Sneakers Are Stock Market: Can Sneaker Con Save Sneakers Culture?

"China's new rap is not going to start. Yesterday, the big WeChat group began to buy the shoes of Wu Yi Fan in the program, and the price of several pairs of shoes rose all over."

In June 13th, after the announcement of the "new rap" in China, Xiao Guang sent a screenshot on WeChat's trading platform nice on Xiao Guang. According to the network circulation map, Wu Yifan wore a pair of SACAL * NIKE joint sneakers on the program. When the news came out, the rise rate of these shoes in the two class market went straight to 50%.

From the beginning of high school, playing basketball shoes, "shoes age" has been five or six years of small light, this has been strange. "Every year like this, a new rap comes and a batch of shoes and clothes are put on fire."

He has already had a prediction of the market changes that will happen to these shoes. "The first wave of people thought that Wu Yifan would wear up, and the shoes would go up, hurry up and sell them at a high price, and if the second wave saw other people buying and rushing, he might not know himself.

Then everyone will buy it, and finally there must be a group of people. At the age of 20, Xiao Guang had already been immersed in the market of sports shoes.

In his view, the current shoe market, any trend, can make a group of people start to chase a pair of shoes crazily -- whether they like it or not.

Just follow shares It's the same as catching up, "said Xiao Guang. "The first batch of people made money and the last group was cut off."

Behind the shoes: drawing lots, high prices and identity

In the same theory, Xiao Guang had been popular with me once a month ago on Sneaker Con in Shanghai.

More than 20 thousand sneakers and 150 exhibitors poured into the 8800 square metre West Coast Art Center in the world's largest sneaker show, which is regarded as "the strongest surface". In those 3 days, people are no longer just sellers and buyers at the two ends of the screen, but have a more unified identity: Sneaker heads.

In 2009, Sneaker Con was first held in New York and came to Shanghai, just tenth years of significance. People wear the most powerful sneakers at the bottom of the box, shoes and shoes on the shoe show, and the transaction itself is not the most important thing. In fact, a lot of stall shoes are too scarce to give a sale price, which makes Shanghai Sneaker Con more like a "rustless shoes exhibition". One of the about 2000000 yuan (about 10000000) Air Jordan Rainbow series is still a myth after the closed exhibition, and live in Sneaker heads's B station video.

The day before launching, Xiao Guang, who was still studying sophomore, flew from Qingdao to Shanghai. He spent 200 yuan to buy one day ticket, and in the yellow cattle, the single day ticket has been sold to nearly 800 yuan. After entering the hall, Xiao Guang, together with friends who bought the shoes, rooted in the free trading area Trading Pit, sitting cross legged and sitting as two "retail investors". A few steps away from them were fifty or sixty stall owners who paid 2700 yuan for booth fees.

In the tens of thousands of sports shoes, Xiao Guang sells shoes that are not ruthless -- a pair of Nike and Off-White Air Force 1 "The Ten". 7 thousand pieces, plastic preservation for 1 years, "no oxidation, no collapse", up to 10 thousand and 3.

In the crowd, a small amount of marked goatee attracted my attention. I ran to sit on the floor with them and sold shoes for half an hour.

In the meantime, a total of three buyers stopped to make inquiries. In order to facilitate buyers to see shoes, Xiao Guang removed plastic envelopes before selling them. Many people did not dare to take advantage of those white shoes that were very transparent. "Plastic bags are not allowed. You really do." Buyer A gave him a thumbs up before leaving.

Another inquiry was a short hair mom in 30. Unlike all the Tide girls, she dragged herself in a crowded shopping bag around the head and led her ignorant little son. If it weren't for a pair of chic Nike on your feet, you would think she was the ordinary housewife who was hanging around with her family.

An expert knows when he opens his mouth. Without a few words, the two sides soon flew to the topic of "you didn't get xx shoes." "I didn't smoke with my husband and me, but I got another pair of XX shoes." "You bull."

In the field of sports shoes, you must take part in lots of sports shoes to buy. Some have to queue up at the front of the store to see if the loudspeaker can call your number, and some shoes can be pumped online. Once the lottery is signed, in the words of Xiao Guang, "it's almost like giving away."

Next to Xiao Guang's booth is a more than 40 year old uncle who sells a pair of retro color matching Air Max Susan. Because her daughter took a bigger one on the order, 1800 yuan to start, the selling price is 1600 yuan. His wife and daughter gave him the task: timely stop loss.

Under the field of Sneaker Con, an open dialogue can happen naturally at any time. Xiao Guang began to talk to uncle: "this shoe looks good, but the shoe type is not good enough to ride." "Why don't you cash in on" nice "or" poison "? It's more cost-effective than your current selling price.

Uncle also smiled: "I just came to experience how to do business."

In fact, shoes and matching are no longer the biggest driving force for shoe buyers. On Sneaker Con, someone spent 110 thousand yuan to buy a pair of Air Jordan 4. "The man wanted to buy a pair of red coconuts, but he didn't buy them." Xiao Guang said, and a pair of red coconut, in the two tier market also need 7-8 yuan a pair.

"Shoes like red coconut don't care if they look good." Buying is a sense of identity, just like buying Rolex. "

Sneakers are the stock market.

"What is cash?" this kind of jargon is stimulating my curiosity.

Xiao Guang handed me his mobile phone. The electronic trading platform of his sneakers "nice" and "poison" are all app on his cell phone. On the platform, you can see the highest purchase price and the lowest price of a pair of shoes, and the transaction price of each pair in the past 10 days or so. The growth rate of the home page is the same as that of the stock market.

"When there was no nice and no poison, the buyers and sellers were not equal to the information, and a small number of people controlled the price of the shoes." The little CD-ROM leg told me about the depth of the water. "Now that there is a trading platform, the market for shoes is more like a regular market, and the information between buyers and sellers is basically the same, but it also leads to more people wanting to get a share from the sports shoes market."

Even if the market price is transparent to everyone, but every time the owners of the sports shoes are shouting and shouting to let everyone push forward, the success or failure of the star team's fight on the court, the strong grass growing with the stars, the entertainment events and the gossip all over the world affect the fluctuation of the price of the shoes all the time.

For example, after the "new rap" in China was set up, the inside news of the "insider" was circulated in the shoes circle.

"Now that the news is not true or false, maybe someone is intending to leave the news to pull up the price of the shoes." Xiao Guang said. In his experience, such things are becoming more and more common. "Start a picture, the rest depends on editing."

To a greater extent, the price of shoes is still coming from the stadium.

On the eve of the NBA finals, the Toronto raptors, who sang all the way, entered the final and became the favourites. Then, together with the hottest, raptors Kowhai Leonard's last pair of shoes before he broke the contract with Nike: Air Jordan 1 "Pass The Torch".

This pair of sneakers to salute Leonard in the 2014 NBA finals and win the amazing performance of MVP in the finals is the only Air Jordan 1 in the champion 16 series. On Sneaker Con, these shoes cost about 10 thousand. With the Raptors on the NBA, they got 30 thousand on the eve of the finals.

Local time on June 13th, raptors in the away game 114:110 defeated the defending champion Jinzhou warriors, completed the team's history first crown.

The news came out, Leonard's AJ 1 the price has risen sharply. There are players in the circle of friends drying out the screenshots of poison app, 44 yards have been sold to 89999 yuan. "This shoe is going to be 10."

What drives a pair of sneakers to get such a big increase? Xiao Guang sent me a video on WeChat to illustrate the mentality of many players when placing orders.

Video comes from the B station with 84 thousand fans of the shoe maker "answer 824". In the time of 6 seconds, he was full of magic in the face of the camera.

"No matter what it is, do not ask. To ask is to love and to ask is to rush.

"Don't ask, rush to the end, it's as simple as that."

Many times, it is "you rush me" consumer behavior, so that a pair of shoes market performance is very good. And behind this, we can not do without such a "answer824" sneakers like KOL, and even more "trader's hand" market speculation. However, looking at the "answer824" recent micro-blog, we can see that as an important link in a market chain, he has not only always let everyone rush, but also occasionally expresses his thoughts on the shoes market and even sighs.

On the micro-blog in June 12th, he Po a picture of Wu Yifan and sneakers, and attached the article: "too many sports shoes outside the factors affect the price of the shoes, a little puzzling factor is speculation gimmick. These factors will stimulate the market in the short term, and will eventually seriously hurt the market.

He said that in today's crazily, everyone is a trader.

And for Xiao Guang, who has no rational source of consumption because of his lack of financial resources, his most interesting moment is not to see how a pair of shoes has risen to the sky price, but to see the last batch of disc players being stuck behind the Internet crazy diss shoe dealers.

"This is just like the last batch of stock market crazy diss market."

Sneaker Con: return to culture in reality

On Sneaker Con, a pair of shoes also caused a lot of sneaker heads onlookers.

It was a joint name of Futura Laboratories and Nike, which started at a price of more than ten thousand, and the market price at that time exceeded 300 thousand. Its name is Dunk High Pro SB "FLOM" - For Love or Money.

Is it for love or for money? This has become the ultimate question of the market of sports shoes today.

"The original pleasure is to buy shoes, and now the joy is to make money." Xiao Guang gave him the most direct answer. "For me, the story behind the sneakers is a gimmick."

But in the older generation of Sneaker heads, the players who are related to sports shoes and the players who sell shoes to buy shoes, and those rules in the shoes circle are the core bearing of the whole shoe culture.

In NOWRE's documentary film "BUSINEAKER" about the sports shoes market, some people rely on resale shoes to enter 200 thousand. Some shoe dealers are very straightforward: "I sell shoes to make money, and feelings have nothing to do with me."

As a sneaker head playing ball for decades, Tom Chung, who works in the Nike market, can't bear the distortion of the market now. "This shoe doesn't draw lots, it's not limited. People don't buy it. It's not very good. street "

"People used to care more about story than knowledge. When I see how you wear it, I know you don't understand it." He said in the film. He can not agree with the young people who only care about their appearance, whether they have received the praise from others rather than the shoes themselves.

"Some young people feel good looking and mix and match. But before us, three arrow (Adidas Trifolium) and a hook to wear together, that is against the rule, is sentenced to death.

As the founder of Beijing Asia new sports, Guo Yu, who has run 30 years of shoe store, also yearn for the past. "Now there is a app, bought the shoes in the quilt and sent them to the door without experience."

And in his memory, people in the circle went to the store to buy shoes to talk about shoes.

But perhaps, according to the younger generation sneaker heads in the documentary, no one's age is happier. This is just like cash and electronic payment. "It's just a different era, playing differently."

"Now that we are now completing transactions on the Internet, what is the significance of offline meetings like Sneaker Con?" I asked Xiao Guang.

He replied to a photo of me, a shoe wall displayed on Sneaker Con.

"This shoe wall can see objects, and look at the Internet is not the same."

Indeed, on Sneaker Con, sneaker heads finally touches the legendary ruthless products personally, and sees those basketball stars and shoe owners who squatting in front of the computer everyday. The brothers who can "rush" with the WeChat can come out and set up a booth to see the belief that the shuttles and the red men and green women who are stationed in the shoe stalls are playing basketball shoes.

On the other hand, Sneaker Con came to the mainland, and finally let the mainland's Sneaker heads find the same kind in reality.

After the end of Sneaker Con, Xiao Guang and her friends did not sell the Off-White joint names, but what they most regretted was not this, but the old retro sneakers who had patronized chatting and did not start buying the next uncle.

"Although it's not easy to ride, it looks good."

Perhaps, in the final analysis, someone loves to have the business of sneakers. Author: Wang Gungun