Nike's Air Jordan shoe takes giant leap in price

Staff and wire reports

Air Jordan, the most successful brand of Nike basketball shoes, took a vertical leap with a price of $200 a pair.

And retailers in Cape Girardeau say when it comes to buying the shoes, customers just aren't doing it.

"They're not really selling well," said a Champs employee who did not want to be identified. "We've sold some, but I think the price range has hurt them."

The Finish Line at West Park Mall has sold about seven pair since the shoes arrived last weekend.

Representatives from Champs and Foot Locker refused to say how many pairs they sold but they hinted that they weren't flying off the shelves.

High-priced gimmicks

Packed in a metallic silver briefcase instead of a shoebox, the Air Jordan XVII has been accompanied by a $10 million national advertising campaign with TV spots orchestrated by filmmaker and well-known basketball fan Spike Lee.

The competition, meanwhile, is trying to keep up. Reebok International is taking a similar approach with a $125 shoe promoted by Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson and singer R.Kelly, among other sports and entertainment stars.

Analysts say high-priced shoes are mostly a gimmick to get customers into the stores, where they'll buy other Nike products. But the Beaverton-based athletic shoe and clothing maker has come up with a well-designed and neatly packaged gimmick.

Still, don't start looking for these pricey shoes on basketball courts.

"Most of them will never see the street," said John Shanley of Wells Fargo Securities in New York. "Kids call it a 'keeper.' They basically keep it under their bed and when friends come over, show it to them."

Octavius Moore, who works at Finish Line in Cape Girardeau, said he plans to buy a pair. "If it was any other shoe, I wouldn't get them," Moore said. "The main reason you get them is just because Jordan's name is on them. I'd only wear them every once in a while. Two hundred dollars? They better last me five or six years."

Tyson Frodsham, a high school sophomore who lives near Nike headquarters, agreed. "I'd probably hang them on a mantle or on my wall or something," he said.

Ever since Michael Jordan teamed up with Nike during the 1984-85 season, the premium shoe has routinely sold out when a new version is introduced. In fact, Nike moved the launch day to Saturdays by 1998 because of complaints that kids would skip school to line up for the latest version when they found out it was about to hit the stores.

Reebok buzz

Reebok, meanwhile, is trying to create its own buzz for its $125 shoe, the Answer V -- the "V" is for version 5 -- with a TV advertising campaign that began Jan. 22. It features basketball, football and tennis stars alongside rapper Jadakiss and R&B singer Kelly, who laces up a pair of Iverson's shoes in the campaign's 30-second premiere ad.

"The key passions in a young man's life are music, technology, sports and entertainment," said Denise Kaigler, Reebok spokeswoman. "It's a marketing mix that is working."

Analysts say the marketing battle has intensified because U.S. athletic sales have been pretty much flat the past few years. Nike, with roughly $10 billion in annual sales, and Reebok, with about $3 billion, are fighting for the same teen boys and young men who are virtually the entire market for basketball shoes.

"Basketball has the highest margin, the highest-priced shoe, and the basketball market is up strong, maybe 20 percent this year," said analyst Virginia Genereux of Merrill Lynch in New York.

Staff writer Bob Miller contributed to this report.