VVVVVNDS

Aug 4, 2010 by Pyrophilly    No Comments    Posted under: Footwear

This post is born out of frustration of handling with sellers offering worn sneakers online. You can take it as a warning, the dangers of hunting for that one pair you’re so desperately after. Hopefully it will open some eyes by explaining the truth about most non-Dead Stock offerings, especially when reffered to the state of the ‘nipples’. What is done with the knowledge is up to you.

If you are into sneakers you probably have a list with pairs you are searching for. On top of that list is your ‘holy grail’, the pair you want the baddest. The pair that is mentioned in 50% of your Google search requests. The pair that that makes you think about giving away your first born, or a kidney. The pair that once acquired, causes a new holy grail to step up.

When there is a pair of sneakers you’re desperately after you will notice that the harder it is to find, the harder you keep searching. When wanting a pair really bad there is a danger, im not talking about the danger of making stupid decisions as mentioned in the examples above, but the danger of the one that knows exactly what you’re after, and will try anything to get your paper.

When spending day & night searching on Google, sneaker communities and eBay you will find many offerings and auctions of Dead Stock pairs and worn pairs, the danger lies in the last mentioned. Here’s a typical listing setup:

VVVVVVVNDS Nike air Max 1 HOA (80% nipples left, check the pics)
From the History of Air pack

Gently worn twice
Comes with everything: OG box, extra laces, tissue paperstrong>

Size; Us 9/ Uk 8 / Eu 42.5 / 27cm
100% Authentic or 20 billion times your money back!!

These shoes are extremely RARE!
This is your last chance to find them in this condition!

For those who wonder; VVVVVNDS stands for Very Very Very Very Very Near Dead Stock, in other words; worn shoes. ‘Gently worn’ is a word combination that can only be found at second hand sneaker offerings, its meaning remains a mystery, but Its used to give the impression the owner has been carefully wearing the shoes, whatever that may be. The so called ‘nipples’ are the little points or rubber that stick out on front of the Air Max 1 out sole and can be found on nearly all Air Max family members. When Sneaker heads use them as an indicator of how many times a shoe has been worn please take the following in account. When there are hardly any nipples left, the shoe has been worn more than twice, for referral zoom in on the picture above. Similar pictures are often used in auctions with descriptions as the example above. This picture is from a pair of Air Max Lights I have worn about 20 times.

Of course the real problem is not the shady seller, but the continuous support they receive from their buyers. Hopefully this post will make you think twice when considering buying a worn pair online, or at least ask yourself is the price asked is reasonable in combination with its history. I like to hear your experiences with buying NDS kicks online, feel free to post them below.

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