Source for pictures: The KOBE A.D. NXT Unhinges Tradition
I always wait a few days before writing a report, or response, to information in the mainstream. This gives the talking heads on YouTube and in social media a chance to pontificate and espouse their theories on why or what happened to cause negotiations to come to halt between Nike and the Bryant Estate. After Nick DePaula broke the news of the possible end of the relationship, theories flew like Kobe on a fast break. Fans screamed that Nike was making a big mistake and others understood that Kobe was working on his own potential line. I didn’t say anything. I did what I always do, I went to my numbers for the last four years. I also looked at Vanessa Bryant’s comments about the sneakers selling out immediately and I realized that she might be getting misinformation on Nike Basketball in the U.S.; especially signature footwear.
I know that Kobe in China is akin to Jordan in the U.S. Nike should want to maintain that relationship. However, in the U.S., contrary to what Vanessa Bryant understands, Kobe’s did not sell out unless they were extremely limited. Since Kobe’s retirement and before, Nike rolled out four variations of Kobe’s footwear. There was the low-end “Rage” and “Mamba” versions which retailed between 90 and 120 dollars. There were the Kobe A.D. versions which retailed between 150 and 170. Then there were the NXT models that rang up for 200 dollars a pair. The final part of the package was the Protro concept. This is where Nike found success because they didn’t overproduce the line. They made collabs with Undefeated and player exclusives, but the Protro was hard to get and it was a smart thing to do; because the reality was Kobe’s sneakers had been languishing on shelves.
The model had hit RTV territory and it became a staple at Nike Factory and Clearance Stores allowing for arbitrage with willing resellers and there weren’t many willing resellers. During retail dives I began picking up the models. The local store had so many of the shoes in stock, at one point they didn’t limit how many of the shoes you could buy. The Kobe line even ended up at off-price retail outlets like Ross and Marshall’s. In 2018 I did a video telling people to get to City Gear where they had offered the shoes ‘buy one, get one for a dollar,’:
Nike Kobe XI Invisibility Cloak Black/Wolf Grey-Pink Blast | Authentic Verification
The Cold, Hard Truth
The following numbers are pulled directly from my data on Kobe footwear sold from 2017 to 2020. I avoided reselling Kobe’s after his death. I had the opportunity to sell an abundance of the footwear, but it felt wrong to capitalize on his death. I had one pair listed which sold on 2-24-2020. That shoe sold for above retail. Out of 209 pair of Kobe’s sold since 2017 only three pair sold for above retail. It wasn’t until Kobe’s death that the price of the shoes skyrocketed. I have not participated in the purchase of the shoes since then, and to be honest Nike made the model extremely limited and that’s understandable. His death was a chance to rebuild the brand after years of slow sales.
This is a microset of data and cannot be considered completely representative of the entire marketplace. After creating these microsets of data, I’ve found that my information aligns with larger datasets.
Number of shoes sold 2017 to 2020: 209
Shoes sold above retail: 4
The Models sold above retail:
Nike-Kobe-A-D-Lakers-Black-Mamba
Nike-Kobe-4-Protro-Undefeated-Black-Mamba
Nike-Kobe-3-Fade-To-Black
Nike-Kobe-5-Protro-Chaos
Place of acquisition: City Gear, Hibbett Sports, FootLocker and Nike Factory and Clearance Stores
The Footwear I purchased did not come from the low end line of Mamba and Rage. The shoes purchased were from the A.D., NXT and Proto lines. The average SRP of those shoes were $182.70. The fact that 91% of the shoes sold at below $120 dollars is evidence that the line was extremely overpriced and any brand creating footwear with an SRP of 180 and a resale price of under 120 should dig a bit deeper because I wouldn’t have grabbed those shoes if there wasn’t at least a 10% profit built into each model and the fact that I could sell the shoe at less than 60 dollars was extremely problematic. I’m quite sure that the Bryant Estate was shown these numbers. If they weren’t then maybe they should have been. I can only imagine that navigating the discussion was difficult. Nike gave Kobe a chance after charges of rape. Nike built Kobe’s persona via a marketing machine that allowed the once likable All-American high school star, to become the rogue samurai, The Black Mamba. Nike effectively erased afro Kobe and adidas from sneaker history.
With that said, I do think that The Bryant Estate has allowed itself to become a brand by walking away. They can approach both adidas and Nike for collaborations. This means that Nike will be able to produce the limited footwear they want with consent from the brand and The Bryant Estate can work with Los Angeles designer Jerry Lorenzo on throwback Kobe gear with the afro Kobe logo finally being available for marketing. The cold, hard truth is that even in death, an extended roll out of Kobe product would not perform very well in the marketplace. It didn’t do well during his career and after his career the line only resonated with a small segment. In death, the sell through is purely capitalistic… and that’s not a good thing.