READ QUARTERSNACKS’ AMAZING PIECE ON MUSKA’S FIRST PRO MODEL
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If you’ve ever wondered about the economics of designing a world-class tech skate shoe, then there’s an article at the Quartersnacks site that you need to read. “Halo Effect—The Oral History Of The First Hundred Dollar Skate Shoe” tells the story of Chad Muska‘s game-changing shoe model for éS, one that had reached a milestone in skate retail prices. Quartersnacks interviewed Muska, Don Brown, Joe Bragan, and former Sole Tech Senior Shoe Designer Franck Boistel, about the origins of the Muska Pro. (The above Instagram post was yesterday.)
A bunch of interesting nuggets are uncovered, but one notable fact is that the $100 price tag was a happy accident. When asked how it was decided that the Muska Pro would list at $100, Brown says:
“We designed the shoe without a price point in mind. The price came back and it was…high. We had discussions internally, like ‘Oh shit, we can’t wholesale something to shops for $54.99.’ That would go into retail at $105-110. Retail bit the bullet on the margins on their end, and sold it at $99 or $100.”
Read the piece here. And make sure to subscribe to Quartersnacks’ YouTube channel—they have another entertaining “QS Top 10” edit scheduled for tomorrow. Here’s last week’s “Top 10”:
