What Happens After Your Entire Sneaker Collection Goes up in Flames
Pray that this never happens to you.
Saying that someone’s sneaker collection is “fire” is certainly a high form of praise, which is ironic given the fact that seeing your sneaker collection on fire is every sneakerhead’s worst nightmare. This is exactly what happened to Eugene, Oregon-based sneaker collector and reseller Michael Malekzadeh of ZadehKicks, when much of his collection — which he makes a living off of — was burnt to a cinder last October, and even more of it was ruined by smoke and water damage from the fire sprinklers. That was only just the beginning, with Malekzadeh forced to embark on a year-long road to recovery entailing numerous insurance claims, paperwork, and no small amount of heartbreak, revealed in a piece by Sole Collector. Read an excerpt below, and find the entire heart-wrenching account here.
The insurance company would only pay out reimbursements equal to what he paid for the product, not what it was worth on the secondary market. So, on a pair of “Red October” Yeezy 2s bought from Nikestore for $250, but worth around $4,000 on the resell market, the insurance company would only pay out $250. Same goes for any retro Jordans, ancient Air Max collaborations, or other limited and valuable sneakers that were in the warehouse.
“People don’t realize, I didn’t cash out,” Malekzadeh explains. “Yeah I got a big chunk of money at once, but that was all money I spent. But all the money I would make for selling the shoe, I never got. For all these shoes I paid 50 bucks for, I got 50 bucks. I never got more than that.”
