Jordan continues to upgrade its materials with the release of the Air Jordan 12 Retro “Blue Suede.” Part of a fall/winter collection of season-inspired Jordan 12s, the sneaker features a full deep royal blue upper done in a mix of suede and basketball-textured leather, a matching blue sole, and white and metallic silver accents. Release date is Nov. 12, 2016 at a retail price of $190.
The classic Air Jordan 12 Retro takes on a colorway that would make Snoop proud. Royal Blue Suede drop release is in effect and the question for everyone in the game is will it sell out? Is it going to be limited? My statement right off the top is, “It doesn’t matter.” The Retro 12 always, always, always flies off the shelves. The aftermarket on the Retro 12 in almost every colorway is solid. The only exception is the recent Air 12 Retro Nylon and Wool, both textile based releases, so that makes me wonder will this Retro 12 fall flat and max out at around the same number as the Wool? Let’s get into the numbers:
Since I do 3 checks before my decision I will weight them on a scale of 1-9. The max points on a scale = +3
*** New addition to the rating system: 0-25% = +1 26-55% = +2 56% and up is +3
First check: The Retro 12 is on Flight Club at 350.00/pair. Remember my automatic thought is, you are not FC. Drop the price 50-100 dollars. Since the shoe is available and it’s a Retro 12 and the history of Retro 12s is strong overall I’m going to average the FC ratio to 300.00. When I think about the percentage rating system, the shoe at 300 third party means that you are going to get hit with a 13% fee from eBay and free shipping your 190 + tax purchase is at 205. Add the 13% from eBay/Paypal/Amazon and you are at 39.00. This means your original purchase of 205 is now 244.00. Add free shipping fees at 15 and your total cost on this shoe is 259.00. If you get 300.00 for it, you earn 41.00. That’s a 15.8% ROI. If I base the Blue Suede on the Wool and Nylon releases this year, I would give this a +1. However, I think this shoe will be slightly better.
Rating = +2
Second check: The Retro 12 is already being sold on eBay. The average price of the first 4 sales: 319+274+235+265 = 1093/4= 273.25 This price is even lower than my projected FC price of 300.00. Which means your ROI is even lower. The Blue Suede is a dope shoe, and I’m still tempted to go with the 300.00 dollar price point, but I’m sitting on a size 14 Wool at 275.00 and with the amount of drops in November, maybe this shoe doesn’t pop. The color limits the sale potential as well. Like Kendrick said, “If Pirus and Crips all got along…” They don’t so half the dudes who would rock the kicks can’t. I still want to give it a +2…
Rating = +2
Third check: My third check is always looking for the hype on a shoe, or checking the inventory to see how limited this shoe will be. The hype train has been big for a while. I don’t even have to check. The Footlocker and Footaction launch locators aren’t active. I don’t know if this is going to be a big GR. I also don’t know if it is a Quickstrike. I do know that local stores only have 12 pair so it’s possibly limited which gives me the right to increase the rating logically to +2, but based on the ROI I have to stick with my system and give the shoe a
Rating = +1
Should you buy to flip?
My total on a scale of 9 is a +5. There is a reason for this. Nike is dropping a Flyknit Racer and adidas is releasing multiple pairs of Ultra Boost and NMDs this month. With two Retro 1 releases, the Retro 12 will only benefit from being a limited release. +5 is an average rating and it should be lower because the ROI is not very strong, so I say don’t flip unless you get it on discount which I don’t think is happening.
