Economic Collapse

[mr40]

People are lining up days early in San Francisco to get $225 Levi's Air Jordan sneakers
January 15, 2018

Deck chairs and wads of blankets along Market Street usually signal a parade, but Monday evening's crowd was waiting for something different. They came for sneakers.

Or, more accurately, they came for limited-edition Air Jordan IVs, designed in collaboration with San Francisco's own Levi's jeans brand and sewn with blue denim.

The shoes will not be available for purchase until Wednesday. But by 5:30 p.m. Monday, the line in front of the Levi's store at 815 Market Street stretched more than halfway down the block, past the entrance to the Westfield Mall. The sneakers will be accompanied by a matching reversible denim trucker jacket, and each pair of shoes will retail for $225, according to fashion site Hypebeast.

The appeal? Matt Ball, waiting near the rear of the line, said he hopes to resell them for anywhere between $600-$800. The shoes will only be sold at 69 stores worldwide.

"That's why everyone is out here," he said.

Police were on-site monitoring the growing crowd. The city's sit-lie ordinance permits "sitting in line for goods or services," according to the San Francisco Police Department's website, so long as the queue does not obstruct sidewalk traffic.

It wasn't Ball's first time waiting in line to buy sneakers, though it would be his first attempt at camping out. As he waited for friends to join him in the cold, though, he said he was having second thoughts.

"I'm not sure if I'll get my hands on the shoes or not," he said. "It was chaotic when it came time to buy the shoes (last time)."

Kanye Powell, a longtime sneaker collector who said he had been waiting since Thursday, expected thousands more prospective buyers to arrive. When asked why, he gave a different reason.

"We wear our shoes," he said of those in line.

The manager of the Levi's store was unable to comment.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Air-Jordan-IV-Levis-Nike-lines-San-Francisco-store-12499967.php