Who conceded

Who conceded

Who conceded

He conceded, however, that the recession had taken its toll. Consumers with only a passing interest in sneakers aren't spending as they were before the recession, he said. Even devoted sneakerheads have become more value-conscious, he said, seeking out comfort and durability as well as nostalgia and style. "The days of the dead-stock collector are long gone," said Halfhill, explaining that many are abandoning an old sneakerhead tradition of not wearing the shoes they buy. "People don't care so much about the flair or the flash they might have cared about in '06 or '07. They are caring more about a shoe they can get a lot of use out of."

Analysts say that true collectible shoes - the subjects of retro reissues and boutique releases - account for a small fraction of the athletic shoe market. Precise sales figures are difficult to nail down, however. That's partly because the shoemakers operate behind a veil of secrecy. Nike doesn't discuss numbers and bans its retailers from revealing how many pairs they carry on a limited run of collectible shoes.

There are insights available elsewhere. California skater-shoe maker Vans distributes fewer than 1,500 pairs of its collectible shoes, for example, compared with hundreds of thousands for its mass-market checkerboard slip-ons, a company spokesman said. (The Vans Vault collection, its premium line, recently released a line of shoes produced with Pendleton, a Portland, Ore.-based designer of Native American blankets. Sneakerheads are fans of funky collaborations.) Marshal Cohen, a footwear analyst at market research firm NPD Group, estimates that collectibles constitute less than 1 percent of the athletic footwear market, which he values at $20 billion.

"It's barely something that hits the radar when it comes to dollar volume," Cohen said. "But for brand reputation and heritage, it's huge."

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