Nike has always been masterful with their “collection” releases. Everything from their release to commemorate the recent World Cup to their Nike SB “City Pack” collections are well-thought out and executed. However, they might have overdone it this time.
There are no less than 13 shoes in the collection, and they’ll be rolling out all through the month (for anyone who’s curious, the first few pairs were released yesterday). It’s nice when a collection is spaced out like that, but was it really necessary to do thirteen shoes?
The advantage of a collection is that it’s all paying homage to something, be that a sporting event, various cities, or various musicians. However, that idea kind of gets lost when there’s so many releases. There are a few hits (both of the AJ I’s and the Mercurial Superfly soccer boots), but there are several misses too (a very basic Air Max 1, a lazy Kobe 9).
Although I try really really hard to not wax poetic about the “good old days” too much, the “less is more” school of thought that seemed to be more active in the sneaker game a few years back would come in handy here. Older, smaller collections were more fun. You had to really hunt to get these rare shoes, and put in lots of time. You could manage to get all 13 shoes from this year’s BHM collection, but all it would probably cost you is a big chunk of money.
It’s understandable that Nike would seize an chance like this to turn a large profit, but one can only hope that they don’t forget their “collection roots” (if you will) too much in the future. I think I speak for most sneakerheads when I say I’m not too terribly interested in seeing a 20+ piece collection this next January.
-RDwyer
Share KicksOneTwo
