Swoosh goes Ann Hebert's career

Since I average 5+ miles a day walking, and pretty much have sneakers on my feet from the time I get up in the morning until I call it a day and get into bed with a book, I go through a number of pairs of sneakers a year (five or six pairs, anyway). New Balance. Brooke's. Asics. But never Nike. 

Nothing against Nike, but they don't make narrow width sneaks, and the only narrow part of me is my foot. That said, somewhere along the recent line, I decided that I could go without narrows if there was a color I liked better that only came in M. (My selection is already limited, since my foot has grown its way from a 10 to an 11.) Anyway, the shoes are tied and I wear socks, so N vs. M is not that big a deal. 

So maybe I'll give Nike another look at some point, even though I associated them more with basketball. Which I most decidedly do not play or have much interest in. (Other than hoping to live long enough to see LeBron James elected President.)

In any case, I can pretty much guarantee that I won't be paying above retail to get my hands on - or, rather, my feet into - a pair of Nikes.

After all, I may be a sneakerfoot, but I'm not a sneakerhead and have no interest in shopping the sneaker resale market looking for the latest Air Jordan or Air LeBron or whatever it is that's in demand these days.

But that's just me. The sneaker resale market is big. Billions big. 

“Flipping” sneakers—buying them at retail prices, or below retail prices in some cases, and reselling them at a higher price—has been big business for years. Those willing to put in the time, research, and legwork can see large profits quickly thanks to social media and growing digital marketplaces like StockX and GOAT, which are tailored specifically to the trade. (Source: Slate)

A lot of those who've got game in the sneaker trade are young, entrepreneurs in the making. Folks like 19-year-old Joe Hebert, who's been raking in hundreds of thousands of bucks a month. 

“Anything that’s releasing that I know I can make a guaranteed buck on, I’m gonna go full into,” he told (Bloomberg) writer Joshua Hunt. “That’s just my style.”

Young Mr. Hebert also likes to show off his wares on his Instagram page, where he posts pics of mounds of sneakers that he's scored. And which, on resale - and they're all new, not used - can bring in a hefty profit - more than $100 a pair. People are that desperate to have the latest kicks. 

Now Joe Hebert does know a bit about discretion. On Insta, he obscures his face. But he let his guard down just a bit when talking to the Bloomberg reporter. 

“If you know the right people here, this is the city to sell shoes,” he told Bloomberg. “Plugs,” or connections who can assist you in obtaining hard-to-find inventory, are key when it comes to this game. And most savvy, seasoned resellers don’t reveal those sources—ever.

Turns out, Hebert was really plugged in. The reporter figured this out when he got a phone call from Hebert that came up as "Ann Hebert." Hmmm. Hunt, as a reporter, is an inquiring mind and when he googled Ann Hebert, he found that she was a VP and GM for Nike North America. Young Hebert also showed the reporter his Amex card statement. Curiously, that was in Ann Hebert's name, too. And why not? A lot of teenagers have accounts in Mommy's name. 

Hunt called young Hebert on it, and he did admit that his mother was an inspiration, but told the reporter "she was so high up at Nike as to be removed from what he does, and that he’d never received inside information such as discount codes from her. He insisted, though, that she not be mentioned in the article and cut off contact not long after our conversation."

Joe Hebert was apparently focusing too much on showing off and raking in a lot of dough at his age - the kind of money that usually only goes to athletes at that young age - and somehow missed the part where you have to be really, really careful with the publicity you bring down on your head. And that you have to be really, really careful when you're talking to a reporter, that off the record needs to be claimed in advance. 

Next thing the sneaker world knew, Ann Hebert, after 25 years there, had exited Nike.

Turns out that Joe Hebert also had some side-action going through his aptly named Discord group:

...in which he charged $250 a month for information on “what sneakers would be discounted, when and where the sale would begin, and how many the retailer would have”

Ann Hebert had disclosed to Nike that her son was involved in the sneaker biz, but perhaps not to the extent that it was. Once Nike started looking into things - prompted by the Bloomberg story - the company realized that they needed to part ways with Ann Hebert, and she was allowed to resign. 

So far, there's no smoking shoe lace pointing to her directly providing top secret, inside sneaker world info to her son. But it sure looks bad. 

Who knows? As we've seen from the college admissions scandal, some parents will do just about anything to give their kids an advantage. And maybe the kid snooped through his mother's briefcase and laptop. He had her phone. He sure could see emails and who knows what else.

It'll be interesting to see how Joe Hebert's lucrative business fares once his mother is no longer a Nike big wig. 

Me? I'm going to head on over to Zappo's and see what color Asics I can get for spring.