{"id":1791,"date":"2014-09-01T00:47:21","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T04:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockx.com\/sneaker-blog\/?p=1791"},"modified":"2016-04-29T12:34:44","modified_gmt":"2016-04-29T16:34:44","slug":"whats-a-limited-sneaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stockx.com\/news\/fr-ca\/whats-a-limited-sneaker\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s a limited sneaker?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s something you know:\u00a0 Sneaker culture has always been about “Where’d you get those?”<\/a> Rocking a pair no one has seen before is what drove pre-Instagram sneakerheads.<\/p>\n

Today, finding a pair no one has seen is basically impossible – damn you, Internets! –\u00a0 but the same concept of scarcity still drives the market.\u00a0 This is exactly why hypebeast culture has evolved; where the hype around any semi-limited release comes from; why the resell market has exploded.<\/p>\n

In our recently published magnum opus (analysis of Nike’s business in light of the resell market<\/a>) we joked that sneakerheads will buy any shoe as long as its limited and from Nike.\u00a0 It’s a joke, but like any Louis C.K. joke, based in truth.\u00a0 That truth stuck an idea in our head around quantifying the two halves of the joke:\u00a0 Nike & limited.\u00a0 Specifically, what percentage of demand is derived from Nike (or any other brand, or any other typical demand factor like style, color, etc.) versus what percentage is purely a function of scarcity or limited supply.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fast forward a week and we found ourselves in Brooklyn, having the pleasure of meeting with Greats Brand<\/a>. Good guys, good meeting. I learned four cool things: 1) KD was seen rocking a pair of Greats<\/a>; 2) Obama has requested a pair; 3) The provenance of their name is because every pair is made with at least 1 ounce Great White Shark blood used to coat the leather during an innovative new approach to pre-production water proofing; and 4) The Royale Mowbray<\/a> is limited to a production of only 250 units, and is still available on their site at the retail price of $179.\u00a0 Only three of those are true, but it’s the last one that caught our attention.<\/p>\n

250 pairs, available for $179.<\/p>\n

Compare that to GR Jordan’s which retail for $170 and have production runs in the hundreds of thousands.\u00a0 They still sell out.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if Nike were releasing a collab with Ronnie Fieg limited to just 250 pieces, would you cop?\u00a0 Everyone in the room just raised their hands.\u00a0 And I haven’t even told you what the product is – not the model, not the colorway, not even the price<\/u>.<\/p>\n

I think you get the point.\u00a0 There’s typically a tradeoff between price and volume:\u00a0 the more limited a sneaker, the more you have to pay (and vice versa).\u00a0 As a first step in what could be an in-depth analysis, we decided to look at several sneakers which have similar price\/volume profiles as the Greats Royale Mowbray to see if we can learn anything.<\/p>\n

\"Campless<\/a><\/p>\n

Caveats:<\/strong>\u00a0 Before you get too excited, let’s clear up a few things:<\/p>\n