My first experience with resale and perhaps my new favorite sneakers

To try a different thing

Ever since I started my sneaker obsession, I knew of resale, which is a blanket term to essentially mean buying it from someone who isn't an authorized store. This may sound strange, but sneakers have very strict pricing rules. If Nike says the price is X, boutiques and official stores are not allowed to ask for more; the price is fixed, and Nike has already taken into account the seller markup. Discounts are allowed, especially on old stock; no one discounts hot kicks after all. Resale, on the other hand, has no rules; people can ask for anything they want, high or low. While I always used resale to essentially mean scalpers, there is a different side.

Go into websites like StockX (or, in my case, Droper), and you see that many sneakers sell for below, or close to, retail. This either means the shoe is lightly used, maybe the box is damaged (or no box at all), or the seller just wants to get rid of it; they bought expecting a markup, but they misjudged demand, which happens all the time. And these are the sneakers I kept an eye out for the last month or so, awesome kicks that just weren't all that crazy in terms of demand, are now waiting for someone to pick up at a discount on those websites.

I went through a few, but I concentrated on the Air Jordan 1 (AJ1). Why? Well, after the Union LA x Fragment disaster (see here), I had a newfound love for the silhouette; there was something there that I didn't notice before, but hell, I wanted one now. I saw a few, the Black Toe Reimagined and the Shattered Backboard, both from last year, were my main contenders. I could grab them for roughly 70% of the retail price, for new or almost new ones. What a steal.

Wait, really? Retail price for this one?

If you saw me posting in these last few weeks, you know that's not what I bought. One day, after lunch, before going back to work, I decided to search for "Chicago" on the website. I had a feeling I had seen something. For context, Chicago is the name of the Red, White, and Black version of the AJ1, one of the original colorways. If you ever saw a drawing, doodle, or any sort of art representing "sneakers", if they were high tops, the chance that you saw an AJ1 Chicago is quite high. It is, literally, the cover of "The Ultimate Sneaker Book". Arguably, they are the sneakers, period. So, I found a pair called "Chicago Lost and Found", essentially, it was made to imitate a story, what if you found a lost pair of Chicagos from 1985? The leather is cracked on the white and black portions, it is a light sail instead of white on the midsole, and it features a slightly older design compared to the normal High. Cool, great.

I make a mental note to add that to my list, and I soon discover that this is strange, the seller was asking essentially for retail (with shipping), and despite the L&F being a very widespread release, it was from November 2022, enough time had passed for it to gain some price, it was over 300$ on StockX, so, this felt strange. I took a look at the comments, and just yesterday the seller had decreased the price, a small 10% discount, but still, someone was trying to negotiate, but the buyer didn't seem interested enough. This was an opportunity.

I ran some numbers, since I wasn't planning on buying new sneakers now, but this was too enticing to pass up, exactly my size, one of the most legendary colorways (in spirit)? Oh, I had to have it. After a few minutes of thinking, I bit the bullet, pressed buy, and now had to hope for the best.

Now we wait

For this seller, since they weren't verified on the website, I had to choose a shipping option that went through the store. The seller shipped it to them, they checked, made sure it was OK based on the description, and sent it my way. Expensive, but safe. I had no option, so I chose that; the seller had shipped it the next day. Since they lived close to the store, it was a one-day delivery, and I had my answer the next day: Missing extra shoelaces. Wait, what? So, the L&F comes with two sets of shoelaces, a black and a white one, while the black is the original, many images use the white, for some reason, and well, I had paid for a complete product! The seller said so. While the store waited for my ok, I asked the seller to explain the situation. After a few hours, he replied that he thought he had sent the shoelaces, but would check. While I waited, I was already looking for alternatives; these aren't special shoelaces, thankfully, so any 72 in / 182 cm white pair of flat cotton laces would work.

The answer came on the same day, he found them at home, and said they must have fallen during packaging. Given that the box was complete to the point of containing the fake 1986 receipt, I was inclined to believe. So, on to the store. Next day, as soon as I could, I messaged them to explain the situation, I was already expecting nothing, a take it or leave it situation (I would take it, because I was not going to be reimbursed for their verification service). But to my surprise, they said they could fix it. After some back and forth while I was going to college, they sent the seller a new postage code so they could mail them the shoelaces, and then they would send the full package to me. This was around 11 AM, and by 1 PM, the laces were sent, received, and confirmed the next day. It was a Friday, so I had to wait until Monday, and then almost the entire week for the thing to arrive, damn postal service.

I think I love this thing

Ever since I got hooked, I was all in on the AJ1. Reading about it, watching movies and documentaries, I wanted to know the store, the man behind it (Peter Moore), the impact, everything. I seriously started to think these may be my new favorite sneakers. I had plans for a whole collection of Jordan 1s, something I have not considered for any other model.

And so, they arrived, over an entire week after the original purchase, and what a beauty they are. The Jordan 1s have an energy unmatched by any other sneakers. The only one to carry the Swoosh and the Wings, the one responsible for a cultural shift so large it essentially birthed modern sneaker culture. It is a great model to have multiple pairs, as it was made to change materials and colors. A Chicago and a Bred (which, I learned recently, is a portmanteau of Black and Red, and not anything else) are completely different beasts; a Royal matches different vibes, everything is unique, despite the same overall shape. They are high tops, but they don't fight pants as much as a Jordan 4 or 5, since they are simpler. The slim design means they work with more pants (and shorts), and it's a wonderful pair of sneakers to be a fan of.

I opened the box like a kid on Christmas. The mismatched box and lid, the filling being newspaper ads for the Jordan 1, the aforementioned fake receipt, the sheer story that Nike managed to tell here is absolutely unmatched, and something that you can only do with an Air Jordan 1. I wore them around the house all giddy, showing them to anyone that I could, aren't my new shoes cool? They are!

Will they be my forever sneakers? Only time will tell, but hey, I could finally take this amazing photo, pretty cool, huh?