Wednesday, March 24, 2004
The Retro Days... (Guest Rant by hagrid)
So, retro is in right now. Everywhere you look, specialty shops are springing up in malls and catalogs like Eastbay and Finish Line are inundated with pages upon pages of "retro" gear. Sneakers, Jerseys, you name it and someone has re-released it either in original form or slightly modified to meet todays styles.
Those of us who remember those days or have spent considerable portions of our lives researching the history of our favorite past times, can smile at the seeming tribute to the legends and clubs of yesteryear.
I guess you're wondering where I'm going with this and here it is: Is it really tributous, what these companies are doing? Is it done in the spirit of taking the time to pay homage to a time or players that have played a crutial role in our sports enjoyment and intelectual development OR is it just being done to hock merchandise?
Words like "authentic" flood the retro market and is seemingly the call word for over-priced. After all, none of this stuff is truly "authentic", unless they've been sitting around stockpiled in a warehouse somewhere for a couple of decades.
Hip Hop moguls have spearheaded the movement and they have thier own saying:"If you didn't pay at least $350 for your jersey, it ain't authentic".
And therein lies the rub. It's all about money, isn't it?! I'll give you an example I noticed yesterday when I recieved the latest Eastbay catalog. Looking for a favorite pair of Jordans(and incidentally the only pair I've ever owned) that I had while playing high school ball, which to this day Nike has never re-released(probably because they were black suede and thats just not cost-effective). Anyways, I come across Nike's CB 94's. You know, those bad-ass, all black, nike-air that were part of the Barkely signature line?
Originally released in 1994. Original price: $129.99.
Price for re-release: $129.99??!!
"Um sir, excuse me, but I think you made a mistake on the price". Nope folks, no mistake. That's the actual price for decade old technology.
Nike and other companies constantly bombard us with commercials that thier cushioning technology is new, and better than ever. Yet, 10 year old sneakers are being sold in the same price range as new stuff, while they've admittedly marketed them as obsolete, or at least inferior technology. Why? Because consumers will pay the price to own a familiar piece of thier history, even if that history ends up sitting at the bottom of thier closet, unuasable, because thier aged and broken down bodies need better support these days.
We won't even get into the youngest generations interest in the retro industry. I'll have a Tourette's type episode flushing out that mindlessness.
Speaking of Throw backs: How 'bout them Celtics? Anyone else yearn for the days of Cousy, Havicheck, Russell, etc. right now? My next rant will be dedicated to the state of the Celtic Nation. Stay tuned.
Those of us who remember those days or have spent considerable portions of our lives researching the history of our favorite past times, can smile at the seeming tribute to the legends and clubs of yesteryear.
I guess you're wondering where I'm going with this and here it is: Is it really tributous, what these companies are doing? Is it done in the spirit of taking the time to pay homage to a time or players that have played a crutial role in our sports enjoyment and intelectual development OR is it just being done to hock merchandise?
Words like "authentic" flood the retro market and is seemingly the call word for over-priced. After all, none of this stuff is truly "authentic", unless they've been sitting around stockpiled in a warehouse somewhere for a couple of decades.
Hip Hop moguls have spearheaded the movement and they have thier own saying:"If you didn't pay at least $350 for your jersey, it ain't authentic".
And therein lies the rub. It's all about money, isn't it?! I'll give you an example I noticed yesterday when I recieved the latest Eastbay catalog. Looking for a favorite pair of Jordans(and incidentally the only pair I've ever owned) that I had while playing high school ball, which to this day Nike has never re-released(probably because they were black suede and thats just not cost-effective). Anyways, I come across Nike's CB 94's. You know, those bad-ass, all black, nike-air that were part of the Barkely signature line?
Originally released in 1994. Original price: $129.99.
Price for re-release: $129.99??!!
"Um sir, excuse me, but I think you made a mistake on the price". Nope folks, no mistake. That's the actual price for decade old technology.
Nike and other companies constantly bombard us with commercials that thier cushioning technology is new, and better than ever. Yet, 10 year old sneakers are being sold in the same price range as new stuff, while they've admittedly marketed them as obsolete, or at least inferior technology. Why? Because consumers will pay the price to own a familiar piece of thier history, even if that history ends up sitting at the bottom of thier closet, unuasable, because thier aged and broken down bodies need better support these days.
We won't even get into the youngest generations interest in the retro industry. I'll have a Tourette's type episode flushing out that mindlessness.
Speaking of Throw backs: How 'bout them Celtics? Anyone else yearn for the days of Cousy, Havicheck, Russell, etc. right now? My next rant will be dedicated to the state of the Celtic Nation. Stay tuned.
