Why is the Trophy Room Jordan 1 So Expensive?

These days, nobody is a stranger to see really expensive shoes that are signed by sports legends. As a matter of fact, it’s become so commonplace that people scarcely even bat an eye when someone endorses a new sneaker or better yet, puts their signature on it and then releases it for sale for several hundred dollars. However, there are times when events that happen after the fact end up making a particular product so expensive that even those who have the means and are typically willing to spend what most would consider an enormous amount of money on a single pair of sneakers to be out of reach. That’s exactly what happened with the Trophy Room Jordan 1. You might think that this would be like most other releases where a sports celebrity (in this case Michael Jordan) would endorse something in order for it to be sold for a rather significant amount of money. In this particular case, there’s so much going on behind the scenes that it’s hard to keep up with it all. The end result is that the shoe, which debuted at a reasonable purchase price, is now priced so high that even collectors balk at the idea of getting a pair. There’s definitely a lot to unpack here, so if you want to know more about why these shoes are so expensive, you’ll have to keep reading. Chances are, you’re going to be surprised.

The History

Before you can learn the reasons why the shoe is so incredibly expensive, you have to learn a little bit about the history of it. It was a shoe that was scheduled to debut exclusively at a store called Trophy Room, which just happens to be owned by Jordan’s son, Marcus. The shoe was scheduled to debut in February of 2021 and it was set to feature Michael Jordan’s signature, selling for $190 per pair. That seems reasonable enough, right? The problem is, things didn’t exactly go as planned. It’s not at all uncommon for shoes like this to debut and then sell out within a matter of minutes. In fact, it’s typical of the industry. People have a tendency to know when these types of releases are going to be made and they’re usually sitting at the ready, just waiting for the product to drop so they can get their hands on a pair for themselves or someone close to them. As a direct result, it’s not uncommon to have a situation where less than half the people who are trying to purchase a pair actually get the product because they tend to sell out within seconds to minutes. For the unlucky people that don’t get the product they were looking for the first time around, the process often becomes much more involved (and a lot more expensive). One of the reasons they sell out so quickly is because people purchase as many pairs as they can at the initial release price and then put them online to be sold at sites that specialize in reselling products. Think eBay, Mercari, Poshmark and others. The end result is that the shoes end up costing more money than they did to begin with because a lot of people want them and there’s not that many of them to be had. That allows individuals to purchase them and re-sell them for virtually any amount of money they want. As a result, the price almost always doubles and in some cases, it triples. That’s definitely one reason why these shoes are so expensive, but it’s not the only reason. In this particular case, there was a lot going on behind the scenes that eventually had a direct impact on the selling price.

What Happened?

As it turns out, the real reason why these shoes are so expensive now isn’t necessarily because of basic economics. While there is some of that involved, it has a lot more to do with practices that were engaged in by officials at the store where the shoes were initially sold, Trophy Room. As it turns out, there are loads of allegations from supposedly credible witnesses that the store didn’t make its entire stock of sneakers available to the public on the day that the product was scheduled to be released. In fact, the allegations claim that hundreds of pairs of sneakers were actually deliberately held back by Trophy Room, exclusively for the purpose of being sold to resellers who would then charge a premium price for the products when reselling them to the public. As a matter of fact, there are claims that the shoes, which were sold to the public for an initial price of $190, were being sold to these resellers at anywhere from $850 all the way up to $1,200 per pair. Obviously, that means that the resellers are going to charge significantly more than that in order to regain the money they’ve spent. That is one of the major reasons why the shoes are so expensive on resale sites. It isn’t just because somebody scooped up five pairs of shoes at just under $200 a pair and then tried to resell them for three times what they paid. Instead, it points to something much more significant.

The Damage Has Been Done

Obviously, the store probably never intended for these allegations to become public knowledge. After all, it doesn’t exactly paint them in the best light. After some time of not having much involvement on social media or anything else, Marcus Jordan took to Twitter in order to say that he and his father were once again collaborating on a new line of sneakers that would be offered exclusively by the store once again. Obviously, this wasn’t something that sat very well with members of the public, and people weren’t exactly shy about responding to his social media posts in order to let him know how they felt. It seems that the damage has potentially been done and that it might be irreversible. In fact, it would appear that people no longer trust Jordan’s team or the officials at Trophy Room. However, the problem runs deeper. Resale sites are also involved in this and that means that the public will forever be asking themselves whether or not some backdoor deal was concocted that robs them of even more money long before product ever dropped. The truth is, there is less trust in a world that already suffers from a significant lack of trust. People work hard for their money and they want to know that it’s being spent properly. While there are still people that will spend any amount of money necessary in order to get their hands on the product they’re looking for, news of this arrangement has caused a lot of would-be collectors to rethink whether or not they want to continue investing in these types of products, especially when they feel like they’re being taken to the cleaners in the process.