Rising Sneaker Prices Cause for Concern or Inevitable Occurrence

With todays current economy, everyone in the U.S. has been affected by the changes in some way, shape, form, or fashion, even the sneakerheads. We all know that inflation plays a role in the economy as a whole, but could the rising costs of what has generally been labeled an “unessential” purchase, be forcing some of us sneakerhads to think about the direction the sneaker world is going in.

Upon pondering the subject at hand, can we really just place all of the blame on inflation? Are we forgetting that the concept of supply and demand also is a key contributor to an increase in prices as well? Either way, neither of the reasons seems to be stopping any of the sneakers we all hunt for, whether on or after the release dates, from coming with a heavy price tag.

With all that being said, it’s time to hear from all of you sneakerheads out there! Since we are the consumers, is this a cause for concern or just an inevitable occurrence? How do you sneakerheads feel about this subject going forward with so many releases on tap to hit retailers in the months to come? Are you still going to remain relentless in your pursuit of your favorite releases or will you start to hunt a little bit smarter?

Feel free to use the comments section below to voice your opinion.

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7 Comments

  1. Honestly, the price of sneakers going up is truly u fair considering the fact that sneakers are no longer being made with quality products anymore. For example, retros are starting to look cheap b/c they are no longer being made out of the real leather, suede, and rubber we see on OG’s. Right about now trading and selling OG amongst our own sneaker community seems to be the best way to go these days. Maybe it is time that we as sneakerheads stand up and say if the price tag is going on so should the quality.

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  2. 60 quid increase on a pair of 3s since 2007 is a joke to me tbh. once a GR shoe is over 150 im out of the game :(

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  3. The price can be blamed on inflation and resellers as well as greedy behavior from the manufacturers. Inflation pushed it up. Resellers get a profit from doig what they do and Nike and others see the resellers pushing the price up more and they in turn ask for me because why not. People are paying. To me 200 is my limit and that’s insane. Foams not worth 225 and up. Lebrons not worth 220-280. None of these sneakers are worth anywhere close to 240.

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  4. This is a fascinating, real life, “pop-culture” example of economic concepts on display.

    Many “numbered” Air Jordan’s (XI, III, V, XIII) appear to be near perfectly inelastic, meaning the quantity demanded of stated AJ’s remains unaffected by price, Ed = 0.

    Leveraging Nike/JB to set the market price, not the consumer; it won’t change unless economic market factors change (consumer preference, unemployment, inflation, war, raw materials, labor, interest rates, etc.).

    Prices for high-interest footwear is only going to continue to grow.

    I foresee this segment of footwear becoming more exclusive and expensive, becoming only accessible to the most connected and wealthy. And largely out of reach for the general public.

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  5. Atltwen hit it right on the head “perfectly inelastic” , way to hit ’em in the head with some micro/macro econoics. But in my opinion culture plays a bigger part than that. Fans tune in to NBA playoffs to see the latest foams and PE’s from JB members. Now, instantly that never before seen colorway comes with a $15-$20 increase in price for a GR release. It’s just not worth it.

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  6. The problem is us, Sneaker heads, we are willing to pay more and more and not think about the past, not to mention the declining quality of the new release. Companies like Nike and now Reebok, are creating an extra hype and releasing “limited” quantities of the retros and this is how they justify the high price, its a simple game they are playing with us, and most of the people done realize it. My cure is – just stopped buying, after owning more than 80 pairs, I am tired of playing this chase game and spend a fortune for kicks that should be much cheaper and more available to the public…

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  7. I agree with trentbg. We the sneakerheads are SOLELY responsible for these stupid prices. We are the ones chasing the 300 dollar-plastic sticker-limited whatevers. We are the ones sitting outside the stores at 4 am waiting to buy an overpriced pack of shoes older than us with outdated technology.

    We make the packs work, we make the stupid colorways work and we are the only ones that can bring this prices back.. If we could resist the marketing and our own egos.

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