(The article is an opinion piece and may not reflect the views of Masses in its entirety)
If you’re into sneakers or actively seeking your next streetwear purchase, you would probably realize by now how almost every reseller in Malaysia has the same product for sale. You can see resellers sprouting from every corner, trying to get a slice of the profit cake including non-sneakerheads. The most common brands you’d usually spot would be Supreme, BAPE, Nike or Adidas but the whole point of mentioning this is that all the items are the same whether its a pair of Yeezy 500’s, Air Jordan 1 Shadow, a Supreme SS18 waist bag and more.
The streetwear scene is facing an over-supply of products, not just by resellers, but by giant brands especially. Giant brands are acknowledging the secondary market where their products are being resold for a much higher price which will boost their sales due to the perception of being able to make a profit by resellers. By using simple knowledge of economics when supply is higher than demand, prices of products all fall especially when a new reseller comes in with intentions to make a quick flip and sells at a fairly lower price than everyone else, which further spoils the market by reducing the average market price of products. An example would be the Supreme SS18 waist bag which initially could fetch around RM750 but due to over-saturation of the product in the market, it is easily obtainable at around RM600 to RM650.
We all definitely prefer resell prices to drop so that we are more capable to buy our desired streetwear pieces but if you have not realized, the Malaysia streetwear market (post-Boost) have reached a point such if the item isn’t expensive, people desire it less and would rather save up to purchase something with more hype accompanied with a higher resell price. An example would be instead of purchasing a pair of Shadow 1’s for RM750, people would rather spend to pay for a pair of Banned 1’s (2016) for RM1500 just because it’s more expensive, and would be deemed more superior compared to the Shadow 1’s. The Malaysia streetwear scene has reached a plateau as people are in the streetwear scene solely to stay relevant and to show superiority over another with more expensive pieces.
Most Malaysia sneakerheads these days only know what is expensive or what’s hyped but they tend to overlook the cheaper yet rarer pieces just because it doesn’t give as much attention. The reason behind this is because Malaysia sneakerheads measure rarity of sneakers using resell value instead of factors that matter such as production quantity, availability and more. A relatable example would be, everyone knows of Fragment 1’s but are much less familiar with the Art Basel 1’s which was only available for purchase in Miami. The Fragment 1’s were released in 2014, had a restock in 2017, and was released online meaning it was accessible to anyone, yet due to hype, Fragment receives more recognition and more people are willing to spend on a pair of Fragment 1’s instead of the Art Basel 1’s. This point proves that if Malaysia sneakerheads continue to aim for hype, our scene will be flooded with only newly-released, overproduced, hyped pieces rather than rare pieces which elevate our scene to compete with collectors internationally whether in terms of streetwear pieces or sneakers.
Before we end, ask yourself, would you really want to see everyone around you (in the streetwear scene) using the same piece as yourself especially after spending a large amount just to obtain it? Do you want to attend a sneaker event wearing the same sneakers as everyone else? We always want the better things, complaining why we can’t get limited releases in Malaysia but before anything, are you willing to do something about our scene? Best to reflect on ourselves before starting to point fingers because the problem may not be them, but us.
