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|| THIS WEEK IN COLLECTIBLES NEWS ||

⚾️ Shohei Ohtani Gets New Balance Athlete Logo

👟 Preparing for Nike Air Max Day 2024

👕 eBay Moves Into Fashion Consignment

📊 Adidas Reports Latest Financial Results

⚾️ Shohei Ohtani Gets New Balance Athlete Logo

Shohei Ohtani, after signing a massive contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and announcing his marriage, is getting a new athlete logo from New Balance that symbolizes his all-around athletic abilities rather than just his pitching or hitting. The logo represents Ohtani's baseball journey and will be featured on a limited edition t-shirt and baseball glove, with a special pop-up event planned for March 27th, 2024, in Los Angeles.

There's anticipation for this logo to appear on lifestyle models and signature cleats, although no specific footwear announcements have been made yet. Ohtani is already one of the “most collected” athletes in terms of his baseball cards, and New Balance are clearly investing a lot into their exclusive partnership with the athlete.

Given the value of enabling Ohtani to launch his own products and New Balance’s growth as a sneaker brand, we may continue to see more growth in demand for Ohtani-related collectibles.

👟 Preparing for Nike Air Max Day 2024

To celebrate Air Max Day on March 26th, Nike is releasing a variety of footwear, including the Air Max Dn and the Air Max 1 '86 with volt soles, as well as introducing a sneaker-inspired wallet. This wallet, inspired by Tinker Hatfield’s late 1980s design, marks one of Nike’s rare ventures into sneakerhead accessories. Priced at $30, the Air Max 1 Wallet will soon be available on Nike.com, adding a unique item to the Air Max Day festivities.

Every year, Nike celebrates Air Max Day on March 26, highlighting new and old Air Max models and hopefully generating more sales of the Air Max. 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of Air Max day and March 26 commemorates the first public unveiling of Air technology in 1987.

👕 eBay Moves Into Fashion Consignment

EBay is launching a service that allows sellers to consign luxury apparel, expanding the company’s overall presence in fashion and bringing them into more direct competition with companies like TheRealReal.

This expansion follows the introduction of a similar service for handbags last year, utilizing Linda's Stuff, an established eBay seller, to handle the listing process. The service will include items from high-end brands and aims to offer competitive consignment commission rates, with a minimum payout of 60 percent for items priced under $300.

This shows eBay’s desire to expand across other collectible categories and pre-owned items, potentially bringing new liquidity to the world of fashion resale.

Adidas Reports Latest Financial Results

Adidas experienced a significant annual loss in 2023, attributed to the termination of its partnership with Kanye West due to his controversial statements and a 16.1% decrease in North America sales. The company reported an overall decrease in Q4 sales by 7.6% and a yearly revenue drop of 4.8%, with overall currency-neutral revenues staying flat. Adidas described their own performance in 2023 as above their initial expectations, achieving an operating profit of €268 million, nearly €1 billion better than anticipated in a challenging market.

Their focus remains on scaling successful franchises, launching new products, and capitalizing on major sports events, despite challenges such as continued geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainties.

There is a lot of anticipation and controversy around Adidas’ prospects as a company and a lot of pressure will be put on their CEO Bjorn Gulden as the market for major sneaker brands becomes more competitive.

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This newsletter was written with contributions from Neustreet Editor-in-Chief Tony McGuire; art generated by Logan Fulcher.