MIAMI - Nike is selling LeBron James' newest sneaker for over $300.
According the Wall Street Journal, LeBron's next shoe, the "LeBron X" will cost around $315. The shoe debuted at the 2012 Olympic gold-medal game between Spain and the United States.
A Nike spokesman told the Journal that it is passing along price increases because of the increased cost of materials like cotton.
Then, no longer able to hold it in, he shot coffee through his nose as he let loose a giant guffaw.
“Let’s face it, we’re talking two dollars worth of cheap rubber and fake naugahyde. We pay Cambodians a nickel a pair to assemble them. We’re cleaning up! Marketing to Obama voters who can't screw their hats on straight is like shooting fish in a barrel.”
LeBron James Sneakers
And how many will be shot in the street so they can steal a pair from their victim? Now that is real stupid.
ReplyDeleteHere's one of the 474 comments (so far) to the linked article and it pretty much says what the last twenty commenters said "The same people lining up for Obama foodstamps and govt handouts for democratic votes will be the same people lining up to buy these shoes. America wake UP!"
ReplyDeleteAnother commenter said how those who can't figure out how to get a voter ID will figure out how to get their kid a $350 pair of tennis shoes just fine, though they're on food stamps...
this is nuts
There's a limit?
ReplyDeleteTo be clear, the stupidity I speak of knows no racial bounds. It's not just black people buying this overpriced crap
ReplyDeleteI achieved a new record with Starter sneakers purchased at Wal-Mart for $10. I bought them in mid-March, and by Mid-July the soles of both shoes had completely disintegrated. Now, the new job has me running 10 or so yards back and forth to check fax machines and such occasionally, so the shoes might have lasted longer if I kept them in the box they came in.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't pay $315 for a pair of anything, but I'm beginning to believe you may just have to if you want shoes that won't fall apart in three months.
"Silverfiddle said...
ReplyDeleteTo be clear, the stupidity I speak of knows no racial bounds. It's not just black people buying this overpriced crap."
Oh, thank Gawd you clarified that for us, Silverfiddle. We wouldn't want to think your dog whistle, er, post about stupid "Obama voters" meant you were singling out young men of a cerain demographic who love basketball and LeBron James, would we.
And thank goodness this commenter clears up what the real meaning of the post is about:
"The same people lining up for Obama foodstamps and govt handouts for democratic votes will be the same people lining up to buy these shoes. America wake UP!"
No. Not dog whistle at all.
And it's interesting that you chose to write about overpriced shoes for certain types of buyers yet have never felt the need to write about stupidly overpriced shoes for wealthy elites that are manufactured offshore, using cheap materials.
But we get it, Silverfiddle, we really get what you're saying.
[nudge, nudge, wink, wink]
Silver, why did you stick "Obama supporters" into this?
ReplyDeleteJMJ
Jersey McJones said...Silver, why did you stick "Obama supporters" into this?
ReplyDeleteIf the shoe fits....
I fail to see where Silver inserted "Obama supporter" anywhere into the post or his comments.
ReplyDeleteWe must be approaching a full moon.
As an aside, I worked with at-risk youth for a couple of summers in college.
ReplyDeleteTheir parents would regularly spend their entire clothing vouchers from the state on ONE pair of Jordans.
Mustang:
ReplyDelete"I fail to see where Silver inserted "Obama supporter" anywhere into the post or his comments.
We must be approaching a full moon."
From Silverfiddle's post: "We’re cleaning up! Marketing to Obama voters who can't screw their hats on straight is like shooting fish in a barrel.”
Because in SF's world only Obama voters [nudge, nudge, wink, wink] buy expensive Nike sneakers with big, big basketball players' endorsements.
[knowwhaddamean? knowwhaddamean?]
pShaw Kanoweenies,
ReplyDeleteVery crappy job in stealing my avatar. Colors are all wrong, dude.
@Shaw ..
ReplyDeleteAh ... Okay, I see it now. I'm on my way out to buy myself a moon pie.
Thanks.
Farmer, stealing someone's avatar and spoofing the ID is very gauche.
ReplyDeleteOf course The Ladies Who Lunch never, never overpay for luxury items.
ReplyDeleteIt's only the blacks who pay extra to be fashionable.
Snotty little Republican white bread don't ever, ever overpay for shoes.
Bore me later you racist clowns.
Um..I work at a high school, see shoes on the kids, and there are folks here who think only black kids pay this money for tennis shoes? REALLY? Man, THAT is racist. And typical, of course.
ReplyDeleteJMJ, I'd have guessed that SF stuck "Obama supporters" into this because who else would pay this much for tennis shoes but people who generally don't think very well?
Z "JMJ, I'd have guessed that SF stuck "Obama supporters" into this because who else would pay this much for tennis shoes but people who generally don't think very well?"
ReplyDeleteNo. It was a plain and simple cheap shot. Something you apparently appreciate.
Silver & everyone else.
ReplyDeleteTry New Balance. They last a long time. They offer all types of shoes and sandals from walking, running, and just casual. They are very affordable. THE BEST PART? They are made in the U.S.A.
Both Republicans and Democrats can love these shoes................
There is no ‘hint hint’. Nike is marketing to young people, black, white, Latino and Asian. Most all would support Obama. I fail to see the problem other than the fact that the shoes are so damned expensive. Often times I couldn’t afford to dress my kids exactly the way they wanted; and when I could I often said “no”. But that’s me.
ReplyDeleteThere is also marketing geared specifically to young counter culture Hipsters, mostly white Obama supporters (with some blacks, Latino and Asians) who are wearing overpriced Urban Outfitters and American Apparel clothing (fair clothing); tight-fitting jeans, retro old-school sneakers, and thick rimmed glasses, sporting androgynous shag cuts, side bangs and full sleeve tats (all done within two weeks) riding around on fixed gear urban bikes. It’s okay to say out loud.
I get it. I was a surf hippie in high school and I had a uniform too. Shaggy hair, Levi’s with holes, colored patches I sewed in place, bare feet (preferably with dried sand on them), second hand silkie aloha shirts purchased at Yellow Stone Clothing in Isla Vista.
There is also marketing to white and black and Latino and Asian Romney supporters and we know the left can make fun of them. Un iversity academics have there own uniforms and would wear their birks everyday if allowed to. It's okay to say it out loud.
The high school guys wearing Jordan’s or LeBron shoes, the gold and crooked hat, the Hipsters with the expensive second hand look sometimes appear like witty banter and intellectualism from people who haven't read enough to be either witty or intellectual.
But I cut them some slack. The way you end up being what you want to be is to pretend to be that thing. Like being an academic and me being a businessman. If we make it through all those years when we are wondering whether anyone will figure out what a fraud we are, we end up with the knowledge that we’ve achieved something close to what we set out to do.
If the hipsters or guys wearing LeBrons are pretending to be what they want to be, and that's how they get where they are going, so be it. Except for the fixie bike thing. When some hipster can ride with one foot in the pedal and one foot in the hook in his track bars to steer while eating breakfast, then he's earned my respect.
Very crappy job in stealing my avatar. Colors are all wrong, dude.
ReplyDeleteOh my. When you impersonate conservative commenters on your own blog and then leave comments supposedly made by them making fun of themelves, you don't even GIVE them an avatar. Why is that, Shaw?
And apologies to the host of this blog for his exposure to another necessary tit-for-tat lesson in blog etiquette.
Phineas T. Barnum is alive and well!
ReplyDeleteAnd if you don't know what I mean, you too could undoubtedly be conned into thinking it "cool" to pay a hundred dollars a roll for Celebrity Designer Toilet Paper.
Saints preserve us!
~ FreeThinke
Shaw: Didn't almost half of white voters for for Obama? Thought so. But it's still all about race, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteAll these jealous Rethugs who can only afford buddies.
ReplyDeleteSad.
SF: "Shaw: Didn't almost half of white voters for for Obama? Thought so. But it's still all about race, isn't it?"
ReplyDeleteSadly, yes.
While I think this is insane, ya can't fault Nike for pulling this crap... if the market will bear the price, then why shouldn't the seller reap every last ounce of preposterous profit possible?
ReplyDeleteAnd if this means that a few homies won't be able to afford $300 Ludacris, Kanye, or 50 Cent concert tickets, then so much the better!
$315? I would never pay that much money for sneakers. Not even over $50. Geesh. I am sick of taxpayers money going to pay for these types of expensive sneakers or anything that isn't a necessity.
ReplyDeleteTax payer money, Teresa?
ReplyDeleteYou're letting your bigotry show.
Rob, a bunch of these are going to jackasses spending $300 for a big hair band reunion.
ReplyDeleteReal music connoisseurs.
I am eager to see the body count piling up on the day they release these shoes. It'll be a madhouse, just like when the new Jordans were released. Fights broke out and people got trampled everywhere.
ReplyDeleteAnd it won't surprise me one bit when it happens.
ReplyDeleteSilver,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I played ball. I didn't play for many teams, but I played on yards and in fields through my mid-twenties. To this day I work physically hard and am fine with it, but for the pay. Equity firms and franchise guys want to make the American worker a Third World slave.
Please God be careful of your vote this November. Please. Life is hard enough.
JMJ
Ducky,
ReplyDeletePlease do name one word of bigotry written in my statement. You are for fiscal insanity (the wasting of incessant amounts of money) while I am for fiscal soundness. I am for fiscal transparency and responsibility in our government. You may not mind that our country is being taken over a fiscal cliff by a bunch of economically challenged yahoos but I along with many others care about stopping our out of control government spending from taking this country over the fiscal cliff. If you think fiscal sanity equals "bigotry" then that shows just how loony toons you really are.
Just FYI: brilliant on the part of Nike. You call it marketing to Obama numbnuts (it is, BTW). In the business world, it's called 'positioning' your product.
ReplyDeleteLike wine, a bottle of 2010 chardonnay can be listed to compete with Two-Buck-Chuck, or stick a real cork in the top instead of a screw top, and jack up the price point to $20 a bottle - same stuff, and you'd be surprised to see more revenue with the $20 a bottle stuff than market to the low brow screw top crowd.
You missed the call on this one, Silver. Marketing, it's the name of the game.
PPS: 'naugahyde' is fake leather. What is 'fake naugahyde' - fake, fake leather?
No, Shaw, I do not appreciate cheap shots and wouldn't read this blog if they existed here.
ReplyDeleteSF said to you "Shaw: Didn't almost half of white voters for for Obama? Thought so. But it's still all about race, isn't it?"
Your response is:
Sadly, yes."
"Sadly"? But it's all about race because of the Democrats, Shaw, and I think you know that, deep down. How DARE Democrats accuse Republicans of being racist for not liking Obama or his agenda. Now dare Democrats consistently call us racists and how very dumb, when most Republicans would vote for people like Alan West yesterday if they could.
It's all about race because of the pimps like Jackson and Rangel who love (and get rich by) keeping Blacks believing they need their help. How awful of the Left; how humiliating for the Blacks who still don't see that; gratefully, I believe plenty are today.
Ah come on teresa.
ReplyDeleteTax payer money? That means welfare.
And who gets welfare?
You know who, you bigot.
How dare Democrats consistently call us racists and how very dumb, when most Republicans would vote for people like Alan West yesterday if they could.
ReplyDelete-------
Will you shut up about that 85 I.Q. token eraserhead, please.
Ducky, you're the bigoted racist thinking that most people who are on welfare are black. Your the one who focuses blatantly on race. So go look at yourself in the mirror before you claim others are bigoted. It sad that you associate fiscal responsibility with racism. You haven't proven one iota that I am "bigoted" as you claimed. You just proved that you are the biggest idiotic loon in the universe.
ReplyDeleteIf you based it strictly on the number of rings, M.J.'s sneakers would be selling for $1,890 then.
ReplyDeleteDucky says this about Alan West "Will you shut up about that 85 I.Q. token eraserhead, please."
ReplyDeleteProving my point about who's really racist.
thanks!
Z: "Proving my point about who's really racist.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that Ducky's racist Z. Don't you know that only conservatives can be racist? After all if the left couldn't dismiss out of hand the likes of Alan West, Artur Davis, Thomas Sowell, and Walter Williams without fear of incurring a charge of racism they might actually have to give some credence to what they have to say.
Razing
ReplyDeleteAmerica with
Communist-style
Empathy,
Bigoted
Anti-American
Insolence,
Temerity,
Insincerity,
Negativity, and
Grotesque exaggeration
An FT Original
Fredd, you missed my generous use of poetic license. Of course I know what naughahyde is. "Fake naughahyde" just sounds better to my ear when you're writing a parody. Also, Nike doesn't make shoes in Cambodia, either.
ReplyDeleteLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
ReplyDeleteTeresa- Please don't come here spewing your hatred for
Black-39.8%
White-38.8%
Hispanic-15.7%
Other-3.3%
Asian-2.4%
That's just wrong
@JMJ << When I was a kid I played ball. I didn't play for many teams, but I played on yards and in fields through my mid-twenties. >>
ReplyDeleteI was raised with physical labor and a baller. I started a gardening, lawn mowing, landscape business in the 6th grade, filled cans with resin and acetone and then worked off the back of a garbage truck for awhile back when we jumped off and manually dumped the cans. It was all good work and paid the bills.
<< Please God be careful of your vote this November. Please. Life is hard enough. >>
Classic. Life is hard. It's never going to be a dream for me. But I can act as if it is. And when I do I have a loving home near a dream.
85 I.Q. token eraserhead
ReplyDeleteOne HAS to admit a certain resemblance to former Col West...
Ahhh ... the midnight movies!
ReplyDelete