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Comment by dzonga | Hacker News Reader

seems Steve Jobs is vindicated again - when the Consulting types take over the result is predictable.

cz these guys were never there when the sauce was made, they think the ingredients matter - not how the ingredients compose together.

nike was an early innovator in athleisure - now leggings / tracksuits etc other brands took over - kids hardly care about sneakers - the shoes quality is down - personally I prefer new balance

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> personally I prefer new balance

Great marketing got you.

https://thefreetoaster.substack.com/p/how-new-balances-cmo-t...

Except, NB (at least their classic casual models) is actually a pretty decent value on quality/price spectrum compared to other brands. Despite being an “old man” vibe, the classic pair I have is better materials, way more comfortable, and often less expensive than competing classic sneakers. They also still have a few made-in-USA models. Their popularity also increased as retro aesthetics has made a come back among Gen Z and younger millennials, who tend to value form AND function, and personal taste, over louder mass market status brands. Maybe NB marketing strategy was more of a response to an existing shift in consumer demand, but the value proposition was already there.

You are valuing different things than someone else. Neither way is more or less marketed to, just different segments of the same market (people who wear shoes).

True, but I was replying to the linked article that implied that NB recent resurgence in popularity was due to their new marketing strategy. A fun thought exercise: Which comes first, social trends that generate market demand, followed by marketing tactics catered to those trends. Or marketing projects that that influence social trends, creating market demand? At the root of consumer demand is generally a unique mix of status, social signals, and aesthetics, but also base utility and functionality.

I have two pairs of their made-in-USA models. One pair I bought 2-3 years ago, and one I bought a year ago. Guess which ones wore out first? Yeah the ones from a year ago.

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