I read "Shoe Dog" so now I am an expert on Nike and all the other brands that are trying to be them. The coolest part is Portland was the major pivot point in their succession, I assume they reign supreme because Nike is so cool and awesome and better. At some point, I'll have to find the Shoe Dog Adidas book. I'm sure it's an amazing story of how greed and corruption lead to their ultimate demise to superstar underdog Nike, I mean Puma is already a skeleton in the closet...
SO Nike is king in Portland. And don't worry that I jumped to an overtly biased conclusion with little evidence, it's all the rage right now among news reporters, millennial bloggers, opinion columnists, politicians, and people holding Master's degrees in French Polynesian Art.
Shoes have strange prestige in Portland. Nike makes a few thousand pairs of these special shoes a few times a year and 180 million people want them on drop day. Anyone that cops a limited edition pair of Jordan's and actually wears them deserves some respect. Here is Portland however, everyone is doing it, so rare is the name of the game. You don't just wear nice shoes like every bum on the corner; you have to wear very rare shoes once a year only 100 pairs in the world, with one-of-a-kind custom colorways and empowering stories of struggle and victory in their designs. And have a famous name attached to them too.
Did Jordan make his first dunk from the free throw line in these? Did Timberlake design these in his green room before his Super Bowl halftime show? Did the pope wear these at the Vatican while blessing the royal baby? - Now we’re talking and I’m hooked, how do I get my hands on the Pope's kicks? Shoes are dropping every minute and many of them are worth more that you pay. Unfortunate some are worth less than retail. So after you sort the hot shoes from the brick you have to score. The hot shoes are so hot you can't even score them by just working at Nike. Everyone must stand in the same virtual line together, it's a true great equalizer.
Unfortunately, drop after drop - I waited, I clicked, I did not score. I waited, I clicked, I hoped, I did not score. I waited, I clicked, I hoped, I prayed, I did not score. I waited, I clicked, I hoped, I prayed, I had my friends make account and click, and hope, and pray and... I just can’t score. No Off White, No Travis Scott, no Sachi... Get the point?
Taking the L’s is exhausting, you try holding a phone for hours just refreshing the feed with expectation turning to the emptiness. You cling to the dying hope that maybe the next double-tap will bring you fulfillment and happiness. If they would just wait to want them until after I wear them and set the trend, things would be so much better. And when they don't, it’s everyone else's fault! No, really it is.
What now?
I thought I was desperate to enter the dark world of low supply and high demand shoes. In this game, there are several key payers as the lucky few get the first wave of these glorious shoes.
-There are those who have their personal assistant drop $3000 on StockX the next day. They then lace up and go shopping at Safeway. They may never get another pair, they don't care, if they ever do again, their personal assistant will be ready.
-There are those that don't give two farts about shoes and miss the first wave altogether because they look at a pair of Off-White Air 1s at $190 and only see too much $$$.
-There are those (lovingly?) referred to as sneakerheads. People are obsessed with owning shoes at any cost because they must have them all. They will try for every wave and will eventually buy from resellers just because they must have.
-There are those who see shoes like stocks and when they cop rare ones they have won the lottery. They then find a crazy person or stupid rich person. This aforementioned normal person benevolently offers to sell their magical Nike "Stock" for a small conveniences fee of $3400 + shipping.
In the end, most people ride the first wave in terms of cash flow, not caring about owning or wearing and definitely not caring too much about the cost. This creates a bigger problem for me.
People will doalmost anything to make some money. The shoe game is no longer about looking fly on the street. Bots and hackers and Russian servers are now in play against me, it’s getting too deep and I’m not ready for this level of obsession with the W.
After hours of research on bots, it occurs to me that I don't care enough about shoes to want them at all costs. Maybe I need more time to marinate in the Portlanderness to become a true Sneakerhead. Could also just be that my blog, although widely popular and making me look hot while swimming in mountains of cash while I do next to nothing - is not ready to support a $3,000 per pair per day shoe habit. For now, I have chosen to see these shoes like fine art and hand-built Italy sports cars from the 1950s; I can look, I can enjoy, but I cannot pay more than retail.
SO Nike is king in Portland. And don't worry that I jumped to an overtly biased conclusion with little evidence, it's all the rage right now among news reporters, millennial bloggers, opinion columnists, politicians, and people holding Master's degrees in French Polynesian Art.
Shoes have strange prestige in Portland. Nike makes a few thousand pairs of these special shoes a few times a year and 180 million people want them on drop day. Anyone that cops a limited edition pair of Jordan's and actually wears them deserves some respect. Here is Portland however, everyone is doing it, so rare is the name of the game. You don't just wear nice shoes like every bum on the corner; you have to wear very rare shoes once a year only 100 pairs in the world, with one-of-a-kind custom colorways and empowering stories of struggle and victory in their designs. And have a famous name attached to them too.
Did Jordan make his first dunk from the free throw line in these? Did Timberlake design these in his green room before his Super Bowl halftime show? Did the pope wear these at the Vatican while blessing the royal baby? - Now we’re talking and I’m hooked, how do I get my hands on the Pope's kicks? Shoes are dropping every minute and many of them are worth more that you pay. Unfortunate some are worth less than retail. So after you sort the hot shoes from the brick you have to score. The hot shoes are so hot you can't even score them by just working at Nike. Everyone must stand in the same virtual line together, it's a true great equalizer.
Unfortunately, drop after drop - I waited, I clicked, I did not score. I waited, I clicked, I hoped, I did not score. I waited, I clicked, I hoped, I prayed, I did not score. I waited, I clicked, I hoped, I prayed, I had my friends make account and click, and hope, and pray and... I just can’t score. No Off White, No Travis Scott, no Sachi... Get the point?
Taking the L’s is exhausting, you try holding a phone for hours just refreshing the feed with expectation turning to the emptiness. You cling to the dying hope that maybe the next double-tap will bring you fulfillment and happiness. If they would just wait to want them until after I wear them and set the trend, things would be so much better. And when they don't, it’s everyone else's fault! No, really it is.
What now?
I thought I was desperate to enter the dark world of low supply and high demand shoes. In this game, there are several key payers as the lucky few get the first wave of these glorious shoes.
-There are those who have their personal assistant drop $3000 on StockX the next day. They then lace up and go shopping at Safeway. They may never get another pair, they don't care, if they ever do again, their personal assistant will be ready.
-There are those that don't give two farts about shoes and miss the first wave altogether because they look at a pair of Off-White Air 1s at $190 and only see too much $$$.
-There are those (lovingly?) referred to as sneakerheads. People are obsessed with owning shoes at any cost because they must have them all. They will try for every wave and will eventually buy from resellers just because they must have.
-There are those who see shoes like stocks and when they cop rare ones they have won the lottery. They then find a crazy person or stupid rich person. This aforementioned normal person benevolently offers to sell their magical Nike "Stock" for a small conveniences fee of $3400 + shipping.
In the end, most people ride the first wave in terms of cash flow, not caring about owning or wearing and definitely not caring too much about the cost. This creates a bigger problem for me.
People will do
After hours of research on bots, it occurs to me that I don't care enough about shoes to want them at all costs. Maybe I need more time to marinate in the Portlanderness to become a true Sneakerhead. Could also just be that my blog, although widely popular and making me look hot while swimming in mountains of cash while I do next to nothing - is not ready to support a $3,000 per pair per day shoe habit. For now, I have chosen to see these shoes like fine art and hand-built Italy sports cars from the 1950s; I can look, I can enjoy, but I cannot pay more than retail.