Nike vs. Starbury!

[Bergdorf Goodwill]

I don't like or condone the wearing of athletic sneakers for non-athletic purposes at all, but since some of you'uns seem to enjoy your Nikes, I figured this might be of interest:

http://ncaa-basketball-rumors.aolspo...s-the-15-shoe/

The key quote being Marbury's "I'd rather own than be owned."

 

[benchan]

I like those Starbury shoes with the exception that it seems to take styling cues from New Balance, AND1 and reebok or in some cases a blatant copy of the other brand.

FYI, they have some 10 dollars walking shoes too.

 

[mmm]

I really think this was a good idea. I feel badly about asking my mom for such expensive shoes when i was younger not knowing how hard she had to work for them. Too bad these weren't around then.

 

[Hard2Fit]

Love everything about Starbury's. Wear them with my Nudie BBDS all the time.

 

[mizanation]

no kid wants to wear a $15 shoe, unfortunately. even if marbury wears them.

 

[mmm]

I was under the impression that these were selling really well. They were often sold out, at least when they first came out.

 

[adamm411]

Props, Bergdorf.

 

[Max]

I would totally floss them if they weren't sold out all the time. They seem like the perfect shoes to spraypaint and go skakteboarding in.

 

[Ahaz]

I interviewed with Steve and Barry's a while back. It seemed like they strived very hard to stay so cheap. Each store has a different price. The store I interviewed at was at $6.98 iirc, so everything in the store excluding shoes was $6.98. Tees, jeans, parkas - everything. They were really proud of a lot of their sports stuff - real embroidery on some jerseys, some college licenses, etc.

They told me money was always an issue. The only people full time were the managers (two to three a store usually) and the director. All the other employees were kept part time, and minimizing their hours was a big priority. Your store budget was VERY tight, and you would pretty much have enough money to schedule all the shifts you needed.

The store I interviewed at was running on one manager with one director, and they said they had both been pulling down over 60 hours a week.

 

[chronoaug]

I'm gonna try to pick up a pair when i go to orlando this weekend. There is a steve and berrys somewhere if i recall. If they're not sold out in my size i'll post back when i get them. I've been following the marbury stuff for awhile now and i'm glad he did it. Ben Wallace has joined him and is going to have a shoe come out at steve and barrys alongside marbury. Lebron is a tool as a person and a basketball player. He's not a complete player. There is no subtle greatness to his game. There is more to the game than layups and 3s. Once he learns to play on the ball defense (not steals), post up, defend the post, move without the ball and develop a mid range game, then i'll listen. He's no where near ready to be my basketball messiah. Being a tool doesn't help either.

 

[Arethusa]

I appreciate what Marbury's doing with these, though I personally would rather see him concerned with both his consumers and his producers. It's better than Nike by far, but that's not good enough.

 

[chronoaug]

Marbury can't do everything though. I think it's very important what he's doing and coming from the streets himself, understanding the situation instead of just trying to make a ton of money as a tool like lebron is very refreshing. We can't ask so much of marbury as that would be too much i think. It would probably up the price significantly to be produced in smaller numbers in the USA and that would completely take away from his goal which is to help the people who were in similar situations to him. Just curious, are all steve and barrys stuff made in sweatshops overseas? I've never read up on them. I'd imagine it'd have to be at those prices but i'm not going to jump to conclusions. I'm not getting into manufacturing ethics because i am not equpped to do that properly but i do think that marbury deserves all the praise and perhaps more for what he's doing. Off the court at least. He's a mess chemistry wise on the court.

 

[mmm]

I would bet they are made in a similar fashion to the nikes and the rest of them in poor countries. Personally Im not too concerned where the products are made, only that the workers are not mistreated/abused. Everyone needs jobs.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

I think I was watching Dateline NBC or 60 minutes or something last week when they had a special on this.

They literally cut a pair of Starbury's and a pair of some $150 pair of Nikes in half...
Same construction methods (glue), generally same materials (vinyl, plastic, foam, polyfill) - the difference? The $150 pair of shoes had a plastic "mesh" vent (Which was purely decoration, covered with padding on the inside) and about four square inches of leather on the upper part of the shoe.

For what its worth, I was one of those kids who's family couldn't afford Jordan's. I wore vans, chucks, and combat boots pretty much exclusively until I was about 16 years old. I got in dozens of fights at school because of my footwear. I was obviously poor. My jeans had wearmarks, stains, and holes in them. I wore hand me downs and had "poor kid" glasses. (you know the ones... they have big black ugly frames)

I bet money now that most of those pricks from elementary school are wearing distressed jeans, retro/vintage tees, and some vans/chucks/boots right now. The ones that need glasses are probably rocking the black "poor kid" frames, cause they are "in" right now... (the designer versions, anyways) and I owe them all a severe beating.

Anyways, good for Stephon. I wish him the best of luck.

 

[yerfdog]

dang, this is pretty cool

definitely hope this shakes up the industry

i had never heard of steve and barry's. Turns out one of the few in CA is actually right on my way to work. How is quality, compared to Target/Walmart stuff? Same quality (ie, good enough for me in several situations)?