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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Buy him a crowbar.

Ultimate tool against bullying

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).

Kids are very materialistic.

When I was in middle school, I was probably the worst for me with the bullying. I came from a family that didn't have a whole lot of money. Like even the cheap stuff we had to cut corners with. And well I was fully aware, that there was no real difference between what I had and what they had, it didn't stop the consistent bullying. And the teachers never cared. The other students didn't care in fact some of them would chime in too. And when that's your life for several hours a day 5 days a week... You eventually just get to a breaking point.

I'll never forget the day I basically had a complete emotional breakdown because we were doing back to school shopping at Target, and I saw one of those trapper keepers. With a weird designs on the outside. They were all the rage. And it was like eight bucks I think. My mom did end up buying it for me, but only because her soon-to-be 5th grader, collapsed in the isle crying. I don't remember what I told her, but all I could think about was having that was going to make life just a little bit easier for me.

Kids can be real assholes to other kids.

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.

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

It's the Apple way.

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

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

Teach your kid to kick some teeth out with his Skechers. I have a feeling that your kid is going to get bullied no matter what he wears.

I love Skechers.

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.

Well understood. His Mom was poor and bullied in school. So much so that she brings it up from time to time. She quickly bought him the shoes. I'm going to work on getting him Vans or Hookas in the future.

My school everyone wore the same uniform. The only choice we could make was shoes or sandals 99.9% chose shoes. Sandal wearers got so much shit for it. It was a death sentence.

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.