First I want to point out I mostly only deal with Nike products. No hate for the other companies, I just prefer Nike. I'm also not a deep heavy duty collector. I don't have hundreds of kicks, but I have enough to wear a new pair every day of the month and more (and I don't mean February)... I think its around 30-35 quality pairs (half being deadstock) and 5-10 daily beaters.
The main point of this quick guide is buying fresh samples that aren't fakes. Ok what is a Nike sample? It is the product used by Nike salesman to take from store to store to try and show clients what is going to be released in the future OR a mockup shoe that a Nike designer had made to see the finished product before release.
You can buy them from
resellers (on sites like Superkix) but expect to pay a high mark-up on them. Some forums deal with samples as on N-SB.org
they have an entire thread dedicated to samples. Or you can search consignment shops/thrift stores around your area. IF they know what they have, yes big IF they will price them higher. More than often they will price them at the same price as clean shoes. The store I hit in my area sells the samples for an affordable price. You can see a few on my
Twitpics... (they have Nike 6.0 Jock Sucks samples, and a few other 6.0's). I didn't buy em, but if you want email me/comment I'd buy and ship em to you if the price is right.Do not be this guy on
Yahoo looking for samples and 2 replies down, he's being sent to a fake Chinese website.
10 Things to look for:
1. Sample on the Tag in shoe. (not always present, it has either 1. or 2., or both)
2. Sample on the inner sidewall of shoe. (not always present, it has either 1. or 2., or both)
Twitpic
3. Most samples like 99.9% are size 9.
4. Samples don't have boxes.
5. Any shoe in a non-original colorway, it is a sample, a fake or a ‘custom.’ Customs are shoes that have been hand detailed in some way usually by one of the few well-known custom designers. These individuals take a legitimate pair of shoes and custom detail them for you, in which you case, you know what's happening and fakes are not a worry. Some websites call their shoes ‘customs’ but they are fakes.
6. Variants - these are fake. Variant is just another way to say that shoes were not made or authorized by Nike and never have been. See variants at a barbershop -
Twitpic
7. Quality of the build - if it is built poorly, I'd chalk it up to being a fake.
8. NikeID tags, sometimes people create sneakers on NikeID and return them for whatever reason. Nike being a company that has a profit to maintain, sells these at Nike Outlets for a low price.
9. TYPES OF SAMPLES
• 1 Player Samples - produced for Nike sponsored teams and players
• 2 Sales Samples - produced for Nike Sales Representatives (EKINs)
• 3 Wear Test Samples - produced for wear testers (individuals providing performance feedback)
• 4 Look See Samples - produced for in-house distribution, often with hand written tags. The stage of development prior to 'sales samples' production.
• 5 Factory Confirmations - produced in quantities of typically 1, 2 pairs as a confirmation of quality before the entire production (of the same shoe, but in tens of thousands) commences. If the factory management is satisfied with the sample, QC staff must sign (yes) their names on the shoe.
10. If you are unsure,
DO NOT BUY IT!
