And the New York Times is on it: Can Shopify Stop Sneaker Bots? – The New York Times.
I find that story fascinating on many levels. It starts with the culture of sneakerheads. Then it shows what happens when you mix IT in. Suddenly there is a massive distortion effect that occurs. Combine that with voracious capitalism and a fun hobby morphs into something….well less than pretty.
So much of our current society is captured in that piece. Well worth taking a moment to read and digest.
P.S. I got caught up in that for a moment a few years ago when my son suddenly wanted this particular brand of Jordans. I remember him showing them to me by a guy who was selling them online, and I had to study sneakers to see if they were legitimate or knock offs before handing over hundreds of dollars to some guy who had some weird handle of a name.
Thankfully my son lost interest in becoming a sneakerhead. I couldn’t afford it anyway!
(Photo by Paul Volkmer on Unsplash )
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