It was the Year 2001, my mom would wake me up every day at
6:00 am sharp (Monday to Friday).
I get up, get dressed and we would go together to school; my
mom used to teach in the same school for 30 years.
We had two breaks during the day, the first break was for breakfast, for the second break, we used to run/play in the playground. My daily allowance was 1.5 USD; dad used to give me the money every single day before leaving the house.
After school hours I used to train every day, either boxing, handball or basketball, every day and sometimes back to back and then I would go back home to finish my studies and be in bed by 9:00 pm, occasionally I was allowed to watch champions league matches.
Over the weekends, my allowance was 10 USD for the whole weekend, we used to go to the movie or go play basketball in Hoops Beirut Downtown, every single weekend. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, we used to watch the games and highlights of Michael Jordan on the national Television (we didn't have satellite channels back in the days). I was into sneakers but you can read about it in our first blog post.
During the summer we used to go to the same beach for years "Villamar", I used to play basketball all day outdoors under the sun with the guys there, then grab a light sandwich for 4 USD. That was my childhood I lived this way for 13 years (while in school).
Fast forward to today, I do business with 14 years old kids. Before youbetterfly, I wasn't exposed to the Z generation and their maturity level. I was a collector, doing my own thing, but since this journey started I began to meet young girls and boys and was just amazed at how they work and manage money.
Most of the times they reach out through chat (online or mobile) and then we go back and forth negotiating payments and items till we reach an agreement, then I get shocked when I figure out it's a 14-year-old kid we are dealing with!
Kids these days know what they are doing, some of them are doing it for the money and some for the love of the sneaker/streetwear scene, and others for both. At youbetterfly, we believe in, embraced and support them, as we are all part of shaping their characters as they grow up. it's obvious that it's a different ball game these days, as you can be a 14-year-old entrepreneur trading, buying and reselling sneakers and have the power to spend and earn money.
I see a lot of bullying happening against re-sellers and mainly kids, there is a thin line between doing it the right way and doing it the wrong way. A lot of kids these days get bullied on facebook groups or social media (sole box incident for the Parra release) just because they posted a shoe for resale. We all know reselling is part of the game, everyone does that for whatever reason (commercial, swap to get the size, resale to get another limited release,etc..) we should all embrace this culture and stop bullying others, or judging without knowing the real motivation behind it.
The fact that Sean Wotherspoon (Owner of Round Two Hollywood sneaker consignment/reselling store) got a signature shoe with Nike on the air max 1/97 (He won the design competition) is a step forward in the right direction for the right culture.
We will be talking more about reselling in the next blog posts but for now, let's finish it the way we started it.
Embrace, support and engage with the kids trying to enter
the sneaker scene today. It's a win-win situation.
