Image Via Sole Collector
Between individuals in the shoe community swearing up and down that grey market shoes are real and pushing them on unsuspecting people by way of forum members and YouTube shoe celebrities and now this things are getting uglier and uglier in the world of leather and rubber. According to Oregonlive.com (and federal court documents) a 35 year old Florida man, Jason Keating, has been charged with receipt of stolen property after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars buying limited-edition look see samples stolen from Nike’s headquarters and re-selling them to businesses in Oregon and across the country. But it doesn’t end there. “According to the affidavit, Nike’s Director of Security Greg Fowler met with the Washington County detective on Feb. 14 and spoke about the theft of sneakers from company headquarters by employee Tung W. Ho, 35, of Portland, and former employee Kyle K. Yamaguchi, 33, of Portland (whom was featured on Sole Collector). “Ho has been employed by Nike since 2005 and became a promo product manager in 2012, the affidavit said. Fowler told the detective that Yamaguchi held the position before Ho and helped Ho get the job when Yamaguchi left to pursue his own business venture, according to the affidavit.Yamaguchi has appeared on several websites where he displays his collection of rare sneakers. A 2012 feature from sneaker magazine, Sole Collector, describes Yamaguchi as appearing at a summer footwear convention in New York ‘with a duffle bag full of rare and never-before-seen samples that he accumulated during the five years he worked at Nike.'”
While I think we all understand the reasoning behind the thefts boils down to money, it also involves flossing. People always want to be one step above the next man when it comes to sneakers and its really dumb. Remember, today’s rarity can become tomorrows general release. These aren’t cars that can’t be re-issued and mass produced or precious metals, they are rubber and leather and in some cases, a crap load of synthetics. At any moment your beloved rarity can become tomorrows sales rack shoe so think about that before you decide to do something crazy for sneakers. Read the entire article on OREGONLIVE.COM.