"Originally priced at 1,500, it was sold to 48,000, a surge of 31 times!" Recently, news of price increases and shortages of hot-selling domestic sneakers have appeared on hot searches many times, triggering heated discussions.
As the stances of some global sportswear brands – including Nike and Adidas – toward cotton grown in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have caused a backlash, the money and scalpersbehind special edition shoes designed by these companies are shifting to domestic brands such as Li-Ning and Anta to avoid risks, the Global Times learned.
According to the Global Times, as multinational sports brands such as Nike and Adidas have sparked public outrage over their stance on Xinjiang cotton, capital and shoe speculators have focused on domestic brands such as Li Ning and Anta to avoid risks.
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Previously, some media broke the news that on a certain App, the reference price of the Li-Ning Wade Way 4 silver model was 1,499 yuan. The page showed that only size 42 was available, and the price was as high as 48,889 yuan, an increase of 31 times.
For example, the listed price of the "All-star" version of Li-Ning Way of Wade 4 on a Chinese fashion shoe-trading platform where people can buy limited editions at prices far above the official prices – is 48,889 yuan ($7,444) per pair, 31 times higher than the official price of 1,499 yuan, although no sales have been recorded.
The shoes are currently off the shelves, but on the App, the prices of many Li Ning shoes are still rising.
The sale price of this Li Ning sneaker is 699 yuan, but the current price for size 39.5 is as high as 10,389 yuan.
According to its recent purchase records, it can be seen that from March 28 to the present, the price of the sneakers has increased from about 4,000 yuan to the current 5,000 to 6,000 yuan. In just 9 days, the price increased by nearly 2,000 yuan.
Anta's co-branded sneakers have also been speculated several times higher:
The price of Chinese sportswear producer Anta's Doraemon-themed casual shoes on the platform was sold at 4,599 yuan – eight times higher than the original price of 499 yuan.
The Doraemon-themed casual shoes of Chinese sportswear brand Anta have been priced at 4,599 yuan, which is already eight times the original price of 499 yuan.
A sneaker collecting enthusiast interviewed by a reporter from the Global Times said that in the past, shoe speculators usually speculated on foreign brands such as AJ. After the Xinjiang cotton incident, they turned their attention to domestic sports brands:
Normally, money and scalpers that specialize in fancy shoes tend to speculate on foreign brands such as the Jordan 1 – a series of basketball shoes jointly designed by Nike and NBA legend Michael Jordan – a seasoned collector surnamed Sun who owns more than 200 pairs of shoes told the Global Times on Monday.
On April 5, a sneaker collector surnamed Sun who owned more than 200 pairs of sneakers said in an interview that usually, capital and shoe speculators would speculate on foreign sports brands, such as the AJ1 jointly designed by Nike and Michael Jordan.
"But after the Xinjiang cotton incident, the risks of speculating on these brands caused by market uncertainties due to their vague attitude are growing, so many scalpers are shifting to domestic brands to avoid risks. This should be the main reason," Sun said.
"But after the Xinjiang cotton incident, due to the ambiguous attitude of these companies, the market uncertainty was too great. Therefore, many speculators turned their attention to domestic brands to avoid risks."
There was once a post-90s generation who was detained after being owed tens of millions of dollars through speculation.
The so-called "shoe speculation" simply means buying shoes without wearing them, and then selling them when the price rises. The problem of "shoe speculation" has also been around for a long time.
As early as July 2019, it was revealed that a shoe dealer nicknamed "Liu Biscuit" in the sneaker circle of Chengdu, Sichuan, owed tens of millions of dollars in debt due to a loss of funds for shoe speculation, and was detained by the police station for three months.
It is understood that he owes 10.76 million, involving more than 130 people, and the amount owed ranges from a few thousand to one million. The debtors are mainly students, of which more than 70% are born after 1995, and the youngest was born in 2003.
In addition, in recent years, cases of shoe speculation fraud have occurred from time to time, and the victims are mostly high school students and college students.
Lawyer: Shoe speculation may be suspected of multiple violations
In this regard, Yue Qishan, a lawyer at Beijing Yue Cheng Law Firm, said that shoe speculation may be suspected of multiple violations and requires supervision by relevant departments.
Yue Qishan: For example, several large shoe speculators collude with each other to manipulate market prices, which is a violation of the Price Law; or luring consumers and other operators to trade with them may be a price violation. In addition, a large amount of funds may be involved, and there may also be illegal and criminal activities such as money laundering, or illegal absorption of public deposits.
He said that manufacturers should control their output, and at the same time, market supervision departments should be more vigilant and pay attention in a timely manner.
Netizen: No need to speculate on shoes
Some netizens said that speculating on limited-edition shoes will also drive up the price of ordinary shoes, making it unaffordable for consumers:
Speculation involving special editions has driven up prices of some common models as well, drawing complaints from ordinary customers who said that it's hard to get a pair of normal shoes for an affordable price.
Speculating on limited-edition sneakers will also drive up the price of ordinary sneakers, causing some buyers to complain that it is not easy to afford a pair of ordinary sneakers.
A user of Weibo, a Twitter-like Chinese social media, said that shoes should be worn instead of being collected, as most buyers of domestic shoes are just ordinary people, and soaring prices for normal shoes will affect their quality of life.
A Weibo user said that shoes are for wearing, not for collecting. Many consumers who buy domestic sneakers are ordinary people, and the price increase caused by shoe speculation will reduce their quality of life.
