Our grandson wants a pair of Air Jordans for his birthday. He took us to a store that sells this stuff. “Grandpa! You can’t get them at Payless!” Silly me. Anyway, I couldn’t believe the price of shoes in the store. $225 was at the low end for other than toddler shoes ($125). $300-400 was not uncommon. They had these ugly slip-on things that seemed to be made of the same material as Crocs -$250. Some sneakers were in a locked glass case -$1000 and up with the highest price that I saw of $4500. Who pays that kind of money? How can a store selling items (with no real utility) that average $250 stay in business? Is this just a collectibles market? Do people actually wear their $600 basketball shoes out in the wild? Play basketball in them? I mean, these shoes aren’t really that much better from a technical standpoint, right? No, we didn’t buy any but I saw grandma starting to crack under the pressure.
Some people collect sneakers nowadays. They may pay hundreds of dollars for rare ones and might have dozens or hundreds in their collection. I think most such people don’t wear the collectable ones.
It’s almost become a meme on some of those flipper/renovation TV shows … the guy in the couple has more shoes than the woman and needs an entire wall of cubbies to display all his sneakers.
The prices you saw were very definitely on the outrageous end. You don’t have to make the kid wear shoes from Payless or Walmart but you can easily find name brand (Nike, Adidas, Puma, Under Armor, etc.) shoes for under $100 at dozens of shoe stores.
Status symbols. Conspicuous consumption.
If it helps to discourage you or the kid’s grandmother, some kids have gotten mugged for their expensive sneakers. So tell him that you’re not going to buy him the expensive shoes he wants for his own safety. He’ll probably roll his eyes at you, but it really might be safest.
There’s a lot of good athletic / athleisure branded basketball shoes that are functional and really nice, and might cost $75-100 (c. 2015, I haven’t priced them since.)
But Air Jordans have become very specifically a designer / collectible thing. I remember when they first started to hit the streets way back in the day they were marketed more as basketball shoes for anyone who wants them, but I noticed at least 10 years ago, the brand was releasing “designer” shoes that retailed for hundreds, usually had limited edition runs, and were frequently and maybe predominantly being bought to be stored in a closet for display / collector’s purposes, not to use. A lot of kids are into this stuff and I would wager your grandson wants them because they’re cool and it’s cool to have them.
If all he needs are a good pair of shoes to play basketball or other sports in, any mainstream athletic footwear brand is going to have a very serviceable shoe for much less.
Up until a few days ago I was blissfully unaware of the whole ‘sneaker collecting’ thing. What surprises me is that there enough people doing it to support a store in the mall. With the exception of Nike, who makes Air Jordan, those other brands won’t do it. Or so I’m told. I guess if you have more money than you know what to do with (or soft grandparents), the “status” associated with these shoes is worth it. From my point of view, you might as well be collecting Cabbage Patch dolls or Beanie Babies.
Can he articulate why he wants the particular shoes he wants? Beyond “they’re cool” or “my friend has a pair” that is. Does he do sports that will make good use of those particular shoes, or is he just going to show them off?
How old is the boy? He sounds a bit spoiled if he’s willing to ask his grandparents to pay hundreds of dollars for a pair of shoes. Is he getting any kind of education from his parents about money, or is he still in the state of nature, where other people just give him things and he doesn’t have to think about the cost? Also, how long before he grows out of these things?
What kind of a bite would this expenditure take out of your budget? What do his parents think about you grandparents spending that kind of money?
I think if I were a grandparent I would be buying a more-or-less token present and putting whatever other money I could afford into an untouchable college fund. And I would be doing exactly the same for all my grandchildren, which would certainly affect the amount I could put in the funds.
Yup, seconded.
There’s absolutely no problem with spending outrageous amounts on designer/collectible sneakers if that’s your passion, provided you’re spending your own money. If he’s really into $300 sneakers, it needs to wait until he’s old enough to get a part-time job, earn the money himself, and appreciate what $300 really means.
It’s not the absolute amount of money that’s the issue. It would be another matter if he were seriously into some sport where the basic kit/equipment costs that much. It’s the fact that he’s asking for an extravagant luxury item that costs 5 times what it needs to cost. Unless you drive a Lamborghini, I don’t think he should be asking you for that.
I don’t have a problem with him asking the grandparents for an expensive gift; one of the things some grandparents do is to indulge their grandchildren. As for him growing out of the shoes, you might try what I did when I bought heeleys (those sneakers with a wheel built into the sole) for my then ten-year-old niece. I made her promise not to grow out of them, though she didn’t hold up her end of the bargain.
He is about to turn 10 and yes, its the cool factor. He has another grandfather who he rarely sees. He makes up for his absence by spending crazy money on gifts. His parents are doing pretty well but I don’t think even they would buy the shoes. I don’t think its too likely he’ll be getting the shoes from us. In any case, I didn’t intend this to be about the wisdom of buying such shoes but more about my shock that $300 sneakers are even a thing.
Not necessarily. That’s just about the right age to be conscious of status but still completely ignorant about the relative value of things. I think most kids ask for ‘cool’ stuff without really understanding what their parents can and can’t afford. I know I did.
If I were your grandson making the hard sell I’d point out that you could buy 175 pairs of Air Jordans for the price of these speaker cables…
A friend’s son will be graduating from college next year. When he was ~14, he got into expensive shoes as a hobby/business. He used his savings to buy several pairs of shoes after waiting at the store overnight based on a rumor the shoes would drop.
He sold shoes for a profit and bought more. His dad allowed him to miss an occasional day of school just to insure he’d buy shoes before they sold out. He eventually bought his first car with profit made from his shoe hobby.
He has never worn any of these shoes, wouldn’t dream of it.
Yup - what we do.
There’s a difference between “shoe store” Jordans and the “collectibles.” The first are “Team Jordans,” which are not desirable. The “good” ones are what’s known as “numbered Jordans.”
People do wear them, but there’s like a special way to walk in them so you don’t crease the toe (seriously, people will get upset if they see you walking around normal in “collectible” Jordans). It’s all quite insane if you ask me, but whatever, lots of people have odd hobbies.
I’m not shocked by $300 sneakers. Partly because my son buys those sneakers and sells them for a profit - but also because I know people who wear red-soled shoes. The flip-flops go for $400 - actual shoes go for $600 plus.
I work with a guy that collects gym shoes/sneakers. He’s constantly reading message boards and evaluating rumors. When a limited new shoe is first offered online, they sell out like hot event tickets: if you’re not at the computer right when they drop, no shoe for you. He made and painted a display case with some shoe logos.
He has a story about selling some.
He and the buyer made the arrangements of time and place and price, $350 as I recall. A few minutes before the appointment, he gets a call from buyer to make sure he could get change from four $100 bills which was agreed to. On arrival, he noticed one of the bills was counterfeit and the buyer’s reaction suggested it wasn’t a mistake.
My coworker was, to hear him tell it, irate at the scam attempt but also at the foolishness of the operation. “You’re going to come to MY block and try this?! All I have to do is shout ‘help’ and 10 of my neighbors will show up to beat you silly. 'The fuck outta here.” Without going into detail, I believe him, too. Neighbors can be territorial.
“If I were your grandson making the hard sell I’d point out that you could buy 175 pairs of Air Jordans for the price of these speaker cables…”
Isn’t there some saying about “A fool and his money” ?