With time, I was deployed overseas to low cost labor countries like Vietnam and China where big brands would outsource their production process in these factories. I noticed that THOUSANDS of pairs of the most popular & exclusive sneakers get left behind such as the Off-White Jordans 1 Chicago or the Undefeated 4s which gets replaced when there is an inspection fail, or a defected batch that was set for retail turning bad due to weather storage conditions (as most sneakers are kept in warehouses for months even years before being sent to retail stores) or other related reasons.

Just like that.

I concluded my research and as it turned out, these factories (hired by big brands like Nike and Adidas) produce 2-5 times the amount of supplies they need for their productions or release and divide the entire manufacturing process into multiple different factories to prevent a single one from gaining any design insights or the power to have access to the full supply chain or sell these exclusive items themselves in the first place. Finally they are all brought together at a private assembly chain ready to be assembled by the big brands themselves!

The main reason for all this is that they need these extra pairs ‘just in case’ – to replace the rejected pairs after they fail to pass the FINAL quality inspection since they could never be late for an announced item release date.

Well, guess what happens once enough pairs pass the control & these huge companies reaches its quota?