Since the late-80s, Nike has been trying to tell America that guys like Michael Jordan and LeBron James are awesome at basketball because of their footwear. And America has bought it (literally).
People have forked over up to $250 bucks for sneakers named after NBA stars. But now, if you want the latest LeBrons, which are set to debut this fall, you're going to have to lay down $315 to get them.
So, once again, thanks to Nike, you may not be able to play like an NBA star when you buy their shoes, but you'll certainly be spending like one.
Industry people say that the rise in price is due rise in labor, materials and shipping costs (them sweatshop kids need another two cents added to their paycheck, dammit!)
Nike has told retailers and sporting good stores that they won't be taking reservations. Long-ass lines and crazy expensive shoes? People will still buy them in droves. Although some are urging others to stop the madness:
"Prices are getting crazy excessive and as long as we continue to buy sneakers, Nike is going to keep increasing the prices," said Donell Brown, 30, who owns a cleaning services company in Dearborn, Mich.Mr. Brown said he and his friends have been posting messages on Twitter and YouTube, urging other longtime sneaker fans not to buy the pricier LeBron shoes and to forgo waiting in line for new sneaker releases.
The new shoes are called Nike LeBron X Nike Plus, because it's not cool unless the company name is mentioned twice. Also, the letter X is the balls.
The shoes will come with embedded motion sensors that measures how high players jump.
So if you ever wanted to confirm that you really can't play basketball like LeBron James and can, in fact, only jump an inch and a half off the ground, these sneakers are totally for you!
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