The world of sneakers, between skyrocketing prices (and margins) and speculation
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On Christmas day, the shops open in the most central shopping streets of Milan – via Torino, corso Vittorio Emanuele and via Montenapoleone – could rightly be counted on the fingers of one hand. But only one was crowded, as well as open, the one in the initial part of via Torino, the closest to the Duomo, with a sign Nike x Jordan , inaugurated on December 16th, the first flagship store of the Michael Jordan brand, one of the most famous basketball players of all time. A 360-metre store that houses all the Nike x Jordan branded products (men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and footwear), so far sold only in Nike stores, on the brand’s official website and through the Snkrs app, app Nike official website that helps you stay up to date on new launches in physical and online stores (in the photo above, the home screen from the Nike website to download the app). In the shop in via Torino you can find tracksuits, backpacks, but above all sneakers, what until a couple of generations ago in Italy they called “sneakers” or “tennis shoes”.
From playgrounds to streets
The English name is more suitable if only for one reason: despite being the best seller of Nike and other giants in the sporting goods sector, such as Adidas or Puma, sneakers are no longer designed, sold and used on playing fields, it doesn’t matter whether it’s basketball or tennis, but on any other occasion, especially for pre-adolescents, teenagers and under 30s. The first reason for this success and diffusion is that sneakers are comfortable: it is no coincidence that in the last ten years every high-end brand, from Gucci to Vuitton, from Kiton to Santoni, to name two champions of Italian craftsmanship and tailoring, have invested in this type of shoe, aided by the casualwear “megatrend”. Once the only day “allowed” for informal clothing was Friday (the “casual Friday” invented by the Americans); today sneakers can be worn anywhere (even on the red carpet, perhaps combined, for men, with a tuxedo) and by anyone and at any age. Then there’s fashion, the desire to follow a trend to feel accepted by peers. And here we return to Nike x Jordan.
The 400 euro industrial and plastic best seller
If paying hundreds of euros or dollars for a shoe by Gucci, Vuitton, Kiton, lace-up or sneaker, may seem “normal”, similar costs for a “sneaker” by Nike or Adidas are less easy to understand. The former, in addition to the “surcharge” linked to the brand name, are often made by hand, especially in Italy: Vuitton has a shoe factory, including sneakers, in Veneto; Kiton makes them, like any other product, in Campania; Santoni creates, assembles and finishes them in the Marche region. The latter are almost always made in China / Vietnam / India / Indonesia, with infinitely lower production costs. Let’s also add research and development on materials (increasingly lighter and more sustainable, at least according to the declarations of Nike and other industry giants), marketing and communication costs (Michael Jordan became even richer after the end of his sporting career thanks to Nike and other companies with which it is associated) and growth of items such as energy and logistics. But nothing, in fact, can justify the multipliers we see in sneakers. Except that desire (or trends) are priceless. In the store you can find Nike Jordans starting from 120-130 euros but the most requested ones of the moment are close to 400 euros, with a production cost that almost certainly does not exceed 40-50 euros.
Why overpay for sneakers
Today’s Jordans have almost nothing to do with basketball or the history of Michael Jordan anymore, as it was in 1985 when they were introduced and the champion also wore them on the courts. Today Jordans, like many other sneakers, are a phenomenon of custom. In addition there is the factor of the scarcity of supply, which attracts the public even more and makes them a much desired rarity. In recent years, the episodes of very long night-time queues in front of shops have increased, waiting for the time X of the latest announced model to arrive in the shop the next day. And here we come to the second innovation, which distinguishes the “sneakers phenomenon” from other “fashion fads” of the past, such as the paninari in Italy in the 80s. At the time there was no internet and the resale of the rarest and most expensive models of Moncler, Timberland, El Charro belts, Best Company sweatshirts and Ray-Ban glasses (just to name a few of the brands that made up the “uniform” of the paninari) was very limited.
Sites specialized in information and resale
In the United States, the homeland of casualwear and streetwear, of which sneakers are an integral part, and not only, sites and real online magazines are multiplying that provide information on news. In Italy there is for example NSS Magazine , which is closely following the growing interest of pre-adolescents, adolescents, girls and young women in sneakers, which have always been more and more loved by boys and men in general. For example, a few weeks ago Nss dedicated an in-depth study to the new launches of Nike and New Balance, entitled “Is the platform really the only creative option for women’s sneakers? New Balance’s latest drop identifies an all too common trend” . According to NSS, «To prove that the platform is the easy solution to a complex problem, just think of the Puma x Dua Lipa collections with the Mayze model or the Air Jordan 1 Elevate Low, which along the lines of the success of the men’s Air Jordan especially of the Nike Dunk, he decided to incorporate those extra centimeters into the sole, giving it a rounded appearance, and therefore immediately “cute” and more attractive to the new female target», reads NSS. “The problem is that women who love sneakers don’t necessarily look for the functionality of the heel, but they look for structure, design, research, quality materials and above all, a little creative ingenuity”, concludes the article. In addition to information and analysis, there are sites specializing in the resale of sneakers (even never used) and auctions, with collector’s items that have been out of business for years. “Reselling” is also a growing phenomenon in Italy: it consists of buying – especially online – limited edition models of sneakers from brands such as Adidas, Nike and Supreme, and then reselling them at a higher price. GlobalData forecasts indicate that the global resale market will increase from 28 billion in 2019 to 64 billion in 2024, with an average annual growth of 39%. As he explained recently the Economyup site , «in Italy five years ago collectors represented about 5% of consumers, while the so-called resellers were about 1%. Today all consumers are potential resellers, thanks to social media and platforms created ad hoc». Among the most famous reselling sites are StockX, Grailed and Flight Club.
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