If you haven’t read by now, there has been a brewing controversy in the sneaker world this week. A former vice president and general manager for Nike North America, Ann Hebert, resigned from her position Monday in the midst of speculation and complaints from sneakerheads across the globe.
A Bloomberg Businessweek profile of her son, Joe Hebert, also known as, “West Coast Joe,” looked into the income he was making off reselling sneakers and shed light on a potential connection between his business and his mother’s job for the corporation.
It’s a lot to sift through, here’s the basic details of the situation you should know:
Who
The main two people involved in the situation are Ann Hebert and her son, Joe, known as “West Coast Joe” in the sneaker community. She previously worked at Nike for more than 25 years. Joe is 19.
What
There are multiple layers to this story, which makes it as popular and fiery as it has been.
The Bloomberg feature on Joe Hebert and his growing sneaker company, West Coast Streetwear, raised plenty of eyebrows about his business practices. In the story, there are several notes about how he exploits the sneaker market, including how much money he was making off of reselling kicks on the secondary market. This is not small change money, we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars of income.
The twist of the story is that Ann Hebert may have played a role in this.
In the Bloomberg piece, the author Joshua Hunt noted that during a call with Joe, he noticed Ann Hebert’s name on the caller ID. After discovering Ann was a Nike vice president, Hunt asked Joe Hebert about his mother, to which he declared his mother was not involved and stopped communicating with Hunt.
Hunt then went to Nike for comment. A Nike spokesperson told Bloomberg that Ann Hebert disclosed relevant information about her son’s company in 2018, and Nike found no conflicts of interest. That might not be the case anymore.
Joe Hebert later went on to send a receipt of a bank statement from a credit card he uses to Hunt to show him how much money his company is making. Another twist: His company card was in his mother’s name on the statement. That’s bad!
When
This has all taken place in not even the last week. Bloomberg published its feature story on Joe Hebert on Feb. 25.
Why?
The potential fallout from this situation is huge.
It is a big deal in the sneaker world that Joe seemingly used his mother’s money and resources at Nike to resell shoes at a higher rate. Nike produces some of rarest shoes in the sneaker industry and obtaining a pair of them can be difficult for regular customers.
See the demand even for the sneakers designed by Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital, which had an online auction get taken over by trolls and sellers (those collectible shoes are now an eBay auction item). Most people don’t actually care for the look of those sneakers, but those shoes are exclusive, unique and rare from Nike, and have incredible value for resellers. They take advantage when those shoes become available because of the increase in resale value. It’s part of their game. They also use bots as an assist. It’s unfair to the average customer because of how unreasonable most prices on websites like StockX get. They spike way above the original price.
This is partially why Nike’s SNKRS app has a bad reputation in the sneaker world. It can’t stop people like Joe Hebert and his company if they have the access and tools to win. Part of Ann Hebert’s role involved overseeing the app.
Some may wonder why Nike doesn’t just make more shoes, but Nike likes the exclusivity of its sneakers and apparel. Customers enjoy limited drops, or items designed by specific celebrities and athletes — Travis Scott, Kobe Bryant, to name a few.
The larger concern in this controversy is why did Joe reveal the details of his business to Bloomberg? It could be 19-year-old immaturity, because providing a bank statement from your business that shows the credit card isn’t assigned to you makes no sense. Or it could be because he wanted to brag about the money he is making.
That backfired.
-- Aron Yohannes
ayohannes@oregonian.com; @aronyohannes
The Link LonkMarch 04, 2021 at 05:08AM
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