Coronavirus Pandemic Slows Down The Sneaker Game

While that the Coronavirus has had on the world, sneaker sales as a whole have felt the pain that the pandemic has wrought on the globe.

According to Nice Kicks, sales of sports footwear has dropped dramatically in recent weeks as stores have closed up shop and people have been hunkering down at home. Though some of the more popular brands like Nike, adidas, and New Balance saw their sales decline in the month of March at the tune of 75%, others brands have been hit harder in the same time frame. Under Armour, Jordan Brand, and Converse dipped even further into the 80% territory of the decline.

Brands such as Nike, adidas and a few others were holding sales ranging from 10%-40% off within the last two weeks. Nonetheless, a lot of the decline in sales can be attributed to local boutiques and renown retailers having to temporarily close their doors and go strictly online as a result of the self-isolation/quarantine measures being taken across the country.  Not to mention, the unemployment rate is exponentially increasing as companies and job markets across the country are being hit hard due to the economic fallout of COVID-19.

Though we expect sales to jump a bit when those stimulus checks begin hitting hypebeasts bank accounts, we don’t expect a huge change as people are more worried about copping hand sanitizer, groceries, and toilet paper. Yes, their is now a toilet paper shortage in America. Sh*t has officially hit the fan.

Still, Nike is doing what it can to move merchandise as they’ve had surprise restocks on their SNKRS app in the past few weeks and have some heat releasing in the coming weeks including the Air Jordan VI “DMP”‘s, Air Jordan XIII “Flint”‘s, and other highly coveted kicks.

And with estimates having this Coronavirus lockdown going anywhere from a year to 18 months, you can expect sneaker sales to continue to struggle for the foreseeable future. Still though, expect to take many L’s whenever any exclusive Off-White, Travis Scott, or Yeezy’s drop.

As if times weren’t hard enough.