Meet the Beijingers obsessed with collecting basketball shoes
By Karoline Kan
When it comes to suitable attire for a wedding photo, few people would opt for an enormous pair of bright-white box-fresh basketball sneakers.
“The official photographer was a little surprised,” says 28-year-old Yin Tao, who last year posed for an entire album’s worth of wedding photos while wearing three different pairs of limited edition Air Jordans (paired with a more traditional tuxedo).
His family were similarly bemused. “They think I’m crazy,” says Yin, who admits to owning 68 pairs of basketball sneakers, including 40 pairs have never been worn, and 17 pairs worn only once.
“I don’t think I am crazy. You know, many people who collect basketball sneakers buy two pairs of each type, one for wearing, and another pair just for display purposes,” he explains.
Yin, who proudly exhibits his collection in a specially-built cabinet in the apartment he shares with his wife, is among a growing number of basketball sneaker enthusiasts in Beijing, where a sought after pair of Nike Air Yeeky can change hands for upwards of RMB40,000.
“It’s becoming a big deal, competition is fierce in Beijing,” says Yin. “I remember when Nike Galaxy Foamposite was released, I waited in line from 2am in hope of getting a pair.” Of the 1,000 people who queued for the shoe, only 40 were successful. Yin, alongside 960 others, left empty handed.
To outsiders, Yin’s fixation may verge on the extreme, but he assures us that there is method behind his madness: “I can’t wear some sneakers in crowded places, like the subway, in case somebody stomps on them,” he explains. “So, that’s why I have an extra six pairs of sneakers to wear in everyday crowded situations, and one extra pair for rainy days.”
Yet despite his best efforts, Yin is considered a low-level collector within Beijing’s sneaker scene. “There’s guys out there with hundreds of pairs,” says Yin. “I don’t usually attend the gatherings or events either,” he continues. “But I do know who Chen Siyuan is… He’s very famous, all the collectors know Chen.”
Owner of the specialist sneaker shop Brooklyn on Gulou Dongdajie, former repairman Chen Siyuan (top picture, left) is considered something of a legend among shoe collectors. One of the very first Beijingers to popularize the trend, his store – home to an extensive range of limited edition imports – is at the heart of the city’s sneaker scene.
“A few years ago, I started noticing that ordinary people were wearing Jordans in the street – right here in Beijing,” says Chen of his decision to enter the sneaker trade. “So I thought to myself: ‘Right, now is the moment to turn my hobby into a business.’”
Chen’s decision quickly paid off. On average, he sells between 400 and 600 pairs of import sneakers every month. “Growing up in the 80s and 90s, a pair of American high-top basketball sneakers were a similar price to one square meter of an average Beijing apartment. People back then wouldn’t have dared to spend their hard-earned money on something they considered to be useless, such as sneakers.”
But things change. The cost of real estate is no longer pegged to the price of Air Jordans – and while most young kids will never be able to afford an apartment in Beijing, a growing number have the required level of disposable income to afford a pair of import high-tops.
“I have some crazy clients, like this sixteen-year-old boy who, each month, gives me 20,000 kuai to keep him a pair of anything new that might come in. He’s a fu’erdai [second generation rich] for sure. But cases like him are rare. Most buyers are just regular guys, with an expensive habit.”
What sustains interest among buyers is, according to Chen, the lasting value of the product. “Nike Air Jordans are different from other commodities. Instead of dropping in value as time goes by, their value increases. I view it as a kind of investment. A pair of sneakers I bought in 2013 for little more than 1,000 yuan are now worth over 3,000. There’s no other type of low-level investment that yields so much interest.”
The majority of shoes stocked at Chen’s store are limited edition. Their exclusive, hard-to-find nature only adds to their value – and the obsessive culture that surrounds them. “It’s common for shoes sold in little stores like mine to be as much as ten times more expensive than in branded stores. Stores like mine are known as ‘speculation stores’ in Hong Kong and Japan,” says Chen.
“The culture is becoming more accepted here on the Chinese Mainland too, at least by some people. The older generation still consider it weird – the idea of buying a pair of shoes to display on a shelf.”
Chen tells us that his biggest frustration comes from the knowledge that everything he sells will continue to increase in value long after it has left his store. “I’m sitting on a gold mine!” he says. “But that is the business. I’ve got to get cash money to keep the business running.”
In order to stay ahead of the market, Chen works with a “scout” in Japan who alerts him every time a new model of Air Jordans is released. “My main clients are men aged 25-30, who are buying back their old memories,” says Chen. For Chinese people of this generation, Air Jordan remains an aspirational cultural touchstone.
“It’s a wish fulfillment,” says Chen. “Growing up, every kid wanted a pair of Jordan sneakers, but most parents couldn’t afford them. So now, as financially independent adults, they’re paying serious money to realize their dreams.”
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