The Official Nike LeBron 14 Thread. Retail $175

rawdawg34 said:
innovation is killing nike?
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@rawdawg34, tongueless and sock-like, booty uppers offer signifcant cost savings to manufacturers due to the lack of stitching seams and fewer materials. The marketing guys can spin it off as 'innovation' to drive sales but it's a 'tech feature' (and I use the word very loosely) that benefits the manufacturer. From the consumer's perspective you get shoes that can either fit very well or fit poorly. Sometimes the openings aren't wide/large enough for people with wide feet or high insteps, other times the overall fit is too snug and you get hotspots.
 
vood99 said:
@rawdawg34, tongueless and sock-like, booty uppers offer signifcant cost savings to manufacturers due to the lack of stitching seams and fewer materials. The marketing guys can spin it off as 'innovation' to drive sales but it's a 'tech feature' (and I use the word very loosely) that benefits the manufacturer. From the consumer's perspective you get shoes that can either fit very well or fit poorly. Sometimes the openings aren't wide/large enough for people with wide feet or high insteps, other times the overall fit is too snug and you get hotspots.
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all those things you said are well known facts all depending on your vantage point.

in terms of fitting a world class athlete with a shoe that performs, 1 piece is always greater than 2 or more. especially considering that the shoe is made from a mold of the players/athletes foot. how great the difference is? i don't know and i am 100% sure that nobody here knows exactly. but, i highly doubt that when deciding to go with a one piece bootie or a free tongue the decision was made based on the fact that construction and materials was 20 cent cheaper. especially when cost of a shoe from the sweatshop to the consumers face is pennies on the dollar to start with...and they will just pass the minimal cost increase in production and materials right along to the consumer.

so even though i use the "innovation" term loosely, it most likely is the case with lebron james himself as opposed to some casual NTer that plays ball at the local gym 2x a week.

all the consumer gets is a copy of what is tailor made to fit lebron anyway.
 
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^^^
Fair enough bro, although the above is debatable too with LBJ not wearing the XI and maintaining a rotation of GRs, Elites, Soldiers during the season. With the construction cost savings, you have to think of economies of scale and then those couple of cents add up.
 
If everyone really wanna know the cost of shoes amd the total break down of how the money is spent, it encourage you all to read this article. The article is drawn out so it is lengthy. However its detailed and very informative so folks like us will understand how the interworkings of major companies like Nike and Adidas strive.

I would like to get feedback to whomever reads the article.

https://www.solereview.com/what-does-it-cost-to-make-a-running-shoe/
 
Great article alsa2009. If anyone took a Financial class they would easily understand the economics of manufacturing products. I always laugh at people who say Nike makes a shoe for $2 and sells it for $200 to make a lot of profit. Clearly they have no clue how cost of goods work.
 
alsa2009 said:
If everyone really wanna know the cost of shoes amd the total break down of how the money is spent, it encourage you all to read this article. The article is drawn out so it is lengthy. However its detailed and very informative so folks like us will understand how the interworkings of major companies like Nike and Adidas strive.

I would like to get feedback to whomever reads the article.

https://www.solereview.com/what-does-it-cost-to-make-a-running-shoe/
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I assume that you wrote this article as I've seen you post it before in a different thread. You've got nice charts and you've simplified things, but there is no way that Nike/Adidas are paying a factory in the Far East $20 for a $100 MSRP runner and making a profit of $1-$5 on each pair.

The $20 cost per unit is possible on a tech laden shoe that could retail at a higher MSRP but at the $100 MSRP price point you're talking about an entry, maybe a mid-level runner that is in the single digit price range and may be in the double digits if you include freight, import duties, etc... Yes, the factories did increase their production costs about 4-5 years ago, but not to the point where entry & mid-level product cost double to manufacture.

The freight costs you've listed per pair are also quite high, Nike/Adidas don't ship boxes - they'll have a cargo ship with several containers of product and they'll have a broker negotiate the shipping charges. Because they import such a high volume, they have multiple brokers vying for business and they pick the lowest bidder. This is consistent right from when the product gets from the factory to the distribution center and then again from the distribution center to the retail store.

I'm not sure what the numbers are presently but the Air Monarch was/is?? one of Nike's top selling sneakers and that joint has a $55-$60 MSRP. By your rationale it costs about $10-$14 to manufacture so Nike's profit is only a few cents on the shoe?

You don't get to Nike & Adidas' size by making a few cents or dollars on your product, you have to make considerably more.
 
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Its not my review guys. I posted it another forum seeing the conversation was about the cost of shoes. I take it none of you guys actually run or jog. It would of been evident that solereview does reviews on running shoes and occasionally topics like this one. I thought it would be interesting since to some of you were speaking on it.
 
I don't think there is an official reveal this week but Bron is in China so hopefully some pics come out
 
alsa2009 said:
If everyone really wanna know the cost of shoes amd the total break down of how the money is spent, it encourage you all to read this article. The article is drawn out so it is lengthy. However its detailed and very informative so folks like us will understand how the interworkings of major companies like Nike and Adidas strive.

I would like to get feedback to whomever reads the article.

https://www.solereview.com/what-does-it-cost-to-make-a-running-shoe/
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good read. but it still doesnt count for certain aspects in the "business of sneakers"...

for instance, niketown and factory store retailers cutting out the middle man entirely

and most importantly,

the retailers inability to pick and choose which items they want to carry. if you have an account with nike, in order to get the best of the line, you have to take the worst of the line as well.

even if nike only profits 5 bucks from every shoe, thats a guaranteed 5 bucks. how hard is it to make money off a product that you know will sell?

just too many "IFS" in that article.

in addition, the margins for nike are much different for shirts, tech fleece etc etc etc...which balance out margins for everything else.


i'd love to create a product knowing that no matter how many i produce, i'll make 5 or 10 bucks off of it.


and as vood stated...nike isnt gonna pay a factory 20 bucks and take 5 bucks from a shoe thats produced. NO WAY
 
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VentureBlake said:
I like your style vood99
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Thanks brother, I worked part-time @ a Nike store for 9 years while I studied and started off my career. I met a whole bunch of people, unpacked boxes, set up displays, stocked shelves and was also privy to some of our costs.

@alsa2009, I wasn't coming at you. Just wanted to clarify some of the mistakes in that article. It is just too damn high level and a lot of the information is either cherry picked from Nike marketing or guesstimated. To some extent the article makes it seem that Nike/Adibok are a bunch of boy scouts designing/manufacturing shoes for a 'greater good' due to the razor thin profit margins - but this is simply NOT the case.

That said, we're almost a month away from the XIV RD and there's nothing to show for it. :nerd:
 
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Lol all in good cheer guys. Just passing up time filling the void until we hear something about the Lebe-non 14s. No worries, its just an article.

Hopefully the Hex pod system is a little more dialed in on this upcoming model. I like the 12s heel zoom setup but didnt care for the forefoot. I liked the 13s forefoot zoom setup but didnt care for the heel setup. We know lebron dosent care for the full length zoom bag setup. So thats out of the question. Im loving the KD9 cushioning but it might be a little too squishy for Lebrons style of play.
 
rawdawg34 said:
good read. but it still doesnt count for certain aspects in the "business of sneakers"...

for instance, niketown and factory store retailers cutting out the middle man entirely

and most importantly,

the retailers inability to pick and choose which items they want to carry. if you have an account with nike, in order to get the best of the line, you have to take the worst of the line as well.

even if nike only profits 5 bucks from every shoe, thats a guaranteed 5 bucks. how hard is it to make money off a product that you know will sell?

just too many "IFS" in that article.

in addition, the margins for nike are much different for shirts, tech fleece etc etc etc...which balance out margins for everything else.


i'd love to create a product knowing that no matter how many i produce, i'll make 5 or 10 bucks off of it.


and as vood stated...nike isnt gonna pay a factory 20 bucks and take 5 bucks from a shoe thats produced. NO WAY
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Thanks for the added info rawdawg.

Now how can we go about giving Nike a prize for keeping the XIV under wraps for so long?
 
IMO

nike has got too far away from the equation that makes a shoe successful, the same equation that made them the company they are today. they lost the streets. some time ago, they made the decision to value basketball functionality over casual appeal.

when you lose the streets, you lose your heat.

functionality doesnt have to take the place of casual appeal. you can have both.
 
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I agree. And I love the xii and like the 13, but I can see why people don't.

Imo, Nike got caught up in its own invincibility during the sneaker bubble.
 
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