I am always excited to hear stories about the discovery of vintage adidas merchandise. Some of the best tales I’ve heard are when items have been hidden away and then discovered years later. The discovery of hundreds of pairs of vintage adidas shoes at a shack shop in Argentina is probably the best example and there are many more like this one.
Last week I was contacted by Renee from Montreal, Canada about an old adidas hoodie she had discovered on a local classified app called Varage Sale. What caught my eye about this hoodie was that it was still in its original packaging which is very rare to see.
Renee admittedly isn’t a vintage adidas collector but she does have an eye for acquiring items and reselling them for profit. Her focus is to build up enough money for her and her 11 year old son to go on a big trip to Spain in 2016.
Renee explained that she saw the Adidas hoodie advertised before but she never really paid attention to it. She told me that it had been for sale for the past 28 weeks! Imagine! No one bought it! But now, with her new I-Can-Make-Money-on-Ebay-Eyes, she saw it differently than before. The add title was: Unopened retro Adidas sweater. Still in its original packaging. So she asked the lady if it was a retro copy or an original really from the 80s. And she answered back right away that she found it in an old cedar chest, that it was really from the 80s. So Renee took her chances and picked it up the next day.
The lady that sold it obviously never opened the package. Renee discovered that it wasn’t only a sweater like she advertised but there were the matching pants as well! “It’s a long and straight cut” she explained. “I didn’t look at it very long. I didn’t even dare unfold it completely. I was so preoccupied to keep it intact that I put it back in the package right away. It was easy to fold exactly the same way, the folds have been the same for 32 years!”
Renee discovered that it wasn’t only a sweater like she advertised but there were the matching pants as well!”
Renee was keen to understand how much the item was worth and seeked my advice. Gosh where do I start. With items like this it really comes down to the buyers and the amount of interested buyers. The style of the tracksuit is quite standard to others of that time which usually limits the value but what overcomes this limitation is the fact it is an original piece that has never been worn and hardly ever out of its original packaging.
In pursuit of her trip to Spain Renee has listed the item on Ebay with a starting bid of $125 USD. It will be interesting to see if a few vintage adidas collectors with deep pockets discover the opportunity and what this little gem will sell for.
Check out the ebay listing
