What drives the price of a sneakers up?

The world of resell is varied and complicated. Between an unobtainable release and ever-changing drop dates, understanding the logic behind the price of your favorite sneakers is difficult, if not impossible. It is not an exact science, but a set of factors and coincidences that often cause the price of a shoe to jump suddenly, transforming a pair of previously unknown sneakers into the most sought-after grail by collectors.

We saw one of the most striking cases in this sense only a few months ago, when in full lockdown the success of The Last Dance on Netflix had recorded a 90% increase in Jordan's sales, even reaching the prices of collectibles related to Michael Jordan and the Bulls. On research platforms, interest in the Air Jordan 17 had increased by 53.49%, while that in the Air Jordan 13 by as much as 126.67%. According to an estimate released by StockX, Jordan's order quantity had increased by 90% during the weeks of the Netflix series airing, making the Chicago and other sneakers worn by the protagonists of The Last Dance among the best-selling on the site. resell.

Often, however, much less than a TV series is enough to raise the price of a sneaker. Travis Scott knows it well, who last August posted some photos on his Instagram profile with a pair of Dunk SB "Newcastle" on his feet, increasing the price of the sneaker by 40% compared to the starting price of $650. Something similar had also been done by Kanye West, who two years ago had been photographed in Chicago with a pair of Under Armor Forge 96. The shoe, certainly not among the most sought after on the market, had immediately disappeared from the official website of the brand, coming to sell in the following days 239,000 units on StockX. Certainly not new for West, which for years has been anticipating and launching its Yeezys with photos and tweets that raise the hype and value of the sneaker.

If often the moves mentioned are part of a strategy of the brand on duty, other times they are random and unpredictable phenomena. Perhaps this is the beauty of the sneakers game, the idea of ​​having something of unpredictable, if not priceless, value in your hand (or on your feet). This, but also more, was discussed in the first episode of The SneakerPod, the podcast created by nss magazine in collaboration with StockX.