Speaking of sneakers…
I have to put NIKE on blast this time for cynically shitting on me and a bunch of the collectors that represented last Saturday for the ‘One Time Only’ releases. NIKE was billing the releases of these funky Air max shoes as some kind of major event and the kids were lining up their tents and sleeping bags outside of the city’s sneaker freak boutiques for a chance to copp some of that rare Air.
I say major event because there was all kinds of street buzz about the shoes from the skate parks downtown up to the afterschool hot spot hangouts along 125th Street. I was into my own thing the night before the release, but I still went through one of the local shops to peep out some of the true believers.
Shouts to JESSE JAMES and his crew for holding it down and repping the lifestyle. Chilling with these dudes for a hot minute reminded me of why I still collect. Our love for all things that NIKE pushes is a passion that borders on insanity. You devote yourself to the brand in the belief that they actually care about your feelings and that they want to please you. After a few days of looking at my ‘One Time Only’ shoes I feel like NIKE played me and all of the collectors that bought into this project. A simple shoebox makes me feel like this.
When NIKE unfurls any major design event they create a package that commemorates the design in the storage system of the shoes as well. For the LeBRONS, the Untold Truth and the Air Max 360, NIKE crafted a box that immediately described the idea that you had purchased something special from the brand. The ‘One Time Only’ shoe had a price tag over two hundred dollars which is interesting since the original shoes that these styles are all developed from have sticker prices well below that figure. The shoebox that NIKE isued with these sneakers is the same one used for their general releases.
I’m not asking for an SB box like the one above, but NIKE is charging me way too much to come to the table with a cheap azz G.R. orange box. With all the artwork that was created for this limited release of shoes you would have thought that NIKE appreciated their fans enough to go the extra mile. PRE always went the extra mile.
Where is the love Beaverton?
