Vintage adidas clothing can sell for many times the original cost, especially if the items are of exceptional quality. After watching a vintage adidas t-shirt from the 80s sell for £75 I began to think if buying and storing adidas clothing could be an alternative to using a bank to save for the future. After all, there would be no banking commissions for big fat cats, no risks of a financial crisis and no confusion about what to buy. In fact, it would be a lot more fun!
What adidas items will grow in value?
If this strategy is to deliver financial rewards it is important that we buy the items that have the biggest opportunity to grow in value. Unworn vintage adidas footwear in their original box will tend to attract high demand and is therefore reflected in the high asking prices.
Endorsed products such as vintage adidas Run DMC clothing or Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s backetball shoes also sell extremely well in the vintage adidas market.
Adidas have produced a number of limited edition ranges that sell extremely well years later. Also, the first edition of a popular range can fetch high demand however this involves predicting the success of a range based on the first edition. A good example of a successful first edition that went on to become extremely popular series is the adidas predator.
When we buy adidas items today in the hope that they are worth more in the future we should take particular attention to buy items that meet any of the above criteria.
The Downside
So what is the down side? First of all you would need somewhere to store the items. This might not be a big issue if you choose to buy and store t-shirts or shorts but boxes of footwear will need more space.
Vintage adidas clothing is popular at the moment but that’s not to say it will be in the future. Nobody can definitely predict the fashion trends in 20, 30, 50 years time. It is possible that the vintage adidas market in 20 years + will be saturated with new adidas products that have spent years in storage.
Before the days of ebay it was much more difficult to sell vintage items. Nowadays people (like me) might be more inclined to store clothes hoping that they will have considerable value in the future. We therefore can’t judge the vintage adidas market of today as an indication of what it might look like in 30 years time.
Conclusion
Although we can not predict the future I believe that there will be a demand of vintage adidas clothing and accessories in the future. Buying items today that are worth more in the future is what every investor strives for and therefore buying clothes to sell as vintage shouldn’t be an exception. The question is where do we stop? Should we also be doing the same with the latest toy, the latest Apple product or even buying and storing new cars? Definitely food for thought!
