the truth !Originally Posted by LaceLocka
The OG heads are growing out of the scene and unfortunately we have the newest generation that doesn't have the background on a lot of what's going down right now...they do what they are told which is to buy the newest anything out. They are the accelerated version of what a lot of us were going through in 1999-2005 hype wise. Jordan brand had on thing right....they determined if people are willing to buy fakes with lesser quality....if they made a lot more production of their more coveted models in these "alternated" colorways they would make more money....thus where we are today
I can also make a bold statement saying that neither Nike/Jordan Brand OR sneakerheads know where this is going. This is such a HUGE evolution that we only see certain segment of it at a time. What triggered the "accelerated version" and hype of shoes was the internet, mainly Niketalk, blogs and ebay. This was like a movement where OG collectors made a huge contribution.
If you read old Slam magazines and KICKS, when selling shoes on ebay was just starting (and yes there are articles on this). It was a trend when honest people discovered 1985 Jordan's and listed them on ebay without discovering their true value. People caught on and starting listing OG XI from 1995 so on and so forth. Nike saw this and capitalized in people who were still interested in their older models, to say hey we can re-issue old shoes, hence retros became hot. So instead of each new owner making a small profit from the SAME circulating pair of OG's, Nike decided to saturate the market with their own stuff. This became so boring to the point that it forced real collectors to 'leave' because "the brand isn't the same anymore"
There's no substance behind the brand anymore, everything is built on hype and these "unveiling" launches. Sneakerheads grew smarter, we know the lifecycle of shoes from production to outlet; when to shop, at which sites; where to get discounts and share outlet information.
Like you already know some lucky few will find the Cool Grey XI at Nike outlets. B-grades or whatever, for $90+ as long as you have them, you don't really care. (See what happened with CDP XI and SJ XI)
Mind you, retros are only a copy of the original thing, but people are willing to wait in line and camp out in the cold; and select accounts are willing to hold midnight releases- what does this tell Nike?
Nike doesn't even know what is 'hot' anymore, they can't even design the next Jordan properly, but one thing's for sure retros that resemble the 3's (cement/elephant print), 11's (patent leather), 13's (silhouette) will sell. So aside from re-re-re-releasing these shoes again, they fuse it up with something else. Because they don't know where this is going...