If a Nike AirMax sneaker is worth a fight in Milan

Rissa a Milano per un paio di Nike

It is not the first time. A fight in front of the NikeLab ST 18 in Milan has already occurred for the launch of the Air Force 1 model, last 19 December. So it is not surprising that what happens between last night and yesterday morning, when more scuffles hold the bench among the people, in a row from the middle of the night, to gain a pair of the new AirMax 90 signed by Nike. Between Via Moscova and Via Statuto, right in the center of the city, are – in the news – hundreds of people wanting to buy the object in question, for the sum of one hundred and sixty euros. Then resell it. Yes, the goal, in fact, is not to buy and wear sneakers but to sell them. A phenomenon known as reselling.

Rissa a Milano per un paio di Nike

‘People are not right’, someone would say. Shopping is a moment of leisure, of joy; even of perdition, for some. But emphasizing it up to this point is too much. You can not destroy traffic lights, close subway stops, as in this case, that of Via Moscova, and employ many law enforcement officers, who would – hopefully, because otherwise then all the risks about terrorism & co. would be only a joke – have more urgent matters to monitored, just for a pair of shoes. Iconic or not, at a reduced price or not.

Innocence does not pass from here, evidently. The j’accuse applies to everyone: from the marketing of the American company, to the fan-resellers camped out. These are the rules of the market, of globalization. Of the money, whose power is, erroneously, considered within everyone’s reachable. In reality it is in the hands of a few. So fashion continues to reap its victims, pity that they are not those who rant against the windows with their yellow bracelets, assigned to him by the poor sale assistants, standing at dawn to appease the spirits. Rather, the true persecuted are, as usual, citizens, as soon as they are awake, still mindful of the warmth of their bed.

Rissa a Milano per un paio di Nike

The fight, in reality not so blatant, however, is symbolic, because it represents what many of us would be willing to do to have an object, even of little value, perhaps made in third world countries, by women and young kids under paid , workers with no rights and in terrible conditions of hygiene and safety. Remember a little queues in front of the H&M stores, fast fashion chain with a modus operandi very similar to Nike, when launching collaborations with fashion houses such as Versace or Victor & Rolf. Of an infinite sadness.

Photo: La Presse