The older you get the less you care about such things. There's a steady stream of young kids getting caught up in the hype and they too will tap out eventually only to be replaced by the next generation.

The more I think about it, the more I put the blame on Nike side. They have the power to produce more but choose not then create the scarcity for their own product to maintain the cool factor of the brand. This facilitate the backdoors, reps, and resellers. Aime and NB used a pre order system. Yeezy and Adidas keep releasing a decent amount of retros from time to time. Salomon releases a decent amount of colourway everyseason. Asics and Reebok collabs are basically sitting everywhere. When we talk about so called "culture", it's basically just consumerism and I have given up for that nonsense.

As an old head in the game, there is a silver lining in all of this for me. Nobody close to me (mainly my wife) 24+ years ago shared or supported my sneaker collecting interest and they often blasted me for wasting my money. With all of the hype today, there is now a ton of monetary value in the inventory that I hold so I am thankful for that. I have enough sneakers and cherish all of the old stories of hunting down sneakers and building relationships around the US. I had my time and I just wish people today could experience getting the shoe that really want, when they want it and at a fair retail price.

Crazy how the Jordan 1 has increased in price over the years. Nike isn't giving us quality that matches the amount that we are paying for these sneakers.

As someone who finally was able to understand sneaker culture and fashion through you with your "10 schockingly hyped sneakers in Japan" I can say that the hresale hype has killed a lot for me. I used to follow releases, would scour ebay till 3AM looking for deals and overall just looked out for designs. As some hype swept me up I would try to cop and 2019 really felt like the last year I could get in if I wanted it. Buying my first pair of Jordans from a store that by the time I could come back from the pandemic, only sold them as a cosignment store was disappointing. I would be happy to walk across multiple Ross and Outlet stores to find deals be it Ultraboosts, or my FoG Skylons, but once the hype got out of hand and I just missed on any release I tried for, and going to Outlet stores and seeing only resellers that were buying in bulk, checking stockx every aisle, and not even hiding it dressed in a hypebeast outfit the price of that aisle. It just hurt, cause when even your local Ross isn't safe from resellers then it feels hard to grow your style. To obtain things and try them on, it was just as important to mallrat for me and actually try things on as it was to watch the hype of sites. To learn that my feet were not made for 97s, that adiprene was actually comfier for me than boost, or how Asics just felt so good to walk in. It turned my favorite sneakers ever from the hype models into the less hyped pairs as my favorite Nikes are now the Pegasus Turbo and Foamposite AF1. My favorite Adidas is the Temper Run. My most worn NB is the 1300 I started going to smaller brands and having a blast. Getting a pair of 990s at an outlet store changed me, finding a sneaker boutique that sold Li-Nings taught me that chinese brands make the best insoles, my favorite discovery being my visit to a dead mall and copping Tretorns that had sat for so long they were basically giving them away and not realizing it was an Andre 3000 collab with no hype behind it because the brand doesn't even sell shoes on their US online store. I may never get my grails, but at the very least the explosion of the sneaker market still means there's hidden treasures to be found or even hype models because even for all I said, I write this comment on the same day I got a pair of Jordan 1 centre courts for 40 dollars from an outlet. I don't think resale is inherently wrong as it was the way I got into the culture since by the time I found your video, those models weren't in stores and the lack of hype made them attractive to buy but it is definitely annoying and disheartening to see resellers so often. Cause it doesn't make it feel like I'm with another enthusiast like if I'm at a skate shop talking sneakers or a running store, but like I'm in a race to grab things before it's seen for profit

I think I stopped caring as much when I saw everyone still hype up Travis Scotts after the dude got so many people trampled to death. Sneakerheads still putting his shoes in the top releases of the year and shit was just not about the culture anymore.

I think all the hype releases have taken a lot of the creativity and storytelling from the sneaker culture. Nowadays Nike will just piece a random story together that isn't even well researched and use that to justify slapping a new color way onto a Jordan 1 . I hope at some point that the appreciation for a good story and actually good quality will come back into the mainstream but that just isn't the case as of now.

While annoying, and I love my Jordans and other popular sneakers, it helped me look into other "non hyped" sneakers and helped me expand my horizon.

Just the kind of video I was looking for! First comment! Thanks Reggie!

Resellers in Houston are vicious, marking up 125% and up. They open spots in the mall then buy up everything in the mall before regular people can get in the stores. Feel sorry for the people that think this is the only way they can cop is to overpay. Robbing their own community and acting like they are providing a service. And the egos 🙄. If I don't hit on release date for retail, oh well just wait for the next release in a couple days or weeks.

People complain about resellers taking all the stock but when a shoe bricks and they sit all of a sudden the casual buyer don't want them.

I'm still wondering why the yellow and white De La high top dunks, keep going up in price. As a De La Soul fan I'm pissed to the nines. I just dont get it.

Another video on how snkr fashion has changed from being a piece of an outfit to the headliner would b really cool.

Watching this 2 months later in July I’m loving this resell slump that’s going on now. I was able to get some sneakers I missed out on that dipped in resale.

Some ppl don’t even care to get a compliment about their sneakers

I have been trying to get the g dragon af1s since its 2019 release, I've never budged further than double retail, yet here I was bidding 500gbp on them and still, nobody accepts it, I don't wanna pay 1k on sneakers, but being someone who followed the Korean music scene since 2010, having g dragon design a sneaker for nike was pretty appealing to me. I still have 450gbp bid on it and no one accepts and it really sucks that I know the people holding on to them don't give a damn about korean music, g dragon, big bang, or peaceminusone.

Its the early 2000s niketalk is popin. Footlocker backdoors are just a rumor and boutiques are underground havens for streetwear/sneakerheads/artists. Now there's 100s of boutiques with no stories or soul to them and where I'm from. The most legendary boutiques closed due to the culture shift and being bought out for urban development. Toronto had Goodfoot, stolen riches. 2 shops that would help shape early sneaker culture in Toronto and even played a part in Drakes early career. Ahhh the good old days.

I can’t wait to hear your follow up of this topic with the whole Zadehkicks fiasco.

Lol there used to be a Sears in my neighbourhood but now it is a flagship Tesla Dealership. I don't think brands want to make their product easier to authenticate via blockchain because that just gives the resell market more fuel because new buyers who were once too skeptical to partake, would begin to participate because their skepticism would be alleviated. This in turn would create more demand for the same, or lesser (because fakes would be sniffed out) supply in a market that already has highly inelastic demand based on the ridiculous prices people regularly pay for resold merchandise. The big brands hate resellers because of the prices they can charge for the same item second hand. If the first party brands suddenly decided to charge the prices that they know resellers will charge the second the production run sells out, they would be dragged through the gutter and publicly slammed.

Always spittin str8 facts

I'm not a part of this discussion, but it is interesting to hear about what's happening in the Extended Sneaker Universe.

i just want to be able to buy nike dunk low at retail price. they were my favorite shoes to skate in, super comfy & perfect fit

I just skip stockx and buy my reps right from the source 🔥🔥

good message

So I dont have any skin in the game for sneakers so i'll draw the parallel to something i know which is luxury purses. luxury handbags have had the same issue that sneakers have now. reps are running a muck, prices skyrocketing in retail and resell, and even brands suing over resell. Atleast with handbags once you get into chanel, lv, hermes terrority they have serial numbers which i guess would be a primative version of the block chain for authentication. super fakes are definitely real and have fooled even store associates. in the resale market i know places like the purse forum have spoken about how luxury brands track buyers and will even ban them from purchasing due to finding out that they are resellers. i have seen bags from special collection get sold out in hours if not minutes and out on ebay in week ,if they had it delivered, or hours if they got it in store. Currently there is a suit from Chanel against a popular luxury reseller store called TheRealReal for antitrust and selling fakes. Not sure how it will turn out but i guess it would be similar to nike and stockX

I've only bought 1 pair from a reseller just ONCE in my life. I only felt regret w my purchase. Havent even worn the shoe since, hoping i could sell em for what i paid for (price went down bad). Ever since then, its retail or nothing. What was the outcome? I was able to get j1 and j3 a ma manieres, j2 and dunk low argon unions, kwondo 1, polaroid sbs, unc halloween undftd dunk lows, 3 nike by you 2022 dunk lows, and other random shit. I have 28 shoes total, 40% are "hyped" and am I've only 4 pairs that i dont really like anymore. Resell def ruined the culture. But i put equal blame on the buyers as well. They are enablers that just perpetuate the problem. The thought that paying big money on resell is a flex is just dumb. The true flex in my eyes is when a brand gjves em to u for free bc u make an impact so much so that u become an influencer.

Personally i have one way of handling resell culture, Every customer must write down their ACTUAL email, not a fake one, must show proof that is your main email to even purchase a shoe or enter a raffle, To buy online every customer is ip traced and tracked and it must match the shipping address or you get sent back to the homepage and u gotta start over therefore reducing chance to purchase leaving it to a REAL customer… Only 1-2 pairs can be purchased period, not at a time, period… preventing the ability for someone to make 2 accounts is crucial if you lose your account than tough luck, make a password you wont forget..

Its ran by bots at this point! Limiting bots is one of the major issues of how ppl are acquiring 50+ pairs of an “exclusive” sneaker. Similar to block-chain, tech could help out the market by not allowing bots

I agree with everything you said, I believe that the sneaker culture will come back but it do need our help to make the change. So, it starts with us, Great review as always peace.

What do you think of these resellers calling the time of sneakers right now as a weird time? Example neutral color ways selling for 50 to 100 bucks cheaper then usual. Like the dark mochas it hit 600 at one point. But now shoes are barely breaking 350 and keep dropping from there.

I agree with you. There use to be a time when you could buy a sneaker that was reasonably priced and enjoy them. Now all the top brands present sneakers luxury items. I hate that. Thank God for alternative brands.

It's just crazy because like if there's like a new Jordan come out which retails at $200 other sites are getting them all and doubling the price on the pair of shoes I stop buying Jordans or some Nikes it's just ridiculous

Reselling is and will always be a thing with any limited collectibility. Once the botting formula was perfected everything went to sht. When your average consumer has to pay extra everytime for a shoe they want, the culture is dead. When people had to put in actual footwork just to resell there was an element in there that kept it fair.

Hello from 2023. With the economy heading further into the crapper and the sneaker resale market dropping off I feel confident that we can get back to how it was before the reselelrs ruined everything

Finally someone that explains things without just being a grump with no substance.

The one thing I have to say about all this hype ruining sneakers for me, is that it actually made me love them more. And I mean in the sense that now I don't bother looking at Nike release the same shoe again. If I was stuck in that, nike Jordan and Adidas only mindset, I wouldn't have never found the mizuno wave rider 1s or Diadora n9000s or fusion 2.0s or gel lyte 3s. Which in turn helped me realize what I actually want my sneakers to look like and what is my actual style. Ever since, there's way less, "that looked better in my head" days and more random people complimenting me. Not that what others think about you should matter but hey, we're all a little vain or is that just me lol Would be cool if the companies that have been making shoes for decades could make enough for the people that want them though. That'd be tight

yes yea I been saying that about blockchain tech, can track from manufacturing to retail to even reseller to eventual consumer

The sneaker game was better when it stayed in the “hood”

I applaud the general acceptance of resale as a legitimate staple of one's wardrobe and think it's a positive. Yes I understand you are talking about a different context - hypebeast releases and the exchange of mostly virgin sneakers. But as a sustainability advocate - the sharp rise in popularity of vintage re-salers as well as the used shoe market is a good sign of the generational widespread acceptance of wearing used clothing. Diverting good pieces from the landfill and back into closets for extended use. Lowering the desire for overproducing virgin materials, while giving good designs from the past a chance to shine again and building a more circular economy of fashion and distancing from planet destroying fast fashion methods.

What kind of shirt is he wearing?

I think everything has it's course: comic book speculators who crashed but just started to return, baseball cards from 90s to now basketball cards, pokemon cards. I think there is hope n that AJ1 highs have finally started to decline on resale. I think this is just a peak but they way we consume events it just seems bigger and lasting longer.

I'm kinda surprised the lockdown/pandemic didn't slow or stop sneaker hype and reselling. Oddly, people were buying even more in 2020; Nike had record profits and sneaker prices have gone up even more. Very bizarre to me.

When sneakheads began to wearing getting taxed as a badge of honor that’s what got the resale game going. That what I noticed 😢 I’m glad I got a retail plug not no reseller that’s a connect🤦🏿‍♂️

I like air Jordans as any other person but I don’t go off the hype am fine wearing a jordan from 4 years ago

I don’t think that article was so far off, maybe just ahead of the time. I can see in the 2025-2030 era of shoe culture being anti-hype and start adopting dress shoes. The new age will always reject the old, we are currently in the old

Stock x, goat, kixify have inflated the market... then you have the Ebay fees and now paying tax that makes the office's higher... back in the day, it was really buck wild but on the fun side... dudes would sell on Ebay for $1.00 and charge $150 for shipping.. then Ebay started charging on shipping fees...

I didn’t know pure breed dogs “with papers” were hella expensive, just saying regarding “authenticity guaranteed” lol

Resale Sneakers.. Nah, wear the most comfort in your feet, Maybe Ricks X Yohji can make sneakers 😌

Back in the early 2000s most of the big collectors were in their late 20s and 30s. The landscape had a deep appreciation for the culture and stories that came with collecting. Now its just kids and lames who seek social validation. There's no great story that comes with most sneakers nowadays. Its all to make money now..TF is a Ben and Jerry's skate shoe? Back in the day drops used to have meaning and were connected to hip hop or skate culture.

That's very informative and second comment 😝

kids..hype..and Travis Scott got us here 😂😂😭

Reggie out of curiosity what’s your favorite sneaker these days?

Blockchain should be a non-starter for an industry that wants to reduce it's impact on the environment. Not to mention the fact that NFTs are awfully prone to being straight up stolen. Add to that, the increased cost of purchasing sneakers that would result from gas fees or some similar hidden cost of getting that pair of kicks on the blockchain. Yes, sneaker culture has a resale problem, but I am not convinced that any part of the solution lies within blockchain technology.

Reps are becoming popular for a reason. Many of us are not high schoolers who are afraid to get called out, or using our parents money to buy these sneakers. Many great points made in this video! I’ve been avoiding hype releases and sneakers as well. There are always other options (and better many times).

People seek comfort in acting as a hivemind.... if dunks were never this hyped up then me and everyone else would see them at the Nike outlet for 50% off cause they're at the end of the day they're just basic low quality leather shoes.

I feel like I was too young for the first wave and now I'm too old for this new wave. Don't get me wrong, I do consider myself a sneakerhead, but I tend to prefer extreme designer silhouettes or cool finds from smaller brands rather than racking up Ls in raffles

Nice

dont care about resale sneakers, i just want an adidas seeulater like yours lol.

Keep it QASA

Knowing how mega corporations works seems kinda naive to think that Nike seeing that the retail market is making billions $ they are gonna sit and do nothing about it or miss that opportunity to make profit of it

I buy reps to compare with real ones. The grade A reps are indistinguishable from real ones in terms of quality, look and feel.

For those that want high quality sneakers that won't be in any physical stores, msg me. This is directly straight from the factory middlemen. No bullshit, no waiting, no Ls.

This is why I buy reps. Ain't no way I'm paying 4 figures to some snot nose brat for a shoe that can be repped 1:1 for $110.

What's with the bitrate of your face cam videos? It's stuuuuuuupid blocky. Cam got reset or something by accident?

i get sick of all these shoe dorks running up the price on the hood shoes

Random thought but sneaker-centric outfit should be put to rest by the time you hit 25. If you don't have your own personal style by then you need to hang it up.

Imagine using a blockchain that dies off or does a rug pull to "authenticate" anything. Yeah no.

Nike V Stock X is a joke! It’s insulting to the intelligence of us the consumer.

Well said. Nike makes it easier to purchase rep

If there’s a demand there’s money that’s how I look at it

if you hate resellers just don't pay them. retail or nothing.

How Resale RUINED Sneaker Culture Agreed!

Ads ruined youtube.

My last pair of trainers(sneakers) has block chain technology. Complete tracibility from manufacturing to ownership.

I riek da sneaker

I think the general sneaker culture is pretty dead, with everybody and there mom's wearing panda dunks, aj1s, aj4s and referring to them selfs as sneaker heads, with out knowing shit about the topic. This is the new mainstream. However subcultures will still be existing, like Adidas superstar heads or Reebok pump heads or like my self bapeata heads. Those subcultures will keep a shoe cool until hype comes and kills it. The endless cycle like we saw with dunks or will see with Airmax 1s.

They are not "resellers", they are SCALPERS!

Just resellers buying from one another.

Im not gonna lie, I got the AMM jordan3 for retail and I was super happy seeing them at 1k canadian resell .. it make me feel special as stupid as it sound. I could buy a rep for 200 and it wont make me feel special im sure.

It's not resale, it's scalping!

One more point as i rewatched the vid: u dont need further authentication measures if u just avoid resellers. I dont trust resellers lol. Retail or nothingis the true wayyyy

Nike is just a terrible company , me personally I’m moving away from the brand, other brands out there that actually make sneakers with better quality.

All nike has to do is sell their customers the shoes they want. F nike! I'm happy someone else is illegally making money off their design.

All that edd money made niggahs act rich. Like they really had something 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

you talk like reps are only bigger now so people can exploit the situation to resell them. couldn't be further from the truth the fact is this hype is big enough where every shoe garners 1 million people wanting them yet they still only put out 60-80k pairs. a lot of people still want these shoes but don't want to give in to this monetary system that leads most of these coveted shoes to not ever be worn as the arbitrary value attached them is is too high to justify

I disagree with this take, the real PROBLEM is people wanting to dress exactly like everyone else, there's no sense of individuality anymore and you focused way too much on FAKES, stock x and whatever exists because of FAKES, only people with low self-esteem and desire to impress others wear FAKES.

To me, resale is a necessary evil. Who cares , there are a million other shoes out and there will be a million more coming out. You’re not supposed to get EVERYTHING you want because you THINK you’re entitled to it. Move onto the next release.

I feel like you've done so many variations of this same topic..... move on fam.... give us some reviews of Japanese runways or something!

Resale deftly didn’t ruin the Culture. Saying such a thing is dumb asf. I’m a reseller. It’s how I make $. It’s not against the Law whatsoever. And I help many others get shoes. It’s something that I love as well. I have a passion for Sneakers & Purses. Would rather do this than something else