Confessions of a Sneaker Addict – Part 12

Sunday, February 13th, 2011 - 10:18 am - Fashion Life

Everyone who collects sneakers or just has a desire to always have the latest kicks knows about multiple trends that are evident among the sneaker culture. Whether they are the hotness or the wackness is up for debate but what is reality is the fact that they are apparent among many people today whether it be the casuals, the shoe collectors, the heat rockers, the celebrities, the kids, the adults, just about anyone you can think of.

Now, without any further ado, does the following confession apply to you?

Reseller’s World

This is a true fictional excerpt from Karl Hightower about his journey to get his grails.

“December 22nd, 2010, the day before the Cool Grey XI’s release. I’ve been counting down the days for what seems like months now, the excitement has been hard to contain. My boy Joel has agreed to pick me up at 6 PM so we can wait in line for the midnight release. I haven’t bought any shoes all semester due to books, tuition and all that stuff so I think it’s time to treat myself to a pickup.

6 PM rolls by but Joel doesn’t. No calls, texts, IMs, carrier pigeons, nothing. No updates on where he’s at or if he’s coming or not. My car is in the shop so I can’t drive myself up there plus I don’t want to wait by myself. 8 PM approaches and finally Joel pulls up in the driveway. I thought about yelling at him at the time but decided not to because we had to go quick. 8:45 rolls around and the line is wrapped outside the store. I estimated about 80 people at the time, give or take.

I could bore you with the details of the wait, but I’ll hold off. Fast forward to 11:30, the employees begin handing tickets to people beginning at the front of the line so they know what order to hand out the shoes. I was #106 in line and my ticket had a question mark on it. What does that mean? Means I’m not getting my pair. I thought to myself, maybe I could just pay someone to switch tickets with or something. People in the front were asking MAD prices like $100, $150 and so on, just for the ticket. I decided to cut my losses and just leave, so Joel dropped me off at the crib and I just took the L.

I decided to search online at various sneaker sites for some Cool Grey’s, but the prices were off the charts. $330, $450, $500, what are these websites thinking? I called stores all around me and all of them sold out of my size in minutes with none extra lying around. Call up friends to see if anyone has a pair they didn’t want, no dice.

You know what that means, gotta find a reseller. I go on eBay, find a seller who has multiple pairs. In my mind I’m thinking, this bama must know an owner at a shoe store to allow him to buy that many pairs, but whatever. I decide to buy a pair of Cool Grey’s from him, for $295 + shipping. It hurts, seeing that I have to pay above retail just hours after a shoe release because I was a mere 2 hours late to a release. Worst of all, I’m paying some guy who doesn’t work for JB or Nike and he’s benefiting off of someone else product but hey, it’s an addiction and I need mine. Now every time I look at my CG’s, all I think about is that dang reseller ripping me off.”

Have you ever been caught in a reseller’s world?

Share your story in the comment section below.

Written by: JediJumpHigh (Jordan Rainey)

Midnight Fashion