« another weekend come and gone | Main | scattered thinking »
August 24, 2005
in which i learn a little bit more about sneaker culture
yesterday morning, around 6:30am, i was walking to BART, as is my habit, somewhat...i turned onto hayes street and saw
my first thought was that a homeless jamboree lay ahead, but no...it was not. when i got all on top of the line, i saw these kids
being who i am, i go up and say, "what's goin' on here?" sweet jeezuz; forget about literacy, let's get our schools to work on aliteration, huh? to begin with, only the guy in the pea jacket was able to respond. like, i was {this close} to asking them if they spoke english; so bad...i asked these guys THREE TIMES and all i could make out were the words nike dunks, and tiffany. in that they were in line outside of huf, i figured it was some kinda sneaker they were talking about, and asked if it was somebody's nike in particular(like could all these guys be waiting in line for the new tiffany bozic dunk?). the guy behind the parka blurted out, diamonds, yo. i wished them luck in their endeavor, especially since they'd decided to camp out overnight for whatever they were seeking, and continued on with my day.
dude, this was the line, made up primarily of guys, but there was a small pack of girls, who were like 7,8,9th in line...
here's the front of the line...
and the back of the line
on my way home from work, i stopped into the store to see what the hubub had been all about. one of the guys behind the counter was nice enough to fill me in. everyone had been waiting in line for a particular style of nike shoes that have been released in very limited edition. huf/hayes valley was the last store in the city to get their shipment of these shoes, which i guess was a topic on some on-line forum where they discuss such things...nike talk, maybe he said? anywho, these kids all friggin knew the poop, and got themselves in line. according to the guy i talked with, they'd sold out of the average guy sizes within a half hour. apparently when this news spread down the line (which he said was much, much longer by the time the store actually opened) folks were getting aggressive for whatever was left, and some kids actually cried when they found out everything had sold.
at that point, i hadta know what these high-demand shoes look like(nevermind my feelings about the slave labor involved with nike; i wasn't gonna convert anyone, that was wicked apparent). my source told me they were tiffany's aqua with diamond swooshes, and the color had been specially licensed from the jewelry company. he said to go to ebay, and query "Tiffany SB"(SB=skateboard), and then i could see for myself...i couldn't believe that guys were waiting in line for a tiffany's aqua colored shoe; i guess i'm wicked outta the loop. this whole sneaker culture thing is way beyond me, and this experience was somewhat akin to how i felt the first time i saw a giant line of people waiting to hear a d.j.. (D.J.?!?!?!?! they're waiting in line for a D.J.?!?!?!?!)
when i got home i went on-line to ebay and did the query just as told, and found these, listed as nike dunk low pro SB Tiffany Diamond Hat Stussy high DS, although i 'm not too sure exactly what that all means.
now, i've stood in long lines for stuff before; classes at university, darshan from ammachai, the yarn harlot...but i don't think i woulda waited in line for the tiffany dunks...HOWEVER these guys were not alone in their quest. the auction for the above shoes started at $1(the guy said he was letting the auction acheive "real market value") 3 days ago, and with three minutes to go it was at $263. i didn't stick around to see how much the pair ultimately went for.
although it's neat to see people getting enthusiastic, i still feel that this is some lack-of-perspective behavior that leads a person to spend $263 (that's 4 day's pay for me) on a pair of sneakers. ok, i know i buy yarn and beads and fabric, but then i make stuff out of it, that i either sell or give as presents. how versitile are a pair of sneakers? frig...amidst my judgement, i'm forgetting the blanket....i guess it's all kinda the same thing....
Posted by Meagen at August 24, 2005 05:16 AM