Mildly Infuriating

It's not a Nike thing. It's a kid thing. Kids are dicks, sorry

I got teased for my shoes. I got better shoes, I got teased for my jacket, I got a better jacket. So then they just made shit up to tease me about.

I saw the fucker that bullied me relentlessly for all three years in middle school about 10 years later. He was pounding stakes in the ground setting up for a carnival. He stopped me in apologized which was kind of surprising. I gave him an absolutely hollow but convincing thanks and what about my day.

I did a little light internet stalking, turns out he's vocal that can't keep a job, construction companies fire him for "no reason" and he's now down to whatever local company will hire him for physical labor. The only truly sad part is he has multiple children with multiple women and will not own up to any of them.

Though, I really suppose I owe a lot of who I am to the hell he put me through. Insults mean fuck all to me and I can ignore stress in a bad situation and make solid decisions.

Did you try to teach him to be proud of his independence and differences? Maybe you can work with him on nice come backs against the teasing.

I always knew shoes weren't going to save my kids from bullying, so I got them karate instead.

The bullying still happened, until they decided it was time for it to stop. Then it stopped.

When I was young (in the late 80's) it was Air Jordans.

But, on top of being teased for not having them, you would also get jumped by kids who wanted to steal them from you.

Happened to me. Got Nikes, got teased because they were not a good enough model. Kids are monsters.

I tried, His Mom agreed and already bought him shoes.

I don't know if this is a bad idea, but recently all the Chinese manufacturers spoke out about how much the products they make actually cost, you can find the exact warehouse that makes them, and order directly from them, at a ridiculous mark down. Like a 10th of the price, or less. Might be worth some research. I see Adidas sambas for $10, including postage. They're all there. They just don't have the actual name label on them yet, because that's all they do when they reach the distributor, though, so might be useless to you.

I got bullied in school for having reasonably priced shoes instead of Nike Air Max. Kids are pathetic.

Yeah this is a Nike problem and not something that's been going on since the beginning of formalized group education.

I went through the same Nike crisis when I was in middle school. Had to have them because my friends had them. Instead I got to joke about my "genuine imitation Nikes" from Kmart.

It's painful for kids that want to fit in because because they don't have the wider and wiser perspective that most of us do as adults.

Pre-teen is the worst age for this. Just try to get your kid past this the best you can. Happens everywhere, eventually they will mature and learn.

Heck, this is always the plot in school movies.

I always had Chucks, not because I didn't wanna get teased mind you I just thought they were cool. Kids teased me for different things anyway.

But man, they never really lasted that long. One to one and a half years of daily use, and they doubled in price in the last ~15 years (which maybe isn't that much but I feel the quality went down a bit).

At all the schools my kids went to.... Nobody cares. The kids really don't give a shit what other kids are wearing. In some ways it's bizarre given that wasn't the case when I was a kid. But in many ways it's great. I rarely ever hear of bullying, kids just are themselves.

Of course thats woke, because they actually speak to the kids and tell them to consider others and will not tolerate intolerance. So I expect schools like these are few and far between.

The solution to bullying is to do as the bully says /s

I rock my Skechers, android phone, basic Casio watch, and drive my 2003 Suzuki.

I spend my money on stuff that works. Not stuff that's marketed.

I sense marketing bullshit, and it's such a strong turnoff for me.

Buy him a crowbar.

Ultimate tool against bullying

Buy him Hokas and have him tell his friends to eat shit.

It's the Apple way.

I love Skechers.

The specific request is kind of interesting - when I was a kid, everyone had to wear Nikes or get teased. However for my kids, Nikes were always out.

Fads always come in cycles

No matter if you end up getting him a pair or not. Be sure he understands that such things as bullying people for having the “wrong” shoes is shallow clique nonsense and he should be better than that.

man, when i was a kid i was bullied for reading at recess, or infodumping about inappropriate stuff, or being bad at running. kids these days are so materialist.

Instead of getting him 300$ shoes give him the choice of the cool shoes or the latest coolest video game or the shoes, or whatever hobby he enjoys…

Kids tease other kids because they themselves feel insecure.. that’s literally all it is… if you need Nike shoes to feel secure you’re probably not a cool person anyways

Man I went to a very affluent school and no one gave a shit about what sneakers we had. Unless you had Heeley's of course. ZOOM!

Get him heelys so he can stunt on the haters.