A Commoner’s Guide to Hypebeasts’

A simple “Box Logo” sweatshirt can resell for between $400 and $500 in today’s market. The marketing scheme of limited releases and collaborations have led to massive price differences just based on color. With the constant flow of new releases, it takes some knowledge to understand what a good deal is.

The ever changing marketplace has led to an increase in self-proclaimed “hypebeasts.” These mostly high school boys use news sources such as Complex to keep updated on release dates for brands such as Supreme or Adidas’ Yeezy lines. These products can retail for anywhere south of $300, but resale prices have reached the thousands, as the releases sell out quickly and are not available again, except on the resale market.

Forrest Smith, a junior here at Rocky, owns 18 sneakers that have resale value. He considers his collection a part of his personality and is proud to be the shoe guy. His sneakers range from $160-$650, and are predominantly Adidas. When asked about his reputation, Forrest said, “I don’t mind being ‘that guy with all the shoes.’ That’s my thing, everybody has something they love, and I love shoes.”

In the ever changing market of fashion, these brands seem to have found a niche with the high school population. Yeezy, the Adidas sponsored line by Kanye West, consistently has sneakers that resell for upwards of $700. Marketers seem to have found the demographic of people who care enough about what they wear to spend and enough disposable income to be able to purchase.

Whether this costly trend is to stay is hard to say, but if Macklemore was singing about it five years ago, it’s probably not a flash in the pan.