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The orange and midnight blue are pretty fresh. $200 isn’t outrageous if they’re truly well made out of premium materials. They’re obviously not trying to cater to dudes who’ve been skating Etnies Maranas, and they’re not stupid because they will def sell.
The fully lined cow leather is definitely fresh I’ll say that, but like personally it looks too basic to warrant that money regardless of the material. If I’m spending good money on shoes outside of boots and dress shoes then I want them to be fucking out there to a degree. No one wants something that basic looking for $200, I’m sorry. Why do you think a lot of dunks do so good, and they aren’t even close to that expensive before resale. I’m not even talking about skating.
Are you sure? I guess that's why companies like Common Projects, Eytys, Axel Arigato, Diemme, Buscemi, Filippa K, Human Scales, Acne, AMI Paris, Our Legacy, APC etc etc. all have kept basic silhouettes like that in the 200-400$ range that keep selling in Europe.
Maybe it's just a European thing but clean products with an intriguing story and quality materials sell really well here. Good thing they're based where they are.
I mean I’m not too familiar with European or Asian sneaker culture so I definitely cannot comment on that whatsoever without looking like a dipshit. But if you came to the states and were buying sneakers at say a high end reseller like holy grail, flight club or stadium goods or wherever the fuck you generally see that it’s by and large Nikes, Jordan’s, and adidas/yeezys. There’s definitely some exceptions with some rare converse, vans, revenge(such trash), NB, Puma, etc. but for the most part unless you are talking about like retro Jordan 1s, Air Maxs, AF1s with simple clean colors, for the most part that’s just not the case in the states if we are talking about medium to high end sneaker fashion, in other words spending over like $130 for a pair of shoes.
I'm well aware, I hate the term "sneaker head" but I guess you could say that's what I am as well. That's kind of the whole point though, sometimes it's just nice to have a good quality sneaker. The Jordan 1's are a great example - how bad is the leather quality of a 170$ retail J1 now? It's laughable, it's easily comparable to a 70$ shoe you get from a random "menswear brand" but that's not why we buy them, is it? There's something else to it. There's a story to the shoes and an identity that come with each model. The shoes themselves are not high quality shoes at all.
Sometimes it's just nice to slip into some small brand quality shit that wasn't sewn by some 12 year old kid and that just feel super nice on your feet. As I get older, I get more hyped on all that stuff and the importance of being a smart consumer (caring about ethics, sustainability, supporting the economy and diversity of smaller brands).
Don't get me wrong, I'll still swear when I don't get those new beginnings j's later this month but I've been cutting down a lot and focusing on other stuff and I'm guessing that's the demographic they're aiming for.