VaynerNation, On 11/14 my official collaboration with K-Swiss drops and we launch the “GaryVee 001 and 002”! I am really excited .. never thought a businessman shoe was in the cards ? A lot of you have been following me through this journey and I just want to say thank you and I am so excited for […]
Source: Everything You Need to Know About The GaryVee 001 & 002 K-Swiss Sneakers
The Gary Vee sneaker will drop at ComplexCon and I’m sure it will be limited. In other posts I’ve discussed the influencer effect on footwear. I’ve analyzed whether entertainers or athletes sell more shoes. Recently the Saucony Originators drop was analyzed and the super limited release saw a solid sell through as 9 of the 10 releases sold out immediately.
Does Influencer Marketing Really Work? | Saucony Originators | Marketing
Only one version of the shoe remained in stock beyond the initial release. The RealDJDelz didn’t sell out of its 100 pair run (which is not a good look). There is only size 14 left in stock, but the creation of 1000 limited shoes focused on heavy hitters in the sneaker world should have been an easy sell. The shoes should have also popped in resell, and they did for a moment.
However on StockX none of the shoes have doubled in value and on eBay the initial pop to 250 has seen a reduction in interest and the shoes are averaging between 102 at the low and 200 at the high end.
Why discuss the Saucony Originators drop when this is a post on the K-Swiss x Gary Vee collab? Because there has to be a foundation in an analysis. Kind of like a lawyer requiring a precedent in a case. As much as I like to listen to Gary Vee, the alignment will only work if it’s a limited release and honestly I don’t think it will work that well at all as entrepreneurs are notoriously stingy and won’t buy anything at full price. Even in support of a guy like Gary Vee who contributes so heavily to the world of small biz and hustle.
There hasn’t really been an announcement of how many pairs will drop. What I do know is that the company has made a hard push to focus on small biz and entrepreneurs dropping podcasts and featuring startups and streetwear companies on their site to advertise. Whether this has worked or not can only be discussed by those who have POS data. What I have to look at is how the release worked on a local level. In Memphis I only discovered one chain carrying the new K-Swiss Icon Knit. The shoe was at City Gear’s sneaker boutique The Vault. There are some models still at the store, but yesterday while I was browsing and picking up Hardens for a customer on ARCH I discovered the K-Swiss Icon Knit at a City Gear outlet. The price had been reduced to 69.97 from 100.00 with an additional 30% off. My first inclination was to buy every pair they had since the shoe would have only cost me 76.44 x .30 = 22.93 My cost = $53.51 Basically wholesale on the release.
I didn’t pick up the K-Swiss because as always the quick flip takes precedent and there were adidas NMDs at the outlet marked down as well as Complex Quickstrike Superstars (the irony). I led this off with the question of whether Gary Vee will be able to help K-Swiss reach the target market. If Memphis is an indication, then no. The Icon Knit is one of my favorite knit sneakers to drop this year. I haven’t seen anyone rocking the shoes. When you search Twitter interaction is minimal on K-Swiss unless it’s in regard to Gary Vee. This is expected as the Gary Vee brand is greater than the K-Swiss brand at this moment in social media.
Will this do well? Yes. They will sell because of Gary Vee, but like Saucony’s Originators once the collab was finished Saucony is sitting on some of the dopest shoes they’ve released post Originators. Gary didn’t move the needle on the K-Swiss Icon Knit locally, and I have to assume they didn’t do big numbers in other markets.
There is going to have to come a time when brands begin to understand and utilize traditional branding strategies based on their own development. Traditional in the sense that the brand dominates the narrative and builds their storytelling. Relying on influencers, no matter how big, ultimately creates unsustainable bubbles and if the cost of the influencer doesn’t justify the spend then brands go right back to square one. Use the source link to check out info on the Gary Vee drop.