On a recent Friday morning, a select group of Nike’s biggest fans got an alert. A new, limited-edition version of the brand’s Cortez running shoe—an old-school nylon sneaker originally released in 1972—was about to drop.
The release was happening during the NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, and the shoes—red, white, and black, with the words DON’T TRIP emblazoned across the laces—were made in partnership with rapper Kendrick Lamar, a local legend.
Customers received the notification through an app called Snkrs, which Nike has been refining over the past year as a way of connecting superfans with desirable pairs of, you know, sneakers. It is distinct from the regular Nike app, where you go to get a pair of performance shoes. Snkrs sticks to the kinds of limited-edition runs—interesting colorways, unusual styles, partnerships with performing artists or fashion designers such as Riccardo Tisci—that are so popular they often end up being resold, concert-ticketstyle, on the secondary market.
This story is from the May 2018 edition of Fast Company.
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This story is from the May 2018 edition of Fast Company.
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