The New, Tech-Driven Age Of The Sneaker Drop

When Nike launched its Air Jordan XI “Concord,” in 2011, there were incidents of violence reported at several shopping malls in the US. Back then, most shoe stores sold pairs on a first-come, first-served basis, which led to physical fights between people who were trying to line up outside their local shop. A lot has changed. Over the past few years, sportswear giants like Nike and Adidas have turned to technology to make sneaker shopping safer, particularly for highly coveted models. And there’s no better example of this digital-first strategy than the drop of the long-awaited 2018 edition of the Concord XIs, which re-released on December 8th without any chaos, thanks in large part to mobile apps like Nike’s SNKRS. Read more at Engadget.