Good evening, folks! How are you? Hope your week has been solid so far. Obviously, most of the talk in the sneaker world so far has been about Mamba Week and how limited the drops have been.
So that’s what we’re going to chat about today. Mamba Week. What do y’all think of how it’s gone down so far? Did you have any luck copping anything?
Also, here’s a scenario for those of you who want to indulge. BOOM. You just won a contest that made you the CEO of Nike for a day. Your first task? Fixing Mamba week. If you fix it, you get a billion dollars. What do you do?
First off (and this might be mad unreasonable) I'm giving early access to all Nike members who have identified as Lakers fans.
Second, instead of dropping everything throughout the week, I'm doing "The Ten" style drop on 8/24 and dropping all five pairs plus the jersey in different time slots.
Finally, I'm flooding the market with each and every non-collab drop. For the "What If" UNDFTD pack, we're doing pre-orders.
I basically agree with everything you said. I think it's important that the jerseys in particular are as accessible as possible, as I imagine that's what most fans would covet the most. Maybe they could do throwback jerseys and do the preorder for them too?
First off, I agree with everyone who has said making the jersey a mass market item is a no brainer. I have a number of middle aged friends who would have purchased the jersey after seeing players wear it in the arena pregame. These type of fans have no idea about SNKRS or the limited supply, and all it creates is bitterness toward the brand when they hear of the scarcity.
As far as the shoes, I think you balance between the collector and the fan. You start the week with a NikeID white or black base Protro similar to the 5x Champ colorway, with the accent colors giving you freedom. This allows everyone to participate who wants a piece of the Kobe legacy. This starts everyone on a high for Mamba Week. Then you start your daily drops of limited shoes. Even if you strike out each day, you still have the ID option. You end the week with the jersey in unlimited numbers, another win for everyone.
My pipe dream idea would be to reach out to the winner of the AJ3/8 auction and ask if they would be okay with releasing the white AJ3 as a tribute to Kobe and shoe community. Make it a reservation based shoe at $248 and proceeds go to Mamba & Mambacita Foundation.
I'd get some Nike masks out in the streets. wtf is this company doing? They have an entire supply chain in Asia where mask-wearing has been the norm in some countries for years, but they don't have a comfortable, safe product ready to go when we need one?
And then I'd make the most popular Kobes available again as a general release. Along with a set of each number shoe that goes out the way Sony is doing it, to active customers as measured by Nike.com / the various apps etc. for pre-order invites. Get em to real people
I saw Devin Booker with one a few weeks ago in the NBA Bubble. I wonder if that's a custom thing they gave to him or if he just bought it off Etsy like everyone else lmao
As a lifelong Lakers fan dating back to Showtime, And as a guy who thinks the Kobe 5 and 6 are the best fitting lows ever for basketball, I’m extremely disappointed by the limited release of the Protros this week. I would like nothing more than for Nike to release each Kobe model as an iD model each year, and then re-release classic OG colorways
Of each retro drop, that aren’t super limited. Kobe’s for all. It’s about inclusion, not exclusivity. I’m not surprised Nike, I’m just disappointed
I would have a series of launch dates, scheduled roughly two weeks apart, for an unknown number of drops. In my messaging, I would make it clear that we would continue to release them until demand wanes. By spacing the drops two weeks apart, it doesnt leave much time for the appreciation to occur (and sustain). Most people won’t pay a crazy premium for a shoe they’ve got a shot at getting in two weeks (or less). This approach undercuts the resell market, allows Nike to fully capture the market of buyers, and ensures that just about everyone who wants a pair can get them. All of a sudden, it’s not about lucky vs. unlucky (got a pair vs. different), it is just a matter of eventually getting them - and true Kobe fans will be happy just to get ‘em.
To be clear, I wouldn’t do this with all drops but in a situation like this one - the tragic death of a young superstar - creativity is required to allow his fans to cop while ensuring the resellers don’t profit from his death.
I think Nike put itself in between a rock and a hard place by blasting Twitter and Instagram feeds with the Kobe "Better" ad (which is was incredible), only to then drop limited supply. Although Kobe's are not as big of a street shoe as Jordan's, they are extremely functional in their purpose, which is to play basketball. (When I played ball in college, I ran through one, maybe two, Kobe's in a season.) Nike would be smart to do monthly drops, rather than sporadic releases.
Thanks so much Max! And, yes, I totally agree with you on the monthly drops. I'd love to see that. They're definitely not done with the line by any means, either. We just don't know how it's going to come. Hopefully, it's often.
First off (and this might be mad unreasonable) I'm giving early access to all Nike members who have identified as Lakers fans.
Second, instead of dropping everything throughout the week, I'm doing "The Ten" style drop on 8/24 and dropping all five pairs plus the jersey in different time slots.
Finally, I'm flooding the market with each and every non-collab drop. For the "What If" UNDFTD pack, we're doing pre-orders.
I'm thinking 33,643 pairs for the pre-orders? That's Kobe's all-time point total.
Yes I've been thinking about this a lot lmao
I basically agree with everything you said. I think it's important that the jerseys in particular are as accessible as possible, as I imagine that's what most fans would covet the most. Maybe they could do throwback jerseys and do the preorder for them too?
First off, I agree with everyone who has said making the jersey a mass market item is a no brainer. I have a number of middle aged friends who would have purchased the jersey after seeing players wear it in the arena pregame. These type of fans have no idea about SNKRS or the limited supply, and all it creates is bitterness toward the brand when they hear of the scarcity.
As far as the shoes, I think you balance between the collector and the fan. You start the week with a NikeID white or black base Protro similar to the 5x Champ colorway, with the accent colors giving you freedom. This allows everyone to participate who wants a piece of the Kobe legacy. This starts everyone on a high for Mamba Week. Then you start your daily drops of limited shoes. Even if you strike out each day, you still have the ID option. You end the week with the jersey in unlimited numbers, another win for everyone.
My pipe dream idea would be to reach out to the winner of the AJ3/8 auction and ask if they would be okay with releasing the white AJ3 as a tribute to Kobe and shoe community. Make it a reservation based shoe at $248 and proceeds go to Mamba & Mambacita Foundation.
I was able to get a white #24 from Fans Edge on Monday with a $90 discount.
The Black Mamba 8/24 was the jersey they should have made unlimited.
Yeah, that SNKRS app is some BS
I'd get some Nike masks out in the streets. wtf is this company doing? They have an entire supply chain in Asia where mask-wearing has been the norm in some countries for years, but they don't have a comfortable, safe product ready to go when we need one?
Adidas and Under Armour have masks
And then I'd make the most popular Kobes available again as a general release. Along with a set of each number shoe that goes out the way Sony is doing it, to active customers as measured by Nike.com / the various apps etc. for pre-order invites. Get em to real people
New Balance has them, too! It's weird as hell that Nike doesn't.
And they were making PPE for a while earlier this year, too, weren't they? Like, they made face shields but not masks??? lololol
It's bizarre! We're 5 months into this thing and not a peep from the biggestcompany.
I saw Devin Booker with one a few weeks ago in the NBA Bubble. I wonder if that's a custom thing they gave to him or if he just bought it off Etsy like everyone else lmao
I saw a few, and iirc I've seen people wearing them in photos of the campus / company store.
The Nike ID idea sounds like a great idea. They should also have extra colors and materials.
Make the Kobe 5 releases draws and have a Nike ID as well for them.
The ID idea is so smart. That cuts right through all the resale mess.
Yep, agreed, but the smart ones will ID with KB8 / KB24 etc etc
As a lifelong Lakers fan dating back to Showtime, And as a guy who thinks the Kobe 5 and 6 are the best fitting lows ever for basketball, I’m extremely disappointed by the limited release of the Protros this week. I would like nothing more than for Nike to release each Kobe model as an iD model each year, and then re-release classic OG colorways
Of each retro drop, that aren’t super limited. Kobe’s for all. It’s about inclusion, not exclusivity. I’m not surprised Nike, I’m just disappointed
I would have a series of launch dates, scheduled roughly two weeks apart, for an unknown number of drops. In my messaging, I would make it clear that we would continue to release them until demand wanes. By spacing the drops two weeks apart, it doesnt leave much time for the appreciation to occur (and sustain). Most people won’t pay a crazy premium for a shoe they’ve got a shot at getting in two weeks (or less). This approach undercuts the resell market, allows Nike to fully capture the market of buyers, and ensures that just about everyone who wants a pair can get them. All of a sudden, it’s not about lucky vs. unlucky (got a pair vs. different), it is just a matter of eventually getting them - and true Kobe fans will be happy just to get ‘em.
To be clear, I wouldn’t do this with all drops but in a situation like this one - the tragic death of a young superstar - creativity is required to allow his fans to cop while ensuring the resellers don’t profit from his death.
I would done pre orders, or probably make a huge size run like they do for the 11's every year.
I think Nike put itself in between a rock and a hard place by blasting Twitter and Instagram feeds with the Kobe "Better" ad (which is was incredible), only to then drop limited supply. Although Kobe's are not as big of a street shoe as Jordan's, they are extremely functional in their purpose, which is to play basketball. (When I played ball in college, I ran through one, maybe two, Kobe's in a season.) Nike would be smart to do monthly drops, rather than sporadic releases.
P.S. Great job on Pro Rata today!
Thanks so much Max! And, yes, I totally agree with you on the monthly drops. I'd love to see that. They're definitely not done with the line by any means, either. We just don't know how it's going to come. Hopefully, it's often.
Flood the market with the jerseys, definitely. Also, launch a Kobe Protro By You customization option.
That is an incredible idea. Customization to destabilize the hype!