Confusing isn’t it? This is what you call a ‘perpetual conundrum.’ A perpetual conundrum is the type of Jedi-mind trick that perpetually has you answering a question, brought on by your initial answer to an original question. It either has you on the verge of slipping into insanity arguing with yourself over your own points and counterpoints (example: What came first? The chicken or the egg?). OR, you’re faced with a question that no matter how you try to answer it, you’re screwed (example: when your wife asks you “Does this dress make me look fat?”). Try to answer one of those types of questions and you’ll either be sleeping in a padded room or on the couch. (Note: To all my newlywed men, even if you do answer ‘NO’ she’ll still think you’re being full of shit, in which case, you shouldn’t say anything. Just start mapping out a comfortable spot on the couch for the night. But at least by saying nothing she can’t use your words against you. You’re welcome).

In this article I’m actually going to attempt to coherently sew together the 2 sides of this dual argument, Nike purple vs. the consumer, into one cohesive thought. Aaannd, as I do, I can’t WAIT for the first jackass to comment on this article in such a way that it’s obvious to everyone that he/she didn’t actually read the article BUT hastily responded to the headline without context. BRING IT.

First things first, it’s all about expectations. When you expect something and you don’t receive it, you’re prone to get upset. When you don’t have preconceived expectations then there’s nothing to get upset about. So my first bit of advice to you is stop expecting Nike purple or Jordan Brand to give you what you want. Because let’s be honest, they’re dicks. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing because dicks have a job to perform. But that job usually requires them to screw someone. And that someone, in this case, is you. The consumer.

“OH, YOU WANT THIS SHOE IN THIS COLORWAY?” Ok, we’ll only release them in one city nowhere near your location in limited quantities to ensure you don’t get them, causing you to become desperate to have them, which in turn, will cause the demand to go up for our product fueling reseller prices that we “CLAIM” we can’t stand because it hurts our brand. But secretly, we love when this happens because it inadvertedly justifies the price increase we’ll add to the same shoe when we re-release it a few years later.

“OH, YOU WANT THIS RETRO?” Ok, we’ll give you a bastardized version of it first, only to re-release it 2 years later, THUS getting you to buy the same shoe twice knowing that this is the version you wanted in the first place but couldn’t (or wouldn’t) give you without first taking advantage of your misplaced, nostalgic loyalty to our brand. And all for a higher price on the second go ‘round just by claiming that it’s “remastered”; with [semi] better materials.

See, that’s what makes them dicks, but it’s also why they’ve been successful. They’re a business, and no matter what product or service a business sells they’re all in it for the same thing. Making money. It’s actually ingenious. It’s ingenious because it works. And let’s be honest, we all know how the game’s been played for a while now. They create hype over their product by leaking images of a particular sneaker months ahead of the release on social media, eliminating the need for any commercials or any type of marketing campaigns, and giving tidbits of information, in particular, the overall availability, or lack thereof, of said sneaker. That gets everyone geared up anticipating that sneaker because they’re one of 3 people:

1) Resellers. Obviously the more limited a shoe the more money you can overcharge gullible people who look at the shoe not as a “WANT” but as a “NEED”.

2) People who want them because they genuinely like the shoe. Going in they already know the level of hype attached to that shoe but they don’t want to pay reseller prices. So they risk life and limb trying to make it to the front of the line at their favorite store so they can be slightly less gullible and feel slightly less used by overpaying for retail (as not to look like a hypocrite I’m adding myself to this group, lol).

3) People who want them just because they’re exclusive, you know, hypebeast. These are the guys that normally wouldn’t want the sneaker, but heard they were limited, and think that by purchasing a limited shoe that somehow it enhances them as sneakerheads and adds to their ability to troll those who missed out (for those of you who fall in this category go back to the 3rd paragraph, read it, and proceed to suck a “Nike”).

The point to all of this is that Nike purple knows EXACTLY what they’re doing. But in fairness, the point has also been made that their retail prices are actually lower than they would be if you take a particular sneaker model’s original price tag and adjust it for inflation. And that one should also take into account the technology being added to today’s sneakers. SUCK A “NIKE”. First of all, I get the method in which people have done the math and adjusted for inflation. I have no problem with the math, I have the problem with the “why”. Per every $100 shoe Nike purple sells it only costs them $28.50 to make the shoe. Granted they’ll probably only get $4.50 in actual profits once you account for the 50% retail mark-up, taxes, and administrative expenses, but the real question is how much “technology” is someone getting for $28.50? And how many models are being sold for ONLY $100?! Not to mention there’s no 50% retail mark-up when they sell THEIR own shoes on THEIR own website and in THEIR own stores. Anyone willing to vigorously defend this against their own self-interest as a consumer isn’t just drinking the company’s Kool-Aid, they’re drinking Bill Cosby’s “Good Ol’ Fashioned Spanish Fly” Kool-Aid at the company party. (Too soon?)

It all boils down to what I said before, expectations. What does Nike purple expect from us? So far it seems their expectations are being met. We’re still helping them to sell out every weekend (notice I said WE’RE). As much as you or I may try to put our collective foot down and say enough is enough, the allure of that weekend’s sneaker release has a way of having us put our foot down… right in front of the register at our local Champs or FootLocker. And for that they owe us. They owe us for buying into the hype. They owe us for buying into the appeal. They owe us for continuing to buy into a brand that only considers what we think ONLY when it makes “cents” to them. Objectively I get the goal of the company, but as a consumer it’s not my job to consider their needs. Funny how every business wants the consumer to consider and understand their position as a business but then have no problem manipulating and ignoring the position of the consumer in order to reach THEIR objectives. My perspective as the consumer shouldn’t have to be framed by their point of view. Nike’s problem is that they’re spending too much time and energy ‘creating’ demand instead of ‘feeding’ that demand. One doesn’t have to die off for the other to survive. They can co-exist. It’s called balance. Hype and substance rarely go hand in hand but when they do it’s a beautiful thing (i.e., just look at me. Lol).

So I guess figuring out who owes who depends on who you are, Nike purple or the consumer. In a way we both need each other, that co-dependency is how almost every relationship works. But if you’re still looking for someone to unload all of the credit or blame on then look in a mirror. Whether you’re Nike purple or the consumer, at the end of the day you truly owe no one but yourself.