Why Shouldn't LeBron X Shoes Be As Pricey As Louboutins? - Wall Street Journal (blog)

Reuters

A pair of the Lebron X basketball shoes worn by Miami Heat’s LeBron James during a promotional event in Shanghai last week.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nike’s LeBron X â€" the tenth in a series of sneakers bearing the basketball star’s name â€" will likely break the $300 mark. This means that in the nine years since the company debuted its first LeBron shoe, the price would have jumped nearly threefold from $110 back in 2003. Consumers are miffed that Nike would demand such an outrageous price at a moment when many Americans are still coping with the effects of a recession, and the conversation has extended to questions of personal responsibility and even race.

The indignation makes sense. What’s more puzzling is the sense that it’s a surprise.

The price of popular shoes is rising across footwear markets and it only has a little bit to do with the increased cost of materials. A $300+ LeBron sneaker is consistent with a larger trend that links shoes to status and increases their social, and thus economic, value. This extends beyond athletic shoes â€" Christian Louboutins, for instance, start at $625 â€" but has real roots in that area of the industry. When Nike released the first Air Jordan in 1985, the company was relying as much on technological innovations that promised wearers prowess on the basketball court as they were banking on the power of Jordan’s celebrity.  It worked, and when LL Cool J wore a pair on the cover of his first album “Radio,” it was a full-fledged endorsement â€" from a guy who had “cool” in his name, no less.

This model, in which sports stars attach themselves to new sneaker styles and then musicians and actors casually name check them, has worked wonders for companies like Nike, Reebok and Adidas.  It also, in the past decade, has been how very expensive designer shoes have achieved such incredible social currency. Where would Manolo Blahnik be without Sarah Jessica Parker? It’s difficult to imagine Louboutin’s red sole becoming iconic without the help of an entire industry built around the red carpet.

Like very high-end women’s shoes, athletic shoes benefit from a cultivated air of exclusivity. Companies strategically release limited numbers of their most coveted sneakers â€" a reported 50,000 LeBron X units will ship â€" so even if 100,000 buyers can stomach the price tag, only half of them will be able get their hands on a pair. In the past, this has led to violence, which companies are quick to note that they do not condone.  But reports of brawls, trampling and riots put a shoe in the news and help increase its visibility.  Last February, Nike released only 1200 pairs of the Nike Foamposite Galaxy, a purple basketball shoe with a glow-in-the-dark sole.  When a release for the Galaxy at an Orlando, Florida ” onlinesignificance=”passing-mention” name=”Foot Locker” postfix=”"] ended in police intervention, it solidified its reputation as a shoe worth fighting for.

Names like Blahnik, Louboutin, Brian Atwood and Nicholas Kirkwood aren’t frequently associated with bloodshed â€" unless you count a report from last April when supposedly, a woman attacked a stranger with the heel of her red-soled stiletto after he accidentally kicked it on the sidewalk. But these designers keep their shoes feeling unattainable with prohibitive price tags and a loyal client base of beautiful, famous women. For the buyers who fork over $700 for a pair of pumps, at times to the detriment of their bank accounts, Blake Lively, Victoria Beckham and Beyonce are just as influential as LeBron James is to the young men who line up for his sneakers. And certainly, Nike isn’t the first company to release a groundbreakingly expensive shoe at a moment when Americans probably shouldn’t be buying them. In February 2009 â€" as unemployment rates skyrocketed â€" Louboutin debuted a limited edition $6295 shoe, flippantly called the “Marie Antoinette.”

Only 36 pairs were produced, and no, they weren’t meant to appeal to everyday buyers the same way the LeBron X will be marketed to average youth. But it’s strange to call out Nike for a practice that’s widespread through the footwear industry, at a moment when shoes are valued higher than ever before.  Whether a high-tech sneaker or a delicate designer sandal, the price of these high-ticket shoes will continue to rise as long as we invest them with social value. As far a status items go, walking down the street in a spotless LeBron X sneaker is no different than flashing a red sole.

Rachelle Bergstein is the author of “Women From the Ankle Down” and her website is here.