Starbury sneakers

When back in the US a few weeks ago I managed to pick up a pair of Starbury shoes, the incredibly cheap line endorsed by NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury himself! Well, nowadays his stats have mellowed out a bit, but he's more known for the shoes anyway.

This pair cost less than $10, whereas the basketball shoes cost around $15.


They're popular enough to have made finding them in Manhattan a (surmountable) challenge, as well as for me to have eschewed paying upwards of 60 euros for a new pair of European walking shoes in their favor. As for the Starbury experience, it's kind of liberating to walk around in a pair of shoes that cost less than a Maß at Oktoberfest, yet still manage to look and feel decent. It makes me feel like I stuck it to the Man somehow. Just wanted to share and see what others thought.

Wow, have never heard of these runners before, and at ten dollars is a bloody bargain too. I detest paying over 50 YoYos for shitty Nikes/Pumas/ etc made by a 10 yr old wage slave in the back arse of nowhere.P lus, runners never last that long, guaranteed with me to be falling apart within 6 months. (Whereas if you spend decent money on a nice pair of Brogues etc , they will last if properly taken care of). Will Definitely try and get myself a pair.

I'm sure these things are destined for the trash heap in a few months as well, but for less than a quarter of the price of standard sneakers, it really doesn't matter. You could theoretically just buy in bulk and essentially have a fleet of disposable shoes. Not that I would advocate being wasteful...

Never heard of them, but they sound good. I could use some new sneakers right now, seeing as my current ones could use a replacement.

There was a good article in the SZ (I think) about this brand a month or two back. The quality and finish are exactly the same as shoes costing ten times as much. The Starbury brand has no expensive stars or marketing so has no need to pass those costs on to the consumer.

Did it say anything about them being available in Germany?

It looks like they're US-only for now. They're being sold through only one shop, Steve and Barry's. Unless you find them on eBay somewhere, Europe's out of luck.

How do shoes retailing at $ 15 "help out the youth of today" ???

It stops them being dickheads and needing to shell out $100 for designer trainers from Nike. If $10 sneakers catch on, then it will be a good thing for the youth innit.

They all only cost about $1.50 a pair to get made anyway. Nike is all about brand. Its a con.

Guardian article on this subject here:

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1857075,00.html

Ahhh right, I thought it was some kind of charity thing and I wondered where the money was coming from if the retail price was only $ 15 trainers.

You can get $ 15 trainers in Europe anyway, dinnae need them endorsed by a basketball / tiddlywinks "star" no one here has heard of innit.

Yeah sounds like he is a two-bob player:


The point is that he is adding "street cred" to $15 trainers so that the yoofs can wear them and still be "cool". It is NOT cool to be wearing a pair of trainers yer mum picked up at LIDL in the bargain bin, but if they are worn by the 5th highest paid player then I guess that is OK.

Kids these days eh?

Once they grow up, get jobs and have to pay tax and mortgages and run a housegold and stuff they'll soon be down the cheapjacks shops buying trainers.

If the soles feel as good as they look, I will switch from my Reeboks no prob. That is the only shoe that will last on my foot for at least a year and still look and feel good.

www.deichmann.de
If you are looking for cheap runners.