As we all know, brands are starting to realize that they have been overlooking the sneaker market for ladies and have started paying attention by producing and releasing more sneakers for the ladies. We see Jordan Brand releasing better colorways in highly-sought after silhouettes (including OG colorways), adidas releasing Yeezys in smaller sizes down to UK3.5, and Nike releasing Off-White collaborations almost exclusively for women which proves that brands have been taking notes and have sensed a disparity in the ladies’ sneaker market.
However, this opinion article is meant to address another issue which involves the value of these sneakers in the secondary market for ladies sneakers.
It’s just too damn high. Which begets two questions, “Why are sneakers in women’s sizes more expensive than men’s, and who are the buyers?”.
It’s understood that brands usually produce lesser pairs when it comes to smaller sizes which places these pairs higher on the list in terms of rarity, however besides that reason alone, there usually isn’t any other factor which would suggest a price inflation for these sizes.
Moving on to the second part of the question, who are the real consumers of these pairs besides resellers? Based on my experience discussing about sneakers and prices with ladies who are into streetwear, most of them always have a pair they desire whether it’s a pair of Off-White Prestos, Sacai Waffles, Yeezys, Sean Wotherspoon 97/1’s and more but almost every single one of them are reluctant to pay current market prices for their desired pairs even when offered a deal considered to be a steal.
Here’s an example for a women’s release. The Air Jordan 1 Satin Black Toe. An exclusively women’s only release which retails at RM649 is currently selling in the secondary market at around RM1800 to RM2200 depending on the size. Ask yourself this, how many lady friends of yours own a pair or have purchased it themselves in the secondary market at market price? Have you noticed that most of the sellers for this pair are almost 95% guys and are mostly resellers? Think about it, if you have an inventory filled with women-sized sneakers which are catered for women who are looking to own or wear a pair but the inflated prices often do not match the budget of one, who actually buys them? If a reseller buys from another reseller to gain a profit, and their customer base are women in the end of the day, who really actually buys them?
This topic has no intentions to portray a negative view towards resellers or towards the fact that women are more frugal when it comes to spending on a pair of sneakers but more on addressing the issue of the women’s sneaker market and how it will affect the entire resell market for women’s releases if there isn’t any “willing buyer, willing seller” situation. Resellers will get stuck with what seems to be “bricks” and the women’s sneaker scene will eventually reach a plateau and will only be accessible to the high-income earners.
I understand that making the maximum profit is the goal for every reseller (men or women) but in the long run, this situation may jeopardize other opportunities for resellers as well due to capital being held up which ends up in a lose-lose situation for both the female sneakerheads and the resellers.
I’ve written this based on my personal opinion to spark a thought for all the resellers looking to make a profit in the women’s market and also to address some issues that have been going around which have been brought by female sneakerheads but yet to be addressed. So, what do you think, do you think resell prices for women’s releases are too high which will cause a stagnation in the market and who are the real buyers?
