Sneakers - January 11, 2015

2014 Jordan 6 Releases > $35 Million Resell Dollars

Continuing with Air Jordan’s “23rd anniversary-year” focus, 2014 was the year of the VI.  The last AJ6 to release was the Golden Moments Pack in August of 2012.  So with almost 16 months of pent-up demand going into the beginning of this year, the stage was set.  In total, there were ten Air Jordan 6’s released.  In order, they were:

  • Feb 15:  Infrared 23 (Toro)
  • Feb 15:  White Infrared
  • May 24:  Carmine
  • Jun 14:  Celebration Pack (Cigar & Champagne)
  • Jun 21:  Brazil Pack (w/ CP3 III)
  • Aug 9:  History of Jordan (Spiz’ike)
  • Aug 30:  Sport Blue
  • Nov 1:  Slam Dunk
  • Nov 28:  Black Infrared

This doesn’t count the GS-only releases, of which there were at least two (May 10; Jun 7).

Our first chart is a format we’ve often used when providing a resell overview:  average price and total sold plotted on two different axes.  Here we can see all ten of the 2014 Jordan 6s plotted for all deadstock eBay sales:

Jordan 6 2014 Releases Overview

Key Insights:

  • Not surprising, the OG colorways led on total resell volume.
  • While it looks like the Carmine (9,420 sold) crushed all others (Black Infrared was next with 4,310), it’s important to remember that these are 2014 numbers and the Carmine released a full six months before the Black Infrared
  • Also not surprising, the newer colorways, which were more limited than the OG models, had higher average price
  • The Slam Dunk 6 – an ode to the Japanimation classic – led all shoes with an average resell price of $468

Of the ten 2014 releases, four were OG re-releases (White Infrared, Carmine, Sport Blue, Black Infrared).  The other six were new Retro colorways.  We touched on some of the differences above, but here’s a complete breakdown:

Jordan 6 2014 Releases OG v Retro2

Key Insights:

  • Of the close to $9 million spent on eBay on 2014 Jordan 6s, 62% went towards the 4 OG colorways, while only 38% were spent on the six new models
  • Closely mirroring the volume analysis above, the Carmine and Black Infared led total dollars substantially
  • Keeping in mind our prior estimate the eBay is 1/4 of the sneakerhead market, our best guess is that over $35 million of 2014 Jordan 6s were resold in 2014.  And that’s just adult sizes of the men’s models.  It doesn’t include GS sizes of the adult models, or any of the GS-only models.  And it’s U.S. only
  • Note this analysis includes both deadstock and used shoes

Speaking of used shoes…

For better or worse, an all-too-common practice in the sneakerhead community is to cop a pair of new Jordans, rock them once (perhaps for the ‘Gram) and then resell them.  What that means – for those who know how to find a deal – is that you can often grab a pair of “worn once” at a nice discount to DS resell price.

At Campless we track both DS and Used pricing but, generally, the Used Price number doesn’t have much value because we have no way of distinguishing between a pair that is worn once, or an absolute beater.  However, when looking at brand new releases, we can assume that the large majority of the used pairs sold fall into the VNDS category.  Thus, by comparing DS and Used pricing for new releases, we can identify deals:

Jordan 6 2014 Releases DS v Used

Key Insights:

  • The top line (red) is the average DS price. The bottom line (blue) is averaged used price.  The gap between the two represents the difference between the two prices and – if you play the game right – the discount you can get on a “worn once” pair.
  • In terms of raw dollars, used pairs of the Cigar and Brazil both represent savings of over $100 from the DS resell price.
  • In terms of percentage (the blue numbers right above the sneaker name), the Infrared Black and Infrared White offer almost as much savings as the Cigar and Brazil.
  • Perhaps most interesting is the Slam Dunk.  Used pairs are selling for only 3% less than DS.  This is pretty clear evidence that this sneaker is in high demand.
  • The White Infrared ($157 used) is the only used sneakers selling for less than retail.  The Sport Blue ($170 used) is actually selling for exactly the same as retail price.  This means that if had copped a pair of any of the other Jordan 6s at retail, you could have worn it and still sold it from a profit – which is clearly what a lot of people do.

What do you think?  Are any of the Jordan 6 resell stats surprising?  Did you play the “wear-once-and-sell” game?

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