So I subscribe to this newsletter called @fatherly and it's basically just short-ish articles giving advice or whatever about what it's like to be a father. I don't spend too much time on it, but every once in a while an article title catches my eye and I bookmark it for later...
I forget the title of this article, but it was something about sneakers and where 'fathers' should buy sneakers...
In the FIRST paragraph, I read something that hit me kinda hard. Not really the truth of it, but so much the reminder of it: hypebeasts are "doggedly pursuing...a sense of personal style...while...longing for an item that is...COMMON."
Yes. Most of these 'Hype Pairs' are actually quite common. As in, numbers produced.
This is one of those things they don't really tell you when you're whipped up in a frenzy about coppin' first, asking questions later...I'm reasonably certain that there are 10x as many pairs of the most hyped sneaker in the world than one of the cheaper pairs in my collection. I don't know if I'd be surprised if I found out that there were 100k pairs of Jordan 1 Off-White Chicagos created and less than 1/10th the amount of the latest pair of Footscapes I bought...
Yet, price action would suggest the opposite.
It's a funny thing about hype - an item with 10x the supply can command more than 1000x the price...all for the sake of...what? 'Persona' style? Being 'unique' just like everybody else?