Sneaker Shop Institutes Controversial Requirement to Thwart Resellers
Avid sneakerheads have often been at the mercy of resellers who buy up pairs of highly anticipated shoes and sell them for a heavily marked-up price. One California store is taking matters into their own hands to combat resellers buying up their products.
Crooks Skate Shop in Riverside, CA took a different approach to sneaker sales when the new Powerpuff Girls x Nike SB Dunk Lows dropped Dec. 14. According to Nike SB or Nothing, customers who lined up at the store were given one of two raffle tickets to purchase their shoes. One was a traditional raffle, and the other required winners to smash the box the shoes came in and wear the shoes out the door. It was the shop's way of combatting potential resales, as shoes without boxes generally go for less money, and resale sites like StockX require a box to sell them. The store reportedly had an even number of entires for the traditional and the smashed-box raffle.
Although sneakers are frequently thought of as a male-dominated passion, that doesn't mean passion for new kicks wanes just because a new release is based on a girl-centered cartoon like The Powerpuff Girls. The series premiered in November 1998 and the new sneakers are part of the show's 25th anniversary celebration. The shoes come in three different colors to match the three animated superheroes, complete with replicas of their eyes on the backs of the shoes.
"The SB Dunk Low Powerpuff Girls Pack offers three distinct colorways to represent the creative expression and signature colors of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup," the brand said, as a way of "celebrating 25 years of saving the world before bedtime."
If you buy a secondhand pair and the box looks like it's been through a lot, you might know where it came from.
