I was never really a big fan of Kanye’s collaborations over the years because there were too many followers chasing his products because of “Kanye” as opposed to the shoe itself. But that’s more of just my own personal opinion and most of the time it won’t concur with the mass public. For those that followed me over the years, my main focus in the very beginning was Nike Air Jordans from OGs to early retros between 1985-2004. I first started selling shoes as early as 16 years old, but I didn’t fully commit to making it a thing till 2013. But even since 2013, the sneaker landscape has changed rather drastically and quickly. What i learned from being a re-seller/curator is you can’t stay in your comfort zone all the time. For example, what works today might not work tomorrow or in other words the very business model that worked yesterday doesn’t mean it will work today. Over the years i have seen so many re-sellers come and go and not many are able to keep up with the fast changing environment before going out of business or just simply leaving voluntarily because profit just wasn’t there for their time.
Now most of you are wondering why the picture of LV Kanyes and what does this have to do with the topic in hand? The point i’m trying to make today is that even though I was never a fan of Kanye and his products I need to get into it because that’s where the money and market is at right now. Put in other words in young culture terminology, that’s where the fucking hype is at bro bro…LOL. The effect of Kanye in this culture as of right now is very very real and that is totally reflective on re-sell prices we see for his shoes. You really think the Yeezy Adidas boost will fetch the same price we see today if we strip out the name Kanye from it? Probably not… The hard part of being a re-seller and making your margins is not to follow what is hot NOW, but in fact it is to predict and make predictions what is hot couple months into the FUTURE! If you neglect this aspect, you run the risk of becoming irrelevant when the market shifts and profit margins to go next to none because 95% of all re-sellers are trying to sell the same thing to the same group of buyers. Once this group of buyers shifts demand taste, these sellers are either forced to hold on to inventory or just simply compete cut throat with others for the lowest price and usually that is why market prices fall because supply would then outweigh the demand.
Here’s my take home point of the day. Out of all the products and collobrations Kanye has done, the Adidas Yeezy are probably the worst from the standpoint of visual and creativity. With that said, I refuse to take a large position on stocking any Adidas AT ALL. Every single pair i get, i sell right away because I know for a fact this market will shift/phase out sooner or later. Even if i had an Adidas Yeezy, i’m doing it out of favour for a customer rather than my personal choice. However, I personally think the LV Kanye colloboration is something worth investing in because prices just makes much more sense than Adidas Yeezys. In terms of quality and design it is probably most superior out of all. The hardest part was learning how to distinguish real and fake on them, but that’s the price customers pay to buy from legitimate sellers for their knowledge and expertise on buying 100% authentic items. Like any of my opinion pieces, this is just my most educated guess and who knows…Adidas Yeezy might be the biggest thing to happen in sneaker history, but from my experience, I honestly think Adidas Yeezy is walking down a similar path of Nike Rosche runners a few years ago rather than creating a lasting legacy like Jordans.
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