Most of you know I am a basketball freak. I would play everyday if I could, and right now, being unemployed, I do just about that.
I am very particular about my basketball shoes. They must be black with high arches and good ankle support. I am ashamed to admit I often gladly pay over 100 bucks a pair….usually Nikes.
I generally went through a pair a year, replacing them at Christmas. Then, about 5 years ago, in a moment of serendipity, I ran across the finest pair of shoes on the planet. I loved them so much I wouldn’t play outside with them…..which is why they lasted 5 years.
They were/are the perfect shoe….and as Nike floods the market with new shoes every year they age like a fine wine….still the most perfect kicks ever to grace the hardwood.
Sadly, my shoes are dead. They will soon go to basketball heaven, which is the part of my closet that houses my worn-out high-tops….an assortment of sneakers that would make any collector proud.
Buying new basketball shoes is a little traumatic for me. I admit it. In fact, I didn’t want a new pair at all. I wanted the same pair, not a new, improved model but exactly the same shoe.
So I called Nike and it went like this:
Me: I want to buy a pair of shoes.
Them: Uhh….ok. What kind?
Me: You don’t make them anymore, but I think we’ll be able to figure it out. They’re really unique.
Them: Ok, tell me about them.
Me: They are a pair of black basketball shoes….(dramatic pause)
Them: …………..
Me: I pretty sure they’re the most expensive shoes you ever produced. They have a foamposite shell that surrounds a neoprene sock. They cost $180 when I bought them new about 5 years ago.
She couldn’t search by price, so she gave me the phone numbers of the largest outlet stores in the US (SF, NY and Miami). The dude in Miami was really knowledgable, so after one more call to Nike corporate I knew the shoe name and stock number: Foamposite Pro 630304-002
Problem was they didn’t have any left….anywhere in the United States.
So I did some research on the shoe. It turns out this shoe has a cult following and a history that reads like a Behind the Music.
It is the most expensive shoe Nike ever made. Management almost shut down development when they thought the shoe would have to retail for $400. The foamposite material took two years to develop, the molds alone cost almost a million dollars apiece and new machinery had to be invented to mass produce the shoe. Extra stability is provided through a carbon fiber base plate, the same material used in bullet proof vests.
Shoes are made in pieces and then stitched together to correspond to different sized feet. The Foamposite is the first (and still the only) unibody shoe ever made. Every size needed a different mold. The shoe is not stitched together; it is molded whole from liquid foamposite. The sole is simply the bottom part of the upper; the shell is one piece. The inside of the shoe is a neoprene glove. The foamposite materially is built to mold to your foot, literally. The longer you wear them, the more comfortable they get.
Nike brass almost axed the shoe once more when they said it would kill the footwear industry. Costs were out of control. No one would buy a $400 shoe so they would have to sell them below cost. Consumers would get accustomed to the unbelievable comfort and support and wouldn’t buy other shoes. The footwear industry would be stuck selling shoes at a loss.
Of course that didn’t happen, but they never really did get costs under control, so they quit making the shoe and, in effect, the footwear industry took a step backwards in quality and technology……but not me. I want the same pair.
So I bought a pair off Ebay for the excellent discount price of $144 (including shipping). It is nuts that someone is willing to pay 140 bucks for a shoe that originally came out in 1997 (I won the bidding in the last minute by $1).
Here is a picture of the Foamposite Pro:
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