Last week Campless was asked by two different reporters for our thoughts on sneaker collaborations and their importance to the sneakerhead market. In short, we confirmed that collabs are a big deal. As evidence, we referenced posts about Concepts’ 2013 collaborations and the $2.3 million opportunity Ronnie Fieg has created for resellers. It also reminded us about an analysis we’d been meaning to do.
Back in September our friends over at Complex Sneakers had a great write-up ranking the Ten Most Influential Sneaker Boutiques of The Past Ten Years. For quick reference, here is their list:
| 1) Flight Club |
| 2) Alife |
| 3) Undefeated |
| 4) Foot Patrol |
| 5) Concepts |
| 6) Patta |
| 7) Dave’s Quality Meats |
| 8) Atmos |
| 9) Hanon |
| 10) Packer Shoes |
We can all agree the list is solid, but unless this is your first Campless post, you know where this is headed. What if……what if we were to apply some sneakerheaddata to the idea of “influential boutiques”? Could we quantify the relative influence of each boutique on the Complex list? Could we quantify the importance collectors attach to sneaker collaborations?
Methodology: Average Resell Price of Boutique Collab
In our deep-dive analysis into Nike’s business model we exhaustively examined how resell price is a function of limited supply and high demand. With that as our foundation, we decided a ranking of boutiques based on highest average resell price of their single highest priced collab would be a good proxy for exclusivity and power of each boutique’s brand and, ultimately, its influence on the sneaker game. For example, here are four Atmos collabs and their average deadstock price, as tracked by the Campless Price Guide:
- Air Max 1 Atmos “Tiger Camo”……………………….$377
- Air Max 1 B Atmos “Viotech” 2003………………….$578
- Air Max 90 Atmos “Duck Hunter Camo”…………..$390
- Air Max 90 Atmos “Tiger Camo”…………………….$270
From this list, we would use the Viotech 2003 to represent Atmos in a comparison against the top priced collabs from the other nine shops on the Complex list.
Limitation: We don’t track every collab
We currently track 1162 sneakers. If a sneaker isn’t listed on Campless, it simply means that we haven’t had the chance to collect and verify the necessary data to create a full profile yet. (In fact, feel free to let us know what shoe you’d like us to add next by use of the “Suggestions” box on the left-hand sidebar.) What that means here is that, unfortunately, we do not yet track every collaboration from every boutique on the Complex list. We recognize that if we did track all of them, it is possible that our data-based rankings would change. That said, we use the best data available to us at the time and, by doing so, can still produce a meaningful analysis. But like any analysis, it’s important that everyone understand the limitations.
Addition: Ronnie Fieg and Supreme
Although we don’t track every collab, we track quite a few collaborators who didn’t make the Complex list, and there are two we’d like to add. We would be remiss to do an analysis on sneaker collaborations and not include Ronnie Fieg and Supreme. In fact, if we were to fail to mention them altogether in any discussion on sneaker collabs, we’re pretty sure that some governing body of sneaker editorialists would show up at our offices to step on our shoes. The reason they were left off the Complex list is clear: neither are technically sneaker boutiques. Ronnie does most of his work under his own name, not Kith; Supreme is a lifestyle brand that has a large retail presence and happens to sell sneakers (and also happens to be the site of the most recent sneaker-related riot). Boutique or not, our point is that if you’ve been anywhere near sneakers in the past five years and haven’t heard either mentioned, you should get your hearing checked. We have 20/20 hearing*, so we’re adding them to the list. (*It’s like 20/20 vision, only better).
From the sneakerheaddata in the above chart, here is our data-driven ranking of each boutique’s influence, along with the sneaker used to rank it.
| Campless Rank | Complex Rank | Boutique | Sneaker | Avg. DS Price | Buy on eBay |
| 1) | 6) | Patta | Nike Air Max 1 Parra Patta “Cherrywood” | $2,000 | Click Here |
| 2) | NA | Ronnie Fieg | Asics Gel Lye III “Salmon Toes” 2011 | $1,623 | Click Here |
| 3) | NA | Supreme | Nike Dunk Low SB Black Cement | $1,016 | Click Here |
| 4) | 5) | Concepts | New Balance 999 “The Kennedy” | $828 | Click Here |
| 5) | 3) | UNDFTD | Reebok “Question” Mid | $757 | Click Here |
| 6) | 8) | Atmos | Nike Air Max 1 B “Viotech” 2003 | $578 | Click Here |
| 7) | 4) | Foot Patrol | Asics Gel Saga II | $453 | Click Here |
| 8) | 10) | Packer Shoes | Adidas TMac 3 “2004 All Star Game” | $427 | Click Here |
| 9) | 2) | Alife | Asics Gel Lyte III “Green Monster” | $409 | Click Here |
| 10) | 7) | Dave’s Quality Meat | Nike Air Max 90 “Bacon” | $384 | Click Here |
| 11) | 9) | Hanon | Diadora N9000 “The Saturday Special”(Coming Soon to our Price Guide!) | $354 | Click Here |
Key Insights:
- We recognize that the Air Jordan IV UNDFTD would / should supplant the The Question for the UNDFTD collab on this list, but there were no pairs sold on eBay in the past 12 months, which is where our data comes from. There aren’t even pairs for sale on eBay. In fact, there aren’t even pairs for sale on Flight Club’s website. Speaking of Flight Club…
- Flight Club was the number one boutique on the Complex list but, to our knowledge, has never done a collaboration, so they are not included. That said, there is a pretty legit argument that Flight Club is influential for the exact opposite reason as those with exclusive collaborations — access. If you miss a retail drop, you know you can still grab a pair there. Of course, you better believe we’ll be “camping more” if Flight Club ever did drop a collab.
Parting Thoughts:
- What makes the collab? Brand of the sneaker? Brand of the collaborator? Some exponential impact where the sum of the parts of a sneaker collaboration causes 2+2 to equal Volcanoes?
- Is Ronnie Fieg the most prolific collaborator – sneaker or other – in the history of the world? Asics, New Balance, Puma, Adidas, Timberland, Clarks, Filling Pieces, Sebago and more. In fact, I think he just dropped two while I wrote this sentence.
- Are Combos (the snack crackers) the edible equivalent of sneaker collaborations where you take two things that are really great on their own and combine them into one? And if so, what would happen if Ronnie Fieg were to make a Combos-themed collab?
What collabs by these boutiques should we add to this list?
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