Quote:[hr][/hr]Don't be silly.
Inflation? Come on now, you should know better than that. Producing a shoe doesn't even cost 10% of its retail value in many cases. The majority of the manufacturer's cost comes from marketing, R&D, etc. For retros, those costs are all but nil. The shoe's already been designed. The technology already exists. When's the last time you saw an ad campaign for RETROS? They expect US (the fan community) to do all of their marketing work for them.
I'd be STUNNED if it costs them even $10 to manufacture a pair of Jordan Retros.
If someone actually has the gall to try and tell you that there's ANY benefit to you as a consumer when a company decreases the quality of their product, makes the product less faithful to the original (i.e. the removal of Nike Air for "branding" reasons), you'd have to be a fool to believe it. They make decisions based on what will generate the most money possible. Satisfying you, the consumer, is only incidental. They satisfy you only to the extent that your satisfaction increases sales or profits.
If you want the brand to continue along its current arc, if you consider the products a good value and of acceptable quality - keep buying them. If not, STOP. Though there's nothing at all wrong with expressing yourself, at the end of the day the only way to actually influence the brand's decisions is by voting with your wallet.[hr][/hr]
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