You Won't Believe How Limited the Adidas Predator Mania Champagne Really Was
When the Adidas Predator Mania Champagne remake finally dropped at the start of the week and subsequently sold out within minutes at every place they were available at, many fans were shocked. Had Adidas not learned from previous experiences with limited launches, such as Yeezys or the 2014 Revenge pack - or was it a calculated move to generate hype around the three-striped product?
A few days on, the first hard numbers regarding the availability of the limited Adidas Champagne cleats have surfaced. Courtesy of boot reviewer Bryan Byrne, we know that just 15 pairs of the Predator Mania were available on Adidas US.
@SFG_soccer Adidas US only had 15 pairs! ?Feel bad for the real fans/players that wanted them.
— SC101 (@SoccerCleats101) 3. Mai 2017
@PotatoRooney, a Pro-Direct customer, shared the info that said retailer, one if not the biggest of its kind in the world, had a mere 120 pairs of the Predator available.
@Olliekentt @ProD_Soccer I rang and they said they took 1,000 orders in that 1 minute. The guy said they only have 120 pairs across all the sizes in stock
— Joe Brewer (@PotatoRooney) 3. Mai 2017
Additionally, we can exclusively reveal that the Predator was by far the most limited boot from the whole collection, with less pairs of the easily most wanted product available than for the likes of Ace 17+ PureControl, Copa 17.1 and X 16+ PureChaos. 2,500 pairs of the Adidas Predator Mania were available globally, across physical and online retailers as well as Adidas itself. A good chunk of this stock has ended up on the secondary market, unfortunately.
The evidence is clear. In a move to boost social reach and hype up its product, Adidas purposely tried to limit the launch of the Predator Mania remake as much as possible. In the end, it's retailers and their employees who were unable to fulfill orders and had lots of blame directed at them.
Yet, it's up to Adidas to decide how much to produce and at which price point to sell. In the end, if you don't approve of launch tactics such as these, it's probably best to just skip this type of releases in the future. There's plenty of more accessible options offering a better value for the money than a $330 synthetic-leather "Predator" available at any given time.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
