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nice artcle. good find.
There's not much, if any, sneaker conversation on this board, but I thought someone might care.
One of Duncan's mentioned midway through.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister...le_1761894.php
Some big shoes to fill after iconic Air Jordans
MARCIA C. SMITH
Register columnist
CERRITOS Nearly two dozen pairs of Crazy 1 high-top adidas basketball sneakers sit untouched inside their black boxes near FootAction USA's entrance at Los Cerritos Center.
Storefront tables carry a scrapheap for unsold, heavily discounted shoes: the super-sized pairs for flipper-footed giants; the garish kicks splashed with magenta and electric green, too wildly designed and too lacking in style or comfort; and the large assortment of pro-athlete-linked signature sneakers such as the Crazy 1s going at the cut-rate price of $29.99.
The story of the Crazy 1 is a crazy one, even a cautionary tale for the shoemakers who have been unable to recreate the nearly two-decade-old signature-sneaker sensation of the Air Jordan.
Though the signature sneaker remains a sports-marketing rite of passage, particularly for NBA stars, shoe companies are being forced to realize that consumer interest in these high-priced, high-concept, high-profile sneakers continues to wane.
Sales of high-end men's basketball shoes have dropped each of the past five years, according to the NPD Group, a New York market-research firm.
Experts in the $15 billion U.S. sneaker industry pegged high prices, over-gimmicky styles, average performance, the crowded court of marquee footwear and the popular emergence of the "brown shoe," or casual athletic sneaker, as factors.
You might remember the Crazy 1, nee the Kobe 1, which made its way into stores in 2001 with a price tag of $125. It's as soft and cushy as a cinderblock, as attractive as a dorm-room refrigerator and as flexible and forgiving as its original namesake.
Few people — relative to the stampede that demanded to "Be Like Mike" in the late '80s and early '90s — bought the Kobe 1 when it made its debut. Some UCLA basketball players, taking advantage of the school's exclusive adidas deal, wore it. Once.
"It was a brick," said one former Bruin, who wished to remain nameless for fear of seeming ungrateful. "It hurt."
The leftover Kobe 1s return as a retro model, bargain priced at $29.99 and repackaged as "Crazy 1," a le similar to Bryant's last 2003 adidas edition, Crazy 8.
Bryant cut shoelaces with adidas in 2003 and split for the high-end, basketball-shoe-market-dominant Nike stable, for whom he since has sported the better-selling Nike Air Zoom Kobe 1 and the Nike Huarache 2K5 Kobe basketball styles.
Meanwhile, Crazy 1s wait around as slow-moving stock.
On tours through sports-apparel stores from Los Cerritos Center to Westminster Mall to The Block at Orange, sale racks offer discounted Crazy 1s, as well as Nike Huaraches embroidered with Bryant's former No. 8. (He switched to No. 24 last season.)
Also spotted in the red-lined-priced rows were discontinued Nike models for Cleveland star LeBron James and Denver Nugget Carmelo Anthony, adidas editions for Houston's Tracy McGrady and Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, and the black Converse for Miami's Dwyane Wade.
Superstar signature shoes used to be more of a gold mine for manufacturers, thanks in large part to their high markup. High prices help companies such as Nike chip away at its five-year, $45 million endorsement deal with Bryant and its seven-year, $90 million tie to James, among others.
Profits, however, come only when the shoes sell. Sneaker aficionados might have been willing to s out $250 for a pair such as the ones San Antonio Spur Tim Duncan wore at the 2006 All-Star Game; adidas, using technology from its running shoes, planted a computer chip into the pair's midsoles.
But would you pay $250, especially if you're not a baller or Duncan's greatest fan? Would you part with $125 for a McGrady pair with a piece of the hardwood embedded in the sole? Or $90 for the white Nike Zoom LeBron Low STs trimmed in white patent leather with a silver logo plate at your heel?
How about $130 for the red and white adidas T-Mac 6 with the five-pod formation running along your instep or the white, purple and maize Nike Zoom Kobe II?
Probably not.
It's hard to get your money's worth for these sneakers. Athletic-shoe satisfaction plummeted to 76 percent in 2006, the lowest figure posted since the American Consumer Satisfaction Index began tracking sole pleasure in 1995.
Market giant Nike, which also includes the Converse division, dropped from a 78 percent peak in 1995 to a low of 72 percent in 2006. Its top compe ion, Reebok, which merged with Germany's adidas-Salomon in 2005, sank from 80 percent in 1995 to 75 percent in 2005.
Still, Nike goes after the NBA's top stars, having inked the 2007 NBA draft's top selection, Greg Oden, last month to a multiyear deal for undisclosed millions. It heavily markets its basketball stable in "The Second Coming" ads showing 10 NBA stars, with Bryant and James most prominent.
Adidas, which boasts soccer star David Beckham and last week signed NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. up for a full footwear and apparel line, began a "We Believe in 5" basketball platform last year featuring 24 NBA stars centered on Duncan, McGrady and Garnett and including Laker Jordan Farmar and Clipper Corey Maggette.
These players have the money to spend on signature shoes, which they get for free anyway. Everyone else can wait to get their kicks on sale.
Or simply buy the best-selling basketball shoe of all time: the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star, an American icon priced at $24.99.
nice artcle. good find.
i got the starburys and they work just fine. i'm too old to be spending $100 on a pair of basketball shoes.
one thing the article didn't mention is that that kids nowadays aren't that interested in those high performance basketball shoes. they all want the customized air force ones, dunks, etc. the hard to find and one of a kind shoes.
I will never spend more than 60 dollars on sneakes. Thats felonious!
I'll bet you that the Jordan XXIII sells well....For everyone else's shoes I agree , but Jordan stuff doesn't seem to quit selling.
shoe styles were way more classic, suave and comfortable 10 years ago than the ugly martian style shoes i see now. you can't wear a good polo and khakis with some of these styles anymore. nike sees what's going on and puts alot of effort into the dunks, af1, and skater shoes like the air p-rods. those are way more stylish than the b-ball shoe and don't come with the ridiculous prices.
yep jordans still sell like crazy last year almost everyone on my bball team had em but beside jordans i think d wades would be the second most popular probaly cause there cheaper then the other players shoes
Move it to the Club Fashion Thread.
Move it to the Club Fashion Thread.
Stephon Marbury shoes only cost 10 dollas.
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