S4E7 – Sneaker Boxes Matter

Sole Material details the history of shoe boxes, custom artwork, story telling and the marketing components that have driven consumer intrinsic value to a low point.

Welcome welcome welcome to the soul material podcast the podcast you cheer for I’m your man the Ogo it’s tart the street shark and we’re here to give you that Clarity over popularity once again it is on and we’re going to bring up a topic that has been

A major concern for the shark and I for a while The Shoe Box what happened to the importance the significance of the shoe box and the hobby to the consumer and overall so uh we’re going to fill back some layers on possibly what happened historically Restorations preserving and so forth with the

Sneakers so shark tell us about what happened to The Shoe Box and particularly people who are watching visually you see already where the shark and I stand because you see our backgrounds and how we still stack our sneakers like it’s 1995 but shark tell us man what’s up

With the shoe boxes and and what’s making you say h about the hobby today regarding shoe boxes yeah um um so one of the reasons why wanted to bring this to light um just because we talk about sneakers all the time but when we talk about storytelling the

Packaging is equally a part of the story uh it’s the visual aid all right we’re you know when you were a kid you wanted the Happy Meal toy but you know back when we were growing up didn’t get a bag um or whatever you got the Happy Meal

Box and then you could you know it could be a little playet like those little things that you know just you know I’m making that dramatic example to go back to the uh um you know the sneakers and saying the sneakers are a part of the

Story uh uh um just the layers in which you unbox it and and it brings the story to life even more um and when we’re in such a a resale culture I was just thinking recently we you know we’ve had the Powerpuff girls uh uh Nike SB Dunks

And you know it went viral there you know a boutique ended up making uh to th resellers they made the buyers smash the Box before they left the store like I didn’t even uh uh complete the loop on some of the research like did you still

Get to keep the smash box or did they have to throw it away but again because the box so we know that the box has value to resellers right because the box has to have value because you have more value uh um when you sell a shoe with

The original box um it it also helps with the uh authenticity um to say that that was that shoe at that time and and and this was and it’s legit that that you have it um but outside of the box having making the shoe have higher resale

Value you know question mark you know where do where does today’s consumer value of the Box in this in the story I love um a good sneaker box uh um you know whether it’s just the Retro you know you know I actually going throw this when even talk about this one but

You know where you got the OG box all right look at this look at the OG oh this looks like this is the OG Nike box right but what does that say this is the Jordan 12 this is the Jordan 12 the original obsidian Jordan 12’s all right so again this Nostalgia

We didn’t even like not everything cared until you got to the Jordan brand that had the uh you know the specific Jordan boxes because back in the day you had all of the boxes were all damn near the same all right so the OG has what I’m

Here an original what I’m showing here is an original Nike box you see how Nike did a good job on that box because this is an original box of the flight posit that I have and just to show these off a little bit this is the original 1999 carbon fiber

Flight posit so just to show how good they did with the redition of that retro box did excellent job and for our audience just you know the shark never tells a lie there you go there’s the OG obsidians those are the real ones 96 97 isuh right there so again we didn’t have

Elaborate boxes back in the day that’s why we’re talking about we’re just setting the scene for what it was back in the day but now in retrospect it’s just like o we’re drooling over a nostalgic box um even though I wish Nike gave you this quality or whatever but

Again not the same you know and then we’re talking about more sustainable materials and all the other stuff so um but when we talk about storytelling uh um so I just wanted to just give you an example because we talk about we gave you an episode just talking about the

Jumpman history with the Jordan El right so you kind of knew that there was some extra level to the packaging with the Jordan uh uh 11s but you knew that that was such a a sought after shoe uh um they were doing the annual release um with some

With one particular colorway so you like put more into uh the box there was like a couple you know we had the shell on top and then plastic plastic sleeve you know did it the same way and then you had your shoe inserts and all the the

Things that came with it uh uh um but I felt like that was more dress up more than storytelling because it it didn’t like translate all the way through and then all you doing is just changing the colors but Jordan brand does a good job

You know if anyone that has the DJ khed Jordan 5 you know you know that that box has a lot going on and it has a a sleeve that comes on and off those um some of the newer Jordans uh um like the 38 39s they those have sleeves on their boxes

But they just don’t interact uh but so much and we don’t have like a lot of accessories going on like with some of the Jordan lines the Kobe lines that you have interchangeable pods and sleeves and all the types of stuff that comes with it that calls for um the double box

Or you know where there’s extra things that you unlock um with those but you know I just wanted to uh show love to the um East Side Golf uh collaboration that Nike did these are the Jordan 12’s this box I would say is immaculate the artwork on here

Deserves to be on a picture frame on a wall um you know and then this does have a plastic sleeve over top again uh uh and then this actually translates to the inside because you know sometimes the tissue paper has stuff on there but this translates

Because it has that that that that clay uh uh um dirt like you’re in the sand trap over here and then without having to take the shoes let me take the shoes out um because even on the inside of this box is like ridiculous all right so

Not about the shoes but just showing you really quick we got the grass on the bottom I say I showed you the shoe because now I can lift it up look at the inside of it now you can see the green brass there you go now you can see it

You see the green uh uh grass from the like you’re on The Fairway uh all right and then you have the sand trrap tissue paper like yeah tell me the whole story uh through the box all right and don’t make me Smash this box if I bought in

The store but this didn’t it didn’t get any hype for whatever reason this was a very detailed shoe uh uh um there’s a lot of details on here and I love when the details from the shoe translate to a lot of details on the box all right so good job Jordan brand

Nike you can use you can step your game up all right so OG uh uh show us a another box that you were talking about that’s your one just um showing love to another brand um again it’s about the storytelling and one of my favorite boxes again going back to it being

Personal and personalized I remember getting um my daughter and I’m talking about it was a fight to get her this dog on Nintendo Wii the very first generation Nintendo Wii but we both fell in love with Mario Galaxy and when Puma decided to do their rendition of the

Mario Galaxy with their RSD line and gave us this box oh my goodness like the details on the box it looked like it would have come with the game or in a package with the game and again going back to what you just showed the seller

To me as well as not only with the shoes that were done excellently but the tissue Pap just the details man and um I’m so opposed to these clear bins and so forth I know they’re good for storage good for restoration but how can you

Smash this box I mean even the gloss and everything that they use this is made to be to last for a while so again them going old school and not being cheap with The Branding and so forth um this was just one of my all-time favorite not

Only shoes but boxes because it told the full story through and through and again is shark always mentioned that Nostalgia and this shoe at one time you said shark was going for like $200 $300 at one point in time with the resale and and this would this could have been a shoe

That we have been forced to buy and have the box smashed to have the shoe because these were quote unquote reselling because there were recalls and so forth and they were um very hard to obtain for a while that Galaxy that colorway was was the hardest to get

Definitely just to show the shoe real quick here here you are the glowi inthe dark the details of you know just the video game and then you got the Mario star and and again the insole if you could see the ins so it’s just like the

De details it look like this is like it would be a part of the video games we got to wear these shoes to honestly play the video game that’s how good not only the shoe but the box was so when things are done the right way you want the full

Patching like when you buy a car or anything else you want all the accessories you shouldn’t have to take an accessory away and value or devalue an accessory for me without going I’m the consumer yeah like if I’m gonna pay for it I’m actually paying for the Box

Because that’s your production cost like then give me the good stuff you know so all right so let’s stay with Puma um so I just wanted to like if you go to our Instagram page you actually see a real where this where I show this shoe off in more detail but um

The mixtap pack that um um Alexander John did a collaboration with Puma uh um you know and Emy Jones uh as well and the latest iteration is they did the mixtape cu the first one was a cassette you know that turned into a little Grail

Status I guess a little you know go back to the gril episode but you know that might have been because it was friends and family only and then a limited release and then now they came back with a new model same style but now went to

Other forms of of music so you had one for iPod this one is the CD player so um this me to me because I did have a yellow CD Walkman back in the day and then like so you see it looks like a CD player you

Know the front of the box has the the headphone jack that goes around and there goes the headphones just to complete that story here’s the little uh uh the panel where you would take out so you can put the batteries in there like like that’s a lot of thought we got the

Volume uh uh button on there and again on the top of the box it looks like what the CD player would look like with the buttons right and then let’s take it a step further when you open the CD player what you got the CD like we still even

Got to the shoes um like thank you Puma like thanks for the thought and the detail this why we like uh Alexander jnes one of our favorite designers and collaborators and we you know and then again shout out to emry Jones uh um you know for betting on yourself always

Doing a great job over there at puma and then again now we trans late to open it up the uh to the shoe and then this was such a special shoe because again the shoe look like the Walkman with the yellow and then you got all the details

On the shoe so again the shoe the details of the shoe look at the battery on the on the tongue you know the the open C like remember the open slide button on you know what I’m saying so like just the details on the shoe you

Even got the skip search detail on there you don’t like y’all don’t even know about the skip protection you don’t even know what that is you know what I’m saying so like the detail on the shoe translates to the story of the box so like not only is the

Shoe representative of a CD player uh um like the Box gives me the CD like it tells the whole story like I feel like participating in it like I feel like I’m I’m like now I’m like back in the 90s listening to my Walkman while I’m going through this unboxing experience and

Shark I just saw how the second flap open and closed so even that detail of it not sliding out or or being loose oh my goodness like that being smashed and you’re not having that to obtain like come on now man come on yeah and then

From you know we we pull back these layers just imagine what that board room will that meeting room look like when that concept was presented and then the iterations of what the box would look like again this is why we appreciate designers and collaborators to have the

Attention to detail these are the things that we looking for these are the staple with soul material is we go below the surface we go through all the layers of the material and all the layers of the process all right and what we want to highlight a part of this episode before

We show you the next one this is just a pivotal point is we want you to stti to learn to have an appreciation for that process right and then maybe you start gravitating to more people when you see like there’s effort time and effort that goes into those things like you know so

Add that to the value of your story of of when you’re seeking a shoe um because that should uh that’s intrinsic value um because if you’re consumer if you had the yellow Walkman they’re talking to you when they make this package for in in that example so listen and receive

The message you know what I mean and then really like it’s not a outside Young new person influencer that says that this is the thing it’s a no it pushes that button on you um because it’s personal to you so um always again we’re always going to emphasize uh

Seeking that personal story uh um and again the story that’s brought to life is not only the Sho the Box the accessories um but again we’re talking about the box so you have any more boxes for us go sh you go I’m just I’m just in now because the education of that box

Alone even if you weren’t a part of that era you’re getting educated on what a CD and CD player was that’s part of your story possibly as well exactly so let’s stick with the uh uh uh Puma brand again uh um and then now we’re going to do another Alexander John collaboration but

With another uh a licensed brand so much like your Mario was a liced collaboration we we have the ThunderCats collaboration this was actually the second Thundercat collaboration with Puma but the First with Alexander John I wish he did the first one so uh um I don’t have the first box uh for the

First editions um that still had more Comic Book theme on there and and tissue paper on the inside but this it took it to the next level and the one reason I picked this box to show is it’s still other than the Branded uh the co-branded ThunderCats and Puma you don’t have but

So much going on but it’s this scratch that that makes this worth the while for me because now we’re talking about uh the Thunder Cat you got the the claw Shield um I love this because I actually have a tattoo of the claw shield with the with the Thundercat

Sword and the the gaunlet it’s called The Claw shield and uh the main character Lion now he would be wearing that um and then you slash the thing that I want to bring to life here is and I wish I had I don’t have the pair of

The Mello 3s uh I only had the one and twos uh um but the Mello 3 has like you know if you if you have the Mellow uh um Puma shoe you know that there’s a window on all of his boxes and you know he had

The galaxy in the first well the Mello 3 be if you know the the way that the the print I mean the sole is molded um it does look like you know some you know animal claw scratch type type Vibe so this the the silhouette for this box is

His box so I thought that this was so clever that they kind of repurposed the the style of the box and then just change the color way and it fit this story so well you know so I just highlighted you know I just appreciate the cleverness of the re of repurposing

The resource into something even cooler for a co-branded license collaboration and when you had this same scratch box for your signature basketball shoe and it totally looks different but when you do it on a different collaboration it stands alone so again that was an elaborate story just for the for this H

Box and you know the scratch is is it you know what I’m saying but I just feel like you know this particular shoe now this one didn’t have all the extra tissue paper like I was talking about but I thought that the shoe had so much

Detail branded on the hill we have an unboxed episode for this so you got more more details as well on our YouTube channel just go to the unboxed playlist and you’ll find it uh um but appreciate the Box you know I love uh uh Thunder

Cats to begin with anyway so uh um you know that represented liono ttara and pan uh panor you know um in in that shoe so uh love it good collaboration we again we like Alexander John like all of his boxes um especially his collaborations with Puma are you know

There’s something special going on on all of those so definitely had to show off another Puma box so uh um but before we go I couldn’t leave without showing another special package this did not go to retail stores all right um so we have more uh videos and footage on our uh uh

On our Channel um as well uh we got these last year but for those that are new that hadn’t seen this from us you know we love our friends over at the curry brand um all right so here we are um another special box um that did not

Me we’re the only podcasters they got some couple influencers got these boxes but we’re the only podcasters that we got the curry you know so has a giraffe print on there you can see because it’s already reflecting from my light this you the texture on it it does uh it is

Embossed a little bit so it has a giraffe print on there and then now this is the bad uh Edition all right so this so when you open this up you got the moment what do we talk about with making moments the moment made the shoe so now

Um there’s the date um um and there’s the from Mike Breen uh when curry made the game winning shot in Oklahoma City where he just pulled up half court almost um and bang uh uh the the three um so one thing that’s special and then

You can also see this was a special pack because we also had on the inside this insert that it came with all right and that insert goes a little something like this really quick because it’s so special again Curry brand changed the game for good double bang February 27th 2016 and then

What’s so special about that is when we open this up automatically boom we got a whole video look in there now boom now it opens up and now it’s going to give you a clip there you so not G let the clip fully ride you can watch that on the uh other

Videos that we have on our Channel but just showing you the detail of the box so again we again this is what we like the details and again um you know our friends over at Curry brand are changing the game for good um got some great people working

Behind the scenes uh uh coming up with some great storytelling and then now these packages um that they come with so again still telling the story through the tissue paper with the uh giraffe and the curry brand logo and then again to top it off here’s your

Curry because this is what he was wearing when he when you hit him with the double bang um so you know thanks to our friends over at Curry can’t wait to see um what you have in store for um some special editions for the uh Curry

11 um and then also we have the newest member of the curry team DeAndre Fox so he’s already stepped out with some cool colorway so maybe we get a a PE release with some special boxes uh coming up soon because uh the way that DeAndre Parker planned

This season um he’s going to be an Allstar um so we can’t wait for for those stories so definitely wanted to end uh um with just a note U and you know something exclusive U that Soul material offers that you’re not going to see anywhere else and since we’re

Talking about boxes um again shout out to our friends over at the curry brand for our special look at that what does that say on side bang all right so this the double bang uh edition of the curries all right so again attention to detail all right Clarity over popularity

That’s what we’re talking about uh we’re not talking about the popular stuff you when we talk about what things mean to us details mean a lot to us this is why we talk about it so much and this why we want to share it because maybe you don’t

Know uh uh um what to look for um and then you can learn from the shark or in the OG so any last words from the OG before we sign off on the you know the we do unbox I think this was the boxed episode very quickly hash shoeboxes

Matter no question and if you didn’t get that from this episode then you have definitely missed the boat shoe boxes matter and it’s a part of the story of the shoe and you should not be robbed of the entire story of a shoe and you should definitely not

Be robbed of you using your own funds to not get all accessories so we at that point to which if Sho strings in a shoe or laces are going for crazy on eBay the store is going to take the laces away from from you like shark always says you

Have the power so don’t support get your shoe box boxes matter there you go again your stories uh um invest more in the stories and the stories that mean things to you um and hopefully um you get the the things that you want um and um you get the whole the

Total package all right I love a good uh uh uh box and some details and not just a special package we showed you a special package that that went out that wasn’t retailer sometimes that might come with a t-shirt or something like that um from from other brands but we’re

Talking about there plenty of things in the stores that actually have uh uh even more uh pieces of elements to the to the story uh U so just make sure you’re you’re tuned in on that maybe you like the shoe a little bit more because of

The box like that used to be a thing like oh you only got there because you got one of the packageing you’re like well yeah and but you know sometimes when you have the rebok Voltron collaboration you want the whole box um just little things like

That um and you need them um and um and like you like you said in the beginning like you can look at our background this isn’t virtual these are real we literally live this lifestyle and we’re we’re not the ones that take the shoes out and put it in the containers uh um

More power to you uh um but you know we we’re we’re we’re the the sneaker box crew like we’re we’re we’re those levels of ogs that that love the original box uh um and we both showed you boxes that were OG’s that held up you know what I

Mean like you know stored it in different places so sometimes everything doesn’t hold up but U you know we we we love that Nostalgia and you can really it’s a Time Capsule that’s going all the way back to ex exhibition when we talked about time capsules uh uh um in the very

Beginning when we started this podcast so good F full circle moment for us to uh uh uh put a stamp on a box uh episode and there you go uh uh Time Capsule and storytelling so um to sign off uh um it’s uh T mark the street Shar it’s the

Ogo till next time peace to you all right peace sneaker business it’s the soul material podcast