If your old Air Jordans feel like they're one step from the dumpster but buying a new pair seems too high of a financial jump, Farley Enterprises may be the answer to your dilemma.
The owners of the Orem-based business will pay a premium price for old shoes. In some cases, as much as $500 a pair.No, really.
What's old in America is apparently right in style just now with Japanese teenagers who are discovering that the way to individualize their wardrobes with style is to dress in American castoffs.
And Farley's is making the most of it. The company pays well for merchandise people were going to discard anyway.
They then turn around and sell it the high-tech way - over the Internet - as vintage merchandise for a nice profit.
Never mind the smell of sweat or the wear and tear. That's part of what puts the kid who can claim ownership one step ahead of the crowd. "They don't like us to clean them. We don't mend jeans and we don't fix shoes," said Robert Smith, chief financial officer for Farley Enterprises, 112 N. 1200 West.
"Of course, these (Japanese) teenagers could just walk into a store and buy a new pair of Nikes or Adidas or whatever," said Smith. "But what's the fun in that? Everybody can do that. They don't want them new. What they want is to be different, have something nobody else has."
Smith said that the teenagers who are willing to cough up the big bucks for Farley's merchandise are tired of wearing school uniforms and being regulated in most areas of their young lives. In Japan, schooling takes place six days of the week, and there is a demand for excellence that comes in part from strict adherence to a disciplined lifestyle, Smith said. There's very little room for the exercise of individual freedom. Dressing in hand-me-downs from the United States is a way to stand out, a way to say "I'm different from the crowd," he said.
Not all of the teens in Japan have thousands of dollars to spend on Farley's clothing, but those who do are making business brisk for the 30-employee company. The novelty items range from used athletic shoes to high school lettermen jackets to denim pants with holes in the knees.
Farley's will be at Salt Lake's Wyndham Hotel, 215 W. South Temple, today and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. looking for items to sell via the Internet auction. Shoe owners are invited to drop by Friday or Saturday between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m or call 1-800-873-3538 to see if their footwear fits the bill.
Items are usually bought outright by Farley Enterprises or consigned and then advertised on the Internet in minute detail.
Blind bids are accepted within a two-day to three-day auction window, with the highest bidder winning the opportunity to purchase the shoe or the jacket or whatever the clothing item is.
Shoe styles in high demand right now include the Adidas Tournament, Superstar, Instinct, Jabbar, Top Ten and Pro Model along with the Nike Terminator and Nike Dunks.
Men's sizes between 8 and 10 are the most popular. Adidas shoes with a "Made in France" label are the most valuable.
Farley's is also looking for vintage pre-1970 Levi's 501 jeans with a red tag that has the E capitalized in the logo. Rayon bowling shirts are big, as are Western shirts and shirts with a Hawaiian print.
"We've been in business for 10 years, but when we went onto the Internet, that's when this really took off," Smith said. "On the Internet, we're open for business while we're asleep in America and they're awake in Japan," Smith said.
Smith can produce a whole list of items that sell well - so well, in fact, that there's usually very little inventory underfoot, so to speak, at the Orem warehouse. The price garnered varies widely but can get up into the thousands for the more rare items.
"The price is completely market driven," Smith said. "We are dealing basically with what's selling right now. We're really tapped into the market."
John Farley noticed the interest in American-worn clothing when he served a mission for the LDS Church in Japan. He returned to America intent on setting up a way to get the kind of merchandise the Japanese seemed to want back to the country.
Farley Enterprises is based on that interest.
Starting with just the personal contacts Farley had in Japan, Farley Enterprises now deals with more than 900 Japanese buyers and expects to turn over $5 million in sales this year.
The company said growth is unlimited as long as there is an adequate supply to meet the demand.
"We're entirely dependent on the volume of availability of our products," Smith said. "The limiting factor for us is supply."
But supply is not expected to be a problem, at least in the foreseeable future.
Shoes come from all over the country to Farley Enterprises because they've made it clear through their "Wanted" magazine, distributed throughout the 50 states, and through media advertising that they'll pay top dollar for a used pair of select styles.
"We're fair," Smith said. "The pair I'm wearing, a classic pair of 1985 Nike Dunk shoes, we paid $300 for."
Company officials travel the country holding buying events and collecting shoes. The company also receives mail-ins from people hoping to turn a profit on their used goods.
Many people clean their closets, scour thrift shops, mail in their shoes and wait for a check from Farley Enterprises in return, Smith said.
Farley Enterprises has customers who want a used look, so a flight jacket that looks distressed is still worth money. Shoes are bought in almost any condition, but the better the condition, the higher the price fetched.
"Remember, these Japanese kids are actually going to wear the stuff," Smith said.
For a complete list of merchandise sought by Farley, check out the Web page. The address is (http://www.farley.com).