Asian Sky Quarterly 2022 Q3

EDITOR’S NOTE
There are many ways and
methods that you could use to
predict the direction that your
country's economy is heading.
For some, it is the sales of trucks;
for others it is the sales of coffee
from fancy coffee shops. But
one of the ways that the newer
generation of owners use is the
state of the sneaker market.
For the uninitiated, the global sneaker market was worth
USD$131.1 billion in 2021 according to online statistics
database Statista. The value comes mostly from the resale
market, with some of the more limited and coveted pairs –
mostly collaborations with the likes of rapper Travis Scott, the
late fashion designer Virgil Abloh’s Off-White, Tokyo streetwear
designer Fragment, or an exclusive pair released at a special
event – worth thousands of dollars, which is a big jump up from
the USD$200 or so that they would have cost at retail.
It is this exclusivity and scarcity that drives up values. Take the
Jordan 5 Retro Tokyo T23s as an example. At retail, the sneakers
would have cost around USD$200, however, they were only
released to celebrate the opening of the Jordan Tokyo 23 store
in Japan in 2011. The current value? USD$2,800, for a pair of
size US 11s sold in October 2022 by online clothing and sneaker
reseller StockX. Seems a lot for a pair of almost regular sneakers,
especially as the only discernible difference is a Japanese
stylized number “23” stamped on the heel. But, perhaps most
shockingly, is that the USD$2,800 resale price is one of the lowest
seen in recent years. The highest? USD$5,249.
This is where we can start linking the sneaker market back to the
global economy. Whilst our economic expectations were high
during the first half of 2021, by last month, the grim reality had
set in. But why is the sneaker market so important, and why does
it matter? Vista’s big boss Thomas Flohr used to frequently wear
white Converse to meetings and events, and I’m willing to bet a
Chrome Hearts gift card that you’re more likely to see private jet
owners wearing Off-White Jordan 1 Chicagos these days, rather
than what my mother would call a pair of "proper" shoes.
As the most recent sale of a pair of Jordan 5 Retro Tokyo T23s
alludes to, the bottom has fallen out of the sneaker market in
recent months. Much like with trucks, or coffee from fancy coffee
shops, when we have to tighten our belts, we also stop buying
things that aren’t essential to us. Fancy coffee? You can make
your own less fancy one at home. USD$5,000 sneakers? Maybe
those can wait. Because less people are buying, prices have gone
down. What we were willing to pay when times are great is not
the same price we are willing to pay when times aren’t as good.
We have also seen this in the pre-owned private jet market, which,
much like the sneaker market, is backing down from historical
highs. This is something that we hinted at in the previous Global
Sky Quarterly, with data from the International Aircraft Dealers
Association (IADA) suggesting that we had seen the top of the
market, and that prices were going to begin stabilizing.
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2 | GLOBAL SKY QUARTERLY — THIRD QUARTER 2022