The Nike x COMME des GARÇONS Air Force 1 Mid releases October 23 at COMME des GARÇONS and Dover Street Market stores and online at DSM E-SHOPs.
Source: Nike COMME des GARCONS Air Force 1 Mid Official Launch Details
I’m leading this story with the CDG Air Force 1, but it isn’t the focus outside of how the release took place. From Nike:
The Nike x COMME des GARÇONS Air Force 1 Mid releases October 23 exclusively at COMME des GARÇONS and Dover Street Market stores globally and online at DSM E-SHOPs. The initial offering will be followed by a release via select COMME des GARÇONS retailers.
This is not a new strategy by brands. Releasing limited product within a controlled delivery system has always taken place.
A quick aside, this CDG looks suspiciously like the failed BHM Air Force 1, without color. It also looks like another Nike collab; the Public School NY Air Force 1. Both of these models failed miserably and ended up in the Nike Clearance Stores.
Let’s get back on topic. In a recent post, I discussed the adidas x Daniel Patrick collaboration from last year. I explained that the DP site was running ads on social media for the collab almost a year after the shoe dropped. The collab didn’t sell through:
adidas Harden Vol. 4 x Daniel Patrick | Influencer Marketing, Collaborations and the New Normal
The collab has always been a limited strategy to drive brand engagement and lift the level of cool around both companies participating. The collab is a mutually beneficial strategy, when it works. When it doesn’t work, we see the John Elliott x LeBron James sitting on shelves inside of the Nike Factory and Nike Clearance Store.
Just because it’s limited doesn’t mean it will work. As brands continue to utilize collaborations, it diminishes the desire for consumers because the consumer knows another collab is right around the corner. This post isn’t about whether collabs work though. I know I keep pushing it in that direction. What this post is about is Nike’s recent alignments with retailers. The CDG drop was specific to Dover Street Market.
In my new report series Monthly Resale Report and Analysis, I list a shoe as a surprise entrance into my top sold shoes for July-September. That shoe is the Nike Killshot. It isn’t really a collab, but like the CDG was released through DSM, the Killshot was dropped in conjunction with J. Crew. This doesn’t seem like a big deal as the Killshot, unlike the CDG Air Force 1 Mid or any of the collabs mentioned in this article, only has an SRP of 90 bucks.
What is interesting is that the Killshot is selling out at J. Crew and it while it bears a striking resemblance to the adidas Samoa or Samba, it isn’t available at Foot Locker, Finish Line or Jimmy Jazz. The model does show up on upscale sites like Mr. Porter… and this brings us back full circle to my primary point, which I never stated.
Brands don’t need to align with influencers or designers. They can find more success working with specific retail outlets.
The Killshot was a J. Crew special. The model garnered resale on third party platforms and at Nike doors the model sold through even in an urban area although the model is clearly targeting brands like Greats and Allbirds, who aren’t eyeing the urban market (aka Black folks). It’s an interesting topic to build a discussion around for brands. It’s even more interesting to look at when I finish these reports and show you the number of the Killshots I sold in resale since July.
If Nike continues to utilize retail collabs and New Balance does more IPOs with StockX, like adidas did an IPO with StockX, and brands are capable of structuring these deals at a more advantageous wholesale price than traditional wholesale, is this reason to worry at traditional retail? Or is this simply a small strategy that really doesn’t compare to the massive amount of shoes carried at traditional retail?
What do you think?
