NBA star sells $15 sneakers

[CatWoman]

I heard about this story on the Tom Joyner show, and wanted to share.

This is one example of the community policing itself. I read too many stories about kids being killed for something as trivial as those high end sneakers sold by Reebok, Nike, etc.

As a kid growing up with six siblings, Stephon Marbury couldn’t understand why his parents couldn’t scrape together $150 to buy him the hot sneakers his heroes wore in the NBA.

When he grew up and understood how much money that was and how little his parents had, he decided to do something about it.

His solution? A $15 quality basketball shoe worn in games by the star point guard of the New York Knicks, Stephon Marbury.

“Anybody who grew up in a household with a lot of brothers and sisters, they know how it is as far as, you know, everybody wearin’ the same sneakers – hand-me-downs,” he told TODAY correspondent Kevin Corke.

The shoe, which comes in a variety of styles and fabrics, is called the “Starbury.” It’s made by Steve & Barry's University Sportswear, and, while it is inexpensive, it’s not cheap or shoddy. Marbury introduced them last August and has just introduced the Starbury II, still at the same affordable price.

Mark Cuban, the outspoken billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, called the product "the biggest business story of the year."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17962620/

p.s. - make sure you read some of the comments. some pretty good ones there: http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/05/112023.aspx

[dsc]

1. Great for him

I hope these take off. I have no idea how good he is at basketball but he deserves a wing in the hall of fame of great people.

[Benhurst]

2. Good for Marbury! Recommended #1

[Libby2]

3. That's a great story

thanks for posting it.

[trumad]

4. Thank God they're not Bruno Magli

;-)

[CatWoman]

5. you asshole

:hi:

:loveya:

[trumad]

9. Hey Baby...

You know if we were together on a Sunday night---we wouldn't be screwing around on DU...;-)

[CatWoman]

10. LOL

Bad Trumad!!!

BAD!!!!

:)

[NashVegas]

6. Good For Them!

When I was a kid, all the players wore Chucks.

[Zhade]

7. Nice!

NT!

[Fierce]

8. It's still made in China, though.

So while it's a step in the right the direction, it's a small step, for only a few in this world.

[HereSince1628]

12. Small step maybe, but wow, what if nobody wanted to kill for them?

That'd save lives and be just one hell of an important small step.

[Fierce]

14. One could argue that exploiting workers is killing them.

Hard to tell, I guess...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061002/southpaw

[Critters2]

18. You think slave labor isn't killing workers? nt

[Hippo_Tron]

35. They're going to be made from sweatshop labor whether they're $15 or $150

And unfortunately China will allow its workers to be treated like shit whether US markets are open to them or not. On the other hand, this may make Americans start to ask why shoes are marked up to $150 when they can make a profit selling them for $15.

[dysfunctional press]

43. do you know that for a fact? or just speculatin'?

from what i understand, nike, for one, has tried to address the conditions in it's foriegn production plants.

[Solon]

46. "tried" is the key word here...

Nike can try all they want, that doesn't mean the workers are going to make no more than 20 cents an hour.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_38/b3900011_mz001.htm

[dysfunctional press]

47. i'd still be willing to bet that the nike workers are "better off" than the $15 shoe makers

whatever "better off" means in those circumstances.

[Solon]

48. Actually, I doubt that...

In the case of 150 dollar versus 15 dollar shoes, you are paying for the brand name, nothing more, really. The costs for materials are the same, across the board, and labor costs are basically not a factor in pricing Nike shoes. Think about it, a single worker, can churn out one HUNDRED Nike shoes in an hour, so that makes total labor cost, for that shoe, about .2 cents. Nike shoes don't use higher quality leather or rubber in their shoes, in fact, in my experience, they fall apart quite regularly. Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if those "bargain shoes" that you buy are made at the exact same factories as Nike shoes, hell, the brands for those cheap shoes may be owned by Nike themselves. This is a common enough practice in other areas of the market, why not for shoes as well?

Or think about it this way, if Nike shoes were made here, in Union shops, with workers being paid, let's say 10 bucks an hour, a 50 fold increase over workers in China, do you really think the shoes would cost the customer 7,500 dollars? No, of course not, in fact, they probably wouldn't increase the price a penny, unless they wanted to keep the profit margins the same. That's the key difference between this 15 dollar shoe and Nike shoes, the profit margin, it doesn't disappear, it just shrink a little. Think about when shoes were, the majority of them, made in the United States, or Europe, most of the workers were paid what would be the equivalent of about 10 bucks an hour today, adjusted for inflation, but the shoes were nowhere near 7,500 dollars in price for customers to buy back then, even if we factored in inflation. In fact, if you factor in inflation, I doubt shoes today are any cheaper than back in the 1950s or earlier, they may have even increased in price.

This is the Great Lie in "Free" Trade, we bought into the idea that we are SAVING large amounts of money by outsourcing manufacturing, when, in reality, we pay the same prices, and pay for the brand. It doesn't matter if its Tommy Hilfinger T-Shirts, Reebok or Nike shoes, Wrangler Jeans, etc. We have had a huge increase in "Free" trade in the past decade or so, yet I don't remember having a huge decrease in the price of any of these items. Where is the advantage for the customer in cases like this?

[dysfunctional press]

55. nike at least has some oversight over it's factories.

i'd be willing to bet that the $15 guys don't.

[Solon]

56. They have less than 100 people to oversee almost 1000 factories...

Let me just guess here and say that I strongly doubt the oversight is that impressive. They are taking symbolic measures, at best, and most for PR reasons.

[sandnsea]

62. They subcontract, 1998 $1.50 a day

For 20 years we've bought into the lie that US labor was the problem. But none of the prices of goods ever got cheaper.

Where do you think income disparity came from? Their "income" is dividends from companies like Nike who use subcontractors that pay $1.50 a day and shove their workers in factories like the one in Bangladesh. Do you not remember the Mariana "petri dish"? What do you think the "guest worker" program is going to be??

http://www.cleanclothes.org/companies/nikecase99-11-2.htm

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902EED61E30F930A1575AC0A96E958260



http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/06-04-06.htm

Why do they hate us?? We seriously have to ask?

[earth mom]

60. Great post-I agree.

My dad always used to look at cheap China goods and guess the cost-ALWAYS under a dollar-whether it was branded or unbranded shoes, clothing, a lamp or a toaster. Big business/Licensees are making a KILLING on the stuff from China. We're just the chumps who don't have a lot of options left anymore EXCEPT to buy that overpriced and shoddy crap from China. :grr:

[Hippo_Tron]

52. From what I understand Nike has talked about addressing its sweatshops

And taken very little action.

[file83]

11. I saw this guy on 60 minutes - he is so great.

And you know where he learned to be such a good person? His mother. They interviewed her and she's a great person too. I love how this guy is making it okay to think something is "cool" even if it's inexpensive.

Of course, I hope the factory making the shoes isn't exploiting children - but knowing him, I'm sure he's made sure that isn't happening.

[Wapsie B]

13. That is a brilliant idea.

Good for him!

[Critters2]

15. Maybe there's a middle way between shoes made by sweatshop workers

in China, which are then marked up to a ridiculous $175.00 and shoes made by sweatshop labor in China and sold cheaply BECAUSE they're made in sweatshops in China. Maybe, just maybe, shoes could be made by American union labor, or other nations with fair labor laws, and sold for what the shoe is actually worth--which would be somewhere between $15 and $175.

What's so hard about that?

[Fierce]

16. Far, far too reasonable.

Outrageous, even.

Heh.

[Hippo_Tron]

40. There aren't too many American shoe producers left

Unfortunately there will be people working in sweatshops in China whether they're making $15 shoes or $175 shoes. China's human rights problems aren't something that an NBA star is really capable of taking on. This problem is something that he can take on.

You are absolutely correct that there is a middle ground and that middle ground would be greatly advanced if China would adopt and enforce good labor laws. But again, that's not something that a basketball player can make happen.

[slampoet]

17. This is the Best Widget ever.

I will personally break my 20 year allegiance to Chuck Taylor All-stars just to give a pair a try.

If i like em I'll get more.

[jbnow]

32. Ah, Chuck Taylors

My son loved those through his school years and I was very thankful!

I love the choice this guy made to make affordable shoes for the young to be cool cheaply. We too often see profit above all.

(And yes I wish we made more things in America)

[americanstranger]

33. I still wear 'em!

Footwear of choice for the guys in my band. :)

I still think Converse should do a special edition of Chucks and make a pair of 'Joey Ramones.' I'd buy 'em.

- as

[dogfacedboy]

53. Got ya beat. I've been wearing those for 37 years now.

I've probably owned every color, except pink, and some of the real crazy ones. In 7th grade ('72), I had a "Peter Max" model. Very cool.

[jaysunb]

19. There's a real downside here ,Kitty.

Discussing this with my mid 20's aged, former shoe freaks ( back when I was buying ) and resident Gen Y'er sons last week, and they thought it was all good but, " to be seen wearing these would have the same effect as wearing the Payless tag hanging out or your EBT card pinned on your chest." In other words...

I applaud Maubrey, but sadly, I think the boys are right. :evilfrown:

[CatWoman]

23. And therein lies the problem

:hi:

fucking kids are too materialistic these days.

I remember my daughter balking at me shopping in thrift stores.

now that she's grown with five kids, where does she shop now?

[earth mom]

61. I hated thrift stores too when I was kid...

now I love them. Go figure. Mom is ALWAYS right. O8)

[supernova]

20. He was on Rachel Ray on Friday

I thought it was wonderful. If I were a boy and not a middle-aged woman, I'd like these shoes. :-)

I had never heard of him before, because I don't follow sports in general, but he seems like such a cool guy.

:thumbsup: props to Marbury!

[angstlessk]

63. Hell, Im a middle aged woman and thinking I am gonna buy me a pair

I wear tennis shoes oops I mean sneakers..er I mean...basketball shoes...all the same to me..though I would REFUSE to pay over 30.00 for a pair...at 15.00 that is some deal!

[MadBadger]

21. Very Odd

considering he has a repuation of being a big jerk.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[marmar]

24. .....

(sound of crickets chirping)

[americanstranger]

25. He's changing, and I'm glad people are noticing.

Besides the whole thing with his shoes, he's also done great things for Katrina victims - like donating between $500,000 and a million of his own money to rebuilding efforts.

He was so affected by the plight of the people in NOLA, he broke down in tears during the press conference to announce the donation. How many NBA stars would allow themselves to be that vulnerable in public? Not many.

New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury personally pledged $500,000 to $1,000,000 at the press conference. An emotional Marbury fought back tears as he talked about the plight of Katrina's victims. "I see those kids crying, and I think about my kids," he said. Marbury also downplayed the significance of his contribution, saying, "It’s not about money. We have to take our cares to another level, just the way we treat people." Fellow Knick Allan Houston seconded Marbury's call for unity and collective effort. "We are supposed to do this," he said. "We are all one family."

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:UgVwGxRJivEJ:www.nbpa.com/documents/OperationReboundPress-Release.doc+marbury+new+orleans+donation&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us


He's been known as a jerk, but I think age is making him wiser.

- as

[MadBadger]

28. His personality on the court seems to be different

than his personality off the court.

[americanstranger]

29. He takes a lot of knocks, especially in NY.

The knock is that he's on his fourth team and none of those teams have won a thing while he was there. He takes a lot of crap in NY because he got a huge contract and didn't deliver in accordance with what he's getting paid.

He's been learning how to be a pass-first NBA guard for the past two seasons, as he's been criticized for being a ball-hog. But after injuries to the Jamal Crawford this season, Marbury upped his game and was leading the team in scoring, until an injury ended his season.

He's figureing things out, albeit maybe a little late in his career. And as much as I dislike the Knicks' coach, Isaiah Thomas, I think Thomas is instrumental in turning 'Starbury' into both a better player and a better person.

- as

[MadBadger]

30. Lets Just say

Im from Jersey (not a knicks fan) but I hear a lot of things. I also really like Larry Brown. You cant like both.

[americanstranger]

31. That was a bad situation for everybody.

Larry has had success with a few difficult players, like Iverson.

Not so much with Marbury. I think Thomas has better luck with him because Marbury looks up to him as a player first.

The Knicks have made tons of stupid mistakes over the years. Hiring Brown was one, and firing him the way they did was another.

Knicks' management ain't so bright. Proof that you don't have to be smart to be rich.

- as

[dysfunctional press]

26. a quality sneaker that sells for $15- including the profit for the company...

i wonder what the working conditions in THAT chinese factory are like...?

[CatWoman]

27. there you go again..........

[Hippo_Tron]

38. The same as the conditions in the factory where the $150 shoe is made

If the shoe was $20 or $25 they could probably afford to pay the workers a decent wage and improve the conditions in the factory. But you know as well as I do that the extra $5-$10 would never go to that.

A basketball player can't really do anything about China's human rights problems.

[dysfunctional press]

42. i kind of doubt that. Nike has tried to clean up their operations to some degree.

"A basketball player can't really do anything about China's human rights problems"

that doesn't mean that he has to add to them, either.

[w4rma]

66. No they haven't beyond a good PR showing. In fact they've been fighting against Chinese who have

been trying to get better conditions and higher wages at every factory in China.

Marbury's company is highly unlikely to fight against regular Chinese people in their fight to get better conditions and wages, unlike Nike.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

34. Good for him.

Stephon Marbury seems like a class act.

[Colobo]

36. Do you guys know why this won't work?

Because kids don't like cheap stuff. Cheap sneakers are not "cool". Kids like stuff that makes them feel "important" or "part of something"... you know, that sense of "cool", "exclusiveness", and $15 sneakers do not provide that because anyone can have them. If anything, those sneakers might indicate you are poor or unable to afford truly "cool" stuff.

I commend this NBA player for doing this and I hope he's succesful, though!

[MadBadger]

37. But kids also like the shoe that matches their fav player

So kids who are Marbury fans which Im sure are plenty in NYC, will buy the shoes. It just so happens that all the other major NBA stars charge a ton of money, and the kids buy their fav player's shoe.

[americanstranger]

39. I think the success of the shoe

is tied to the success of Marbury, and that may be why they won't take off.

But he does play every Knicks game wearing them, and he also got his teammate Steve Francis to wear them, too.

If the Knicks get to the playoffs next year, the shoes could take off. This year? No playoffs...

- as

[blogslut]

54. Then it's up to the parents to teach them different

I give you My Mother's Tale of the Pretty Toddler Dress:

My Mother had many talents. One of those talents was the ability to look past labels and prices tags. She carefully examined everything she ever bought, especially clothing. She taught me that an expensive item of clothing was not necessarily quality item of clothing.

She told me of how she once found an adorable, well-made dress that she thought would look darling on me. She found it hanging on the racks at an upscale boutique in my hometown. She wanted to buy the dress but the price was $50.00. Mind you, this was the 1960's but frankly, a fifty dollar dress for a three year-old child is a high price even by today's standards. Sadly, she returned the dress to the rack and left the store.

She then found THE VERY SAME DRESS, hanging on the racks at J.C. Penny. Once again, my mother resisted the purchase because the J.C. Penny's price was $35.00. Off she went to search.

As you might guess, my mother was looking at toddler dresses at K-Mart and what did she find? The SAME DAMNED DRESS. Same Manufacturer. Same high quality. Same dress. $25.00. Mom bought that dress.

Years later, I became a mother. I taught my daughter that LABELS ARE FOR LOSERS. Labels are for people that are unable to recognize quality. Labels are crap. Pricetags are lies. I taught her that good clothes are the ones that last through seasons and wear. I taught her to turn a piece of clothing inside out and examine the seams. I taught her that fashion magazines are guides, not rulebooks. I taught her that fashion designers are rarely original and that most of them steal their "designs" from regular people on the street. I taught her that her label-conscious peers were in fact, unimaginative. I taught her that STYLE was more important than substance and that it's not WHAT you wear but HOW you wear it.

[gollygee]

58. I agree

One of the reasons $150 tennies are popular is specifically because they are $150. In fact I wouldn't doubt if some stuff is overpriced specifically to make it "cooler".

(We call all sports shoes tennis shoes here so excuse my regionalism.)

But who knows - maybe it'll work. It's certainly worth the effort!

[jelly]

69. I think it could work.

Kids who wear these shoes are sticking it to the man. What's not cool about that. I think we'll have to wait and see but if trend-setting kids and celebs are seen wearing them, they could really take off.

[Morgana LaFey]

41. I saw a segment (somewhere) about this guy and his shoes

a few weeks ago and thought it was fabulous. Just fabulous. Whoever was doing the interview sort of gigged him for the low price and he had a great response. REAL CLASS ACT.

[Dorian Gray]

44. I'm a Knicks fan

and I never even liked Marbury until I heard this story last week on PTI. I'm pleased and impressed with him for doing this. I think that Lebron James criticized the sneakers as cheap, but Marbury wears them on the court, proving you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars for workable sneakers. He's promoting something very positive for the kids in NYC who will want to emulate him. And though I'm sure he is making money from these sneaks, I bet he could make much much more if he endorsed a more expensive pair.

So, I have gained a whole newfound respect for him! :)

[americanstranger]

49. Another NYK fan here.

I've known about Starburys since almost the start of the season. I think he's doing a great thing.

Lebron took a lot of smack for criticizing the shoes. I think he backtracked off of what he said a day after he said it.

I posted elsewhere about his pledging a lot of his own money (between $500K and a million) for Katrina rebuilding. That really made my respect for him soar, along with his sincerity when he made the pledge.

Here's hoping they actually get back into the playoffs next year. Then he'll move a lot of those shoes. I think they would have made it this year, if Crawford, Q-Rich, Lee, Francis, and Marbury not gotten injured, but that's the NBA for ya.

- as

[MadBadger]

50. Thats the name!

Starbury, that is the name I was trying to think of.

[americanstranger]

65. That's Marbury's former nick from earlier in his career. n/t

- as

[Dorian Gray]

57. Ah, fellow Knicks fan

I didn't think that there were too many of us left out there! :)

I didn't go to any games this year, which is really unusual. I think that I got tired of the I.T. years and the lacklustre performance. But, I do continue to hope for the best!

[americanstranger]

64. My motto is....

'You gotta love 'em when they suck, so you can love 'em with a clear conscience when they're good.'

Might take a while, even though I enjoyed watching the younguns play after all the vets got hurt.

I'm wondering who they're going to package in order to try and land Garnett or O'Neal. :)

- as

[BreweryYardRat]

45. That's damn good of him.

And about what most pairs of sneakers should cost.

[OneBlueSky]

51. major props here . . . REAL activism with REAL relevance . . .

course, you gotta look past what Marbury and the Knicks are doing on the court these days . . . I'm a Knicks fan, but they suck . . .

(hope it's not THE SHOES!) . . . :shrug:

[jmowreader]

59. I'm gonna get some

The materials I sell play hell on a shoe--Portland cement, sand, shingle granules, they all just shred a set of uppers. I get about six weeks on a pair of shoes before they look all ragged and I need a new pair. I consider my work shoes to be disposable because they really are.

At fifteen dollars a pair, these are cheap enough to BE disposable.

[Daedelus76]

67. I hate burst bubbles...

... but this shoe isn't going to be cool. The reason that expensive shoes are coveted by poor people is exactly that, because they are expensive, and project an image of wealth. Not beacuse they are particularly good shoes, but just because they are expensive.

Ever notice how some of the most "hooderific" clothic around is expensive? It's like people with nothing are attracted to at least looking like they have money. Afraid of wearing clothes with no brand label. OTOH, I see lots and lots of middle class people who simply don't care if they have a brand name.

[masterofthebush]

70. its called "hood rich"

these are people who untill recently have come from a culture of "hand me downs"; now that credit is extended to anyone, they have the ability to spend outragious amounts (in relation to household income) to project a scene of conspicious consumption.

[Daedelus76]

71. I live a middle class lifestyle most of my life

and we never bought designer clothes... we shopped at Sears usually. OTOH, I was bussed around as a kid for a few years. BTW, I hated it. For a while I really was nervous around black people because of my experience going to school in the 'hood, it took alot for me to heal from that, if anything, it just confirmed all those bad stereotypes I was getting off old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Bussing is not cool. My grades were slipping in the inner city school, too, and I was really started to develope stress problems and depression. It took about an hour for me to get to school and I had to wake up way before dawn and I barely had time to eat. Did I forget to mention how much bussing sucks?

But anyways, I noticed that these same people without a dime to their name would still walk around with Nike shoes costing a small fortune. And if they didn't wear them, they were made fun of quite a bit. But me being white, I guess I never recieved any flack, even though I wore shoes from Wal-Mart or Payless. Then my parents pulled me out soon after and I went to a low-cost private school for the rest of the year (and no, it was not a Christian school... it was a great experience for me, though- going from a class with 38 students to maybe 22 was a good change, and I had several friends, whereas I had none at the inner-city school). In my house, the spare money was spent on going out to eat, electric train sets, telescopes (my dad tried to find Hailey's comet, it never happened- but I did see a satellite or two), renting movies, and on computer games. We didn't need to wear our wealth, we had better things to do with it.

I do think, in the end, it's a sports star putting his name on a low-cost shoe is a good thing. It might help to break the mystique, if anything, for poor kids. Maybe they can have a shoe that somebody gave a crap about, and if that makes them feel better, that's a good thing. I don't think it could hurt, at the least.

The most I spend on clothing is for my motorcycle gear, because it actually does something. My boots cost me about 120 dollars, and that's at a small discount. But they are designed to save your ankles in a crash. Worth the cost. The Swoosh is not worth the price on tennis shoes.

[jelly]

68. Simply wonderful.

My boys need new shoes; I'm going to look into purchasing these for them.