Sneakerheads from all around the world are struggling to acquire their favorite sneakers for retail price due to the massive increase of resellers.
The spike in usage of e-commerce has led to an immense number of individuals charging two to three times the retail price of desired shoes or clothing, otherwise known as resellers. A typical Air Jordan fan attempting to purchase a new drop will soon find out the difficulty that comes with the checkout process.
Today, a single person is able to purchase thousands of a particular shoe – not for their personal use but just to make profit.”
— Garrett Gusten
Resellers primarily use bots, which are coded precisely for checkout processes on a specific website, such as Nike. These bots automate the checkout process of getting the shoe, and the purchases go through the system in almost an instant. Bots are capable of surpassing the security measures in place to prevent an individual buyer from buying out the whole stock.
Prior to the usage of online sites to buy the newest drops, Sneakerheads would wait outside for hours at a time just to acquire the new shoe, despite the weather conditions. This shows the actual love these people had for the footwear aspect of fashion. But today, a single person is able to purchase thousands of a particular shoe – not for their personal use but just to make profit.
The absurd rise in the cost of shoes is not just attributed to resellers, but to so-called “hypebeasts” as well, which is a term that describes individuals who are passionate about wearing high-end clothing and shoes. These people tend to be more financially fortunate than others, and can usually afford these high-priced items at ease.
Amazing sneakers used to be available to anybody who was willing to spare a couple paychecks, but it is slowly becoming a market geared toward individuals with more money to spend. Greediness is not just ruining the shoe industry, but virtually any limited edition drop of clothing and accessories as well. Systems like these devastate the experience for the majority who genuinely enjoy the culture of streetwear and sneakers.
