Random Fashion Thoughts (Part 3: Style farmer strikes back) - our general discussion thread

[MGoCrimson]

Man Vito was my guy can't believe they offed him like that.

Does anyone have experience with b&l belgian loafer sizing?

Same size as CP for me

 

[MickeyPunch]

I’m not a sneaker guy but recently found myself wanting a pair of jordans... nostalgia, I guess (had a pair of whatever model MJ wore at the ‘92 olympics because I remember they had no. 9 rather than 23) and there’s something I don’t understand.

It seems Nike releases a shitload of colourways nobody wants yet the original ones (which are probably what 99% people demand) they release once in a while and in low quantities.

How is this beneficial to them vs. what Adidas did with the Stan Smith, ie releasing as many as they can possibly sell of the original colourway?

 

[dieworkwear]

How is this beneficial to them vs. what Adidas did with the Stan Smith, ie releasing as many as they can possibly sell of the original colourway?

Feels like you've answered your own question. Jordans are a much more popular and profitable shoe. That's obviously due in part to Jordan himself, as well as Nike. And the shoe's design. But the manufactured scarcity of certain colorways has also helped to make that an iconic and covetable item, not unlike the manufactured scarcity of Hermes bags.

 

[Jonas251]

I’m not a sneaker guy but recently found myself wanting a pair of jordans... nostalgia, I guess (had a pair of whatever model MJ wore at the ‘92 olympics because I remember they had no. 9 rather than 23) and there’s something I don’t understand.

It seems Nike releases a shitload of colourways nobody wants yet the original ones (which are probably what 99% people demand) they release once in a while and in low quantities.

How is this beneficial to them vs. what Adidas did with the Stan Smith, ie releasing as many as they can possibly sell of the original colourway?

Apparently the Jordan 11 space jam that released last year (I think) was over 1,000,000 pairs. Seems like they release the og color ways (bred, Chicago, blue/black) at least once a year in pretty sizable quantities. Why they don’t just have them stocked at all times has to do with the fact that the scarcity of those models drives up value for the brand and helps push the sale of less desirable models, although clearly Nike is trying to sell as many pairs as possible while still making them feel special. So they are walking a tight rope. In the past few years Nike has been releasing og Jordan’s more and more often. 10 or so years ago it was like one model once a year and people would get shot over them.

 

[LA Guy]

Feels like you've answered your own question. Jordans are a much more popular and profitable shoe. That's obviously due in part to Jordan himself, as well as Nike. And the shoe's design. But the manufactured scarcity of certain colorways has also helped to make that an iconic and covetable item, not unlike the manufactured scarcity of Hermes bags.

Well, it's not as though Stan Smiths weren't super popular for a good 5 years, and remain popular even today. Different distribution strategies and both effective.

 

[dieworkwear]

Well, it's not as though Stan Smiths weren't super popular for a good 5 years, and remain popular even today. Different distribution strategies and both effective.

They're nowhere near the scale of Jordans. Jordans have been hugely popular for almost as long as I've been alive, and continuously so. People get killed over Jordans. No one is out here robbing you for Stan Smiths.

 

[steveoffice]

They're nowhere near the scale of Jordans. Jordans have been hugely popular for almost as long as I've been alive, and continuously so. People get killed over Jordans. No one is out here robbing you for Stan Smiths.

@Parker and @dotcomzzz might be if adidas only released 1000 stans a year...

 

[dotcomzzz]

Lol Stevo, true.

fyi made in france and made in usa stans go for plenty on the bay. I had to shell out a tidy sum for mine but I love them so much and it was totally worth it

 

[erictheobscure]

They're nowhere near the scale of Jordans. Jordans have been hugely popular for almost as long as I've been alive, and continuously so. People get killed over Jordans. No one is out here robbing you for Stan Smiths.

i was going to ask if we have a rough approximation of how many stan smiths have been sold in the last thirty years (or whatever) vs the number of jordans, and how that all translates into both revenue and profit.

but i guess life (according to the same western configuration of capitalism and representative government that upheld chattel slavery as long as it could) is priceless. so i guess jordans have to be more valuable if they've been worth human lives.

checkmate, idiots who don't manufacture scarcity.

 

[zissou]

The guest presenter in my design course spent a couple years as an apparel designer at Adidas, working on Yeezy lines. She said that Kanye was impossible to work with because they would crank out prototypes to show him, and he would constantly change his mind. They produced only a small fraction of the apparel that they designed for him. No wonder it loses so much money.

 

[NaTionS]

Adidas stopped selling Stan Smiths for a while in the early 2010s and pairs were being sold on eBay for $200+.

 

[dfagdfsh]

The guest presenter in my design course spent a couple years as an apparel designer at Adidas, working on Yeezy lines. She said that Kanye was impossible to work with because they would crank out prototypes to show him, and he would constantly change his mind. They produced only a small fraction of the apparel that they designed for him. No wonder it loses so much money.

Wait the person who said this is hard to work with?

West said the 13th Amendment was a "trapdoor" where "you'd get locked up and turned into a slave."

"Would you build a trapdoor that if you mess up and you accidentally something happens, you fall and you end up next to the Unabomber? You gotta remove all that trapdoor out of the relationship,"

 

[erictheobscure]

Adidas stopped selling Stan Smiths for a while in the early 2010s and pairs were being sold on eBay for $200+.

irrelevant until you can show a body count

 

[NaTionS]

irrelevant until you can show a body count

I’ve always kept multiple pairs of stans as backups since the mid 2000s so I was good. But had I been more desperate, who knows what I’d been capable of...

 

[Jonas251]

When I was in high school a classmate was murdered over a pair of Jordan’s. It’s not funny. Having Jordan’s at that time had a lot to do with how people perceived status, and the competition and violence was among those with little socioeconomic mobility. Further those people paved the road for a big part of what sw&d has become. A lot of you would probably be wearing those Clark’s with colored soles if not for the street movement so maybe check your tone