👟 Unboxed This Week: How HypeTags Hurt Sneaker Culture

Industry News

Behind the scenes of adidas' "Choose to Give Back" NYC Pop-Up

Joseph and Tony from the SoleSavy team stopped by the adidas "Choose To Give Back" pop-up in New York City to give you the behind the scenes details on adidas' initiative to recycle garment and turn waste into resources.

Rather than purchasing items from the pop-up with money, adidas established a points system that is measured by the weight of donated items. For each half-pound of textile waste turned in, guests were credited with one point, which they put towards pieces from the various collections.

Watch the recap here for more.

Opinion

HypeTags are the Latest Example of What's Wrong in Sneakers

We’ve all been drawn in by the social currency of "hype" before. I know plenty of times where I’ve seen a pair of sneakers that I didn’t particularly rock with until I saw someone I respect in the world of fashion rock them and that’s totally okay. That’s part of the culture, when you see your dawg with some heat on you’re supposed to say "YOOOOOOOOO, where you find them at!?"

That’s the impetus of any collecting community, the mutual admiration and respect of another’s collection is supposed to inspire you and engender you to other people in that community. That is the opposite of what HypeTags is doing. HypeTags, a digital receipt that tracks the StockX price in real time, are the culmination of the over-commodification of the world of sneakers. While signs point toward this being a joke, it's not far off from the clout olympics sneakers have become to many. It’s totally fine to want people to notice your new sneakers, that’s ingrained in human consciousness, we live to get fresh and stand out but a HypeTag wouldn't be asking you to notice the sneakers, they’d be asking you to notice how much those sneakers are "worth."

In fact, in the TikTok wherein they debuted the creator mentioned how his invention was spurred by his need for non-sneakerheads to know how much he spent on his Fragment 3s. This isn’t fostering respect from a welcoming community, this is flexing on unwitting participants and under the wrong circumstances, endangering the wearer. Sneakerheads are in every corner of the world, if the drip is there somebody is gonna put respect on it no matter where you are. If the person in line next to you in the self-checkout doesn’t care that you’re wearing $700 sneakers, that flashing tag won’t make them.

–Devin R.

Industry News

Rich Paul and New Balance Got the Deal Done

Klutch Sports' Rich Paul and New Balance teamed up for a first-of-its-kind release last week. Of course, athletes, boutiques, creators, and others have crafted their own collaboration. But a sports agent? That was unheard of.

The Rich Paul x New Balance 550 footwear and apparel collection embodies Paul's relentless spirit and work ethic while also inspiring the next generation of athletes, entrepreneurs, and revolutionaries.

"Growing up, basketball and music were the examples of who you looked up to. I didn’t know of a sports agent that looked like me. I hope this collaboration with New Balance shows kids what is possible through hard work and believing in yourself," Paul said.

While the collection was the first-of-its-kind, we don't expect it to be the last, either. Whether it's Rich Paul or another trendsetter, New Balance will continue to double-down on supporting and empowering those who are changing the game.

–Luis T.

Release Recap

How Members Copped the Patta x AM1, AJ11 "Cool Grey"

This past week was filled with a litany of drops. From the fourth Patta x Nike Air Max 1 colorway to the heavily anticipated Air Jordan 11 "Cool Grey" release, members were able to enhance their release day success with our tools and resources.

- Early link posted 10 mins before release
- Zoom walkthroughs are IRL drop day
- Assist by SoleSavy saves valuable checkout time

With certain retailers still waiting for their AJ11 "Cool Grey" shipments, we highly recommend setting up the proper Drop Alerts as restocks are expected over the course of the next few weeks. Patience is key, so avoid paying resale on the "Cool Grey" 11s for now.

Join SoleSavy to stay on top of every release with our resources and tools.

Industry News

PUMA Women’s is Lowkey Making Moves

While we give brands their props for catering to the women’s consumer, PUMA tends to fly under the radar. They’ve partnered with some of the biggest names in pop culture in recent years (Kylie Jenner, Bella Hadid, Selena Gomez… and my personal GOAT: Rihanna).

This year I think they’re starting to gain momentum – to name some top stories we’ve covered this year: Breanna Stewart Getting a Signature Shoe, PUMA’s first ever Women’s Basketball Collection designed by June Ambrose, and Dua Lipa’s upcoming collection.

The footwear offering could definitely use some help but I wouldn’t count PUMA out especially with Ambrose as their new Creative Director. The "High Drop" basketball collection she designed is a step towards growing their consumer base within the more traditional "sneakerhead" demo, and as sneakers continue to appeal to the masses, this opportunity widens. I’m already noticing that the mainstream women’s sneaker consumer is gaining some equilibrium as people diversify their brand collections outside of the popular Nike and Jordan offerings. Looking forward to more PUMA in 2022!

PUMA has slowly been chipping away at the women’s market, and they are starting to see the fruits of their labor. Last year, they named June Ambrose the Creative Director of the brand, and signed music artist Dua Lipa to a multi-year contract, and, in recent weeks, we saw both collections.

–Anna B.

Opinion

How Oregon & StockX Fumbled on the Air Jordan 8 "Oregon" PE

Last week, images of an Oregon-exclusive Air Jordan 8 surfaced and nearly broke the internet. Designed by the one and only Tinker Hatfield (of course), the Air Jordan 8 "Oregon" Player Exclusive had all of us on the edge of our seats despite knowing that these would be nearly unattainable. Well, sort of.

100 pairs of the AJ8 "Oregon" PE were made available through StockX's DropX auction. The action, to an extent, was commendable as proceeds of the auction would go back to the University of Oregon football players as part of the NIL deals that continue to help the players. However, the method of releasing these is questionable, especially when you consider that StockX didn't even bother to mention where the money was going. SoleSavy CEO DP said it best.

"A big miss not to acknowledge where the money is going. Proceeds go to University of Oregon football student athletes…but still, would rather have seen this done directly through Nike versus StockX," DP Tweeted out.

More power to the players; they deserve every cent. But going through StockX doesn't make sense.

–Luis T.

Opinion

The Dangers of Greenwashing

There has been a significant increase in "sustainable" fashion in the last couple of years. Seemingly, there is a new line of eco-friendly/sustainable collection of clothing from a number of different brands.

While I totally understand that a shift towards sustainability is much needed at this point, creating a whole new product line isn’t really a solution here. Greenwashing is at an all-time high, and companies are going all in to try and appear sustainable. Most, if not all of it is just noise. While I realize that not making anything at all is not a realistic ask even though that’s the most sustainable thing to do, it would definitely be nice to see more impactful changes at these companies.

I’m all for everyone trying to be more sustainable, but creating new product just to say you create sustainable products is just going to put us in a worse place from where we started.

–Dean H.

Upcoming Releases

Yeezy Season Approachin'

Kanye West has been everywhere as of late. From Donda (Deluxe), to interviews, to washing Drake in Verzuz performing alongside Drake in LA, Mr. West is at the top of the game. And the footwear front is no different.

Since his "Yeezys for everybody" promise, the Three Stripes partnership has continuously churned out a plethora of models, colorways, and restocks. Sure, some are harder to get than others, but there's no denying that adidas Yeezy is putting numbers on the board.

In December alone, Yeezy is confirmed to release 15 different adidas.

From Slides to Boots and the anticipated adidas 350 V2 "Beluga Reflective" release this week, the adidas Yeezy line is raising eyebrows. We're still ways away from Yeezy jumping over Jumpman (if ever), but there's no debate that the adidas Yeezy line is delivering.

All we need now is a restock of the 750s (I'm begging).

–Luis T.

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