Is that an American thing? I always thought two ply was the basic consumer version (with one ply just being the 1980s school/institutional version). Now, if you’d said three or four ply…
Though I suppose it depends on how luxurious each ply is.
I don’t know how many plies there actually are - point is, if you have the resources, it can be worth “splurging” a little for things that make everyday life just a bit better.
You assumed that Nike was better without trying hundreds of other shoe brands and even non brands. Well done you bought into it .
Coincidentally the last bad trainer purchase I had were Nike, although I had some decent ones before.
Walk into a decathlon and see the huge range of decent trainers there now , pricing pressure is happening.
No where did I say Nike was better. Didn’t even say they were my favorite (although my all time favorite might be the original Nike Free 3, and Nike Pegasus are a good fallback).
And I go through tons of running shoes - I buy 3+ pairs a year. More when I was actually running regularly! (I run now, just not like before. Should start upping miles / consistency again. I still go through a bunch because I prefer runners instead of boots for hiking). Currently have Nike, Hoka, and Altra. I’ve also run in Brooks, Asics, New Balance, Adidas, and some old five fingers withing the past couple years. Different strengths and weaknesses. Probably the only bigger brands I have not had in the last 5 years are On and Saucony.
Been thinking of picking up the gel lyte iii og - my favorite back when they were actually og in the 90s. Wish they had the old school teal color and yellow color way like I had then.
What’s the evidence that it is running shoes from other brands that is killing them rather than consumers waking up and saying they don’t want to overpay for stuff ?
Back out of the SPXL I bought after the drop in August (called at $160 last week). Sitting on low 6 figures cash in the play account with that and COIN that I’ve offloaded over the past few months. Looking to maybe deploy after next couple jobs reports depending how the markets react; I’m not expecting anything crazy tomorrow, but people might overreact to next months report (with Hurricane Helene and the longshoremen strike undoubtedly going to give some numbers that people will struggle to digest). Might add more Nov NVDA call options depending how that moves in the next couple weeks.
Saw on Twitter/X that they reached a “preliminary agreement” for +62% wages. These guys better save that cash, they will be automated away faster than they can blink
Oh yeah ? That’s the whole point why as to why they have a union and achieved a massive salary increase. They the smart ones. If the company could lay them off they would have laid them off.
Unless they quantify the relative contribution from different sports segments , shoe segments and global markets and marketshare of ALL participants not only Adidas blah blah along with trends in terms of pricing it’s useless to make any conclusions.
Chatgpt tells me it’s about 35% of the global sneaker market. I would say that is an EXTREMELY broad definition of what counts as a running shoe.
Really good synopsis of all the strategic misses over the past few years.
Other brands are all growing in the running category while Nike is declining. Runners are notoriously brand loyal so I don’t see them running out and buying Walmart shoes.
Also overpaying is really subjective. Walmart is cheaper because it controls its own supply chain. The middle man like dept stores really drives up prices which is why Nike thought it would be a good idea to cut them out, but that didn’t work.
I wouldn’t call it niche since it’s the 2nd most popular form of exercise in the world. Only walking is more popular. Also you hit on another point, running gets people into the brand. But also has a crossover affect since many people wear running shoes for other activities as well as for casual wearing occasions. It’s a core business.
I think @Malasang88 knows what he is talking about on this topic.
Brooks (for example) is focused almost entirely on the running shoe range and you can check out who owns them (hint, its Berkshire Hathaway) and you can also check out who their CEO is (hint, its Warren Buffett)
I dont know much on this topic, but it seems more complicated than one might expect.