***OFFICIAL FILA THREAD***

[vood99]

they did

Anyone know what's going on with Fila? They revamped their Fila Canada website and completely removed the 'Heritage' (retro) section. KiddFuture has been deathly silent too - I'm guessing they pulled the plug on their retro line for Canada.

 

[phil32]

Anyone know what's going on with Fila? They revamped their Fila Canada website and completely removed the 'Heritage' (retro) section. KiddFuture has been deathly silent too - I'm guessing they pulled the plug on their retro line for Canada.

Sounds like what happened here in Australia - and we had a VERY limited range of the Heritage shoes to begin with. Just horrible, generic rubbish available now.

 

[skep]

With them delaying the 97, I hope they aren't pulling the plug on the heritage life!

 

[vood99]

Sounds like what happened here in Australia - and we had a VERY limited range of the Heritage shoes to begin with. Just horrible, generic rubbish available now.

Same for Canada - pure generic garbage that you can swap the Skechers, Payless, Walmart, etc... logos with.

Blame the sheep for dropping $200 on plastic Nikes and cardboard 'leather' Jordans and not even giving a look at some well made retro product with full grain leather. You simply cannot make a business case to keep manufacturing the latter when they are being blown out by retailers for $20.

 

[skep]

as you had mentioned, it is the retailers fault. everyone is so inclined to wait for stuff to go on sale/clearance before they are willing to invest. companies will not stay afloat with a customer base with this mindset. and they will not continue to drop quality items if their customers primarily plan to purchase when the price drops. companies like fila i have no problem paying full price for on RD, shoes from Nike i'd love to get a discount on or find ways to save money in any way.

 

[noblekane]

Not all of their releases are full grain leather and great quality

Nobody is to blame for the lack of success of fila

They must be making some money cuz they been retroing shoes for almost a couple of decades now

 

[vood99]

Not all of their releases are full grain leather and great quality

Nobody is to blame for the lack of success of fila

They must be making some money cuz they been retroing shoes for almost a couple of decades now

They've changed ownership in the last decade - the present owner is based out of South Korea. You're absolutely right about their releases being a mixed bag of quality. But for the most part they are running materials that Nike/JB deem to be 'Premium & LS' for about $100 while the latter wants $200-$250.

NK, you're probably the same age as me - maybe even older so you've been in the sneaker/hip hop culture for a time. In the last 5 years do you find that the general public is less likely to deviate from Nike/JB? Do you think the current generation of 'Hip Pop' rappers and e-Celebrities are to blame?

@skep, you're right about both the retailer's and customer's mindset. I'm like you - I don't mind paying full MSRP for Reebok & Fila product but the reality is that you can get their product for some discount. The problem right now is that cats have the 'clearance' mentality for all of their general releases. Perhaps Fila should go online only with their 'Heritage' line up and drop ship from their warehouse(s)?

 

[skep]

Depends on the model of course, but I copped the stack 2, Olympic 96, and hamptons 96 all immediately upon release, and haven't seen them on sale. Last night I saw the red suede 96 on sale in my kids upcoming size, but no free shipping on all heritage anymore. 29.99 would have been an easy cop for him

 

[theshoewizard]

the oly 96 def went on sale. a few spots had them marked down to $60 at one pt

 

[skep]

I didn't see it. Either way I was grateful to secure my pair that I honestly wanted

 

[trentbg]

I have some theories and fears that FILA might be going the same path that Reebok are going now, barely staying on surface. Which makes me so sad, because they are the only two companies I truly care about that are still trying to give us good quality for reasonable price. If only the young cats were less influenced by some lousy clowns all over the social media.  

 

[skep]

Give Ronnie a pair of Filas and call it a day

 

[c flyness]

FILA heritage line can't go they still have much more to do, much more to give us. My advice to FILA is just keep your releases online only and just make the shoes only in OG colorways and once in the blue surprise us with a collab. I have also bought some sneakers in their original price cause I feel that is worth that price.

 

[illmatic]

If the Heritage line folds or has already folded I'm not complaining. The quality and craftsmanship was shoddy at best. I bought the OG colorway 96 and UNC Spaghettis last year and needless to say they weren't great. Not to mention, I got mismatching length laces on one pair and then laces that were entirely too long on the other pair. How do you screw up something that basic? Their customer service sucks too. 

 

[trentbg]

Oh like the quality or craftsmanship is better with Nike/JB, I will take FILA quality every day in front of any of those "premium" brands. 

 

[redrum3281]

 
If the Heritage line folds or has already folded I'm not complaining. The quality and craftsmanship was shoddy at best. I bought the OG colorway 96 and UNC Spaghettis last year and needless to say they weren't great. Not to mention, I got mismatching length laces on one pair and then laces that were entirely too long on the other pair. How do you screw up something that basic? Their customer service sucks too.

i don't know what to say on this but when the 96 was gonna release online at Fila.com i called their customer service and spoke with them about the release and got great information and customer service and then i brought my 96s with no issues from off line, last black friday i picked up the tobacco road 96s and again no issues with the shoes at all, i know that everybody doesn't always have great experiences but some of yall just get some serious short ends all the time, the only shoe i've ever had a problem with was the lebron x pillars collaspsing no other shoe has ever giving me a problem so like 1 out of 150 i'd say great odds and a mixed bag of JB, nike, reebok, adidas and fila

 

[noblekane]

The reason nike has a strong grip on the world is because their catalog is too strong. They own the market

I dont think reebok and fila will stop making retros

Like i said before they have been retroing stuff for a while now and have yet to fold.

And they have always dropped dirt cheap in price

My first fila grant hill 2 retros i bought were back in 2000 i believe at 29.99 each

I believe nike stranglehold on the market has alot more to do with their huge catalog of classics and nostalgia than what celebrity wears what.

But reebok n fila aint going nowhere

 

[illmatic]

Oh like the quality or craftsmanship is better with Nike/JB, I will take FILA quality every day in front of any of those "premium" brands. 

And why exactly are you bringing Nike into this discussion again?? We're talking about Fila right now. But if you really consider Nike a "premium" shoe brand then you need to expand your horizons

i don't know what to say on this but when the 96 was gonna release online at Fila.com i called their customer service and spoke with them about the release and got great information and customer service and then i brought my 96s with no issues from off line, last black friday i picked up the tobacco road 96s and again no issues with the shoes at all, i know that everybody doesn't always have great experiences but some of yall just get some serious short ends all the time, the only shoe i've ever had a problem with was the lebron x pillars collaspsing no other shoe has ever giving me a problem so like 1 out of 150 i'd say great odds and a mixed bag of JB, nike, reebok, adidas and fila

I believe everything you said. I'm sure when it comes to placing an order and giving them your money they are more than happy to assist. But after they've already taken your money and you ask them to correct an error on their part, not so willing to help

 

[trentbg]

Lol, go play on the street JR.

 

[phil32]

Oh like the quality or craftsmanship is better with Nike/JB, I will take FILA quality every day in front of any of those "premium" brands. 

And Nike certainly don't have some kind of chokehold on customer service either. I bought some iD Kobe 8s (late in the shoe's life - like end of 2013), they came with an error so I contacted Nike. They were all, "no worries, just take some photos & send them, we'll be happy to replace them". Which I did. Then I got an email saying that I needed to send more photos, which I did. Then I got an email saying, "sorry, we no longer offer the Kobe 8 as an iD product. But you can have $25 off your next Nike.com purchase".

In news that should shock nobody, I have not used that "offer".

Give me Reebok & Fila all day. Yes, the constant markdowns worry me, but the quality is generally tops, the accuracy of the retros is quite good (better than some other brands I will not mention again), and I must say that the apparent lack of popularity has led to a nice tight community of fans who seem to like shoes for quality & nostalgia reasons, which matches pretty well with my own tastes.

Plus this is the only forum where there seem to be other guys aged 30+!

 

[skep]

Cuz all us 30 year olds wore fila when they were what was hot. Any younger and you missed that era lol

And correct.. fila will gladly take your money and smile but I had a quality issue more than once and it did not go smoothly

 

[illmatic]

Lol, go play on the street JR.

Really? That was your best comeback. Corny as hell bruh

 

[redrum3281]

yall take that back and forth bickering into one of the JB threads lets keep this one positive it's the only one we got

 

[iamkiddfuture]

 
the oly 96 def went on sale. a few spots had them marked down to $60 at one pt

Never happened. If they did they did it to liquidate a small size that was sitting. They sold out we restocked they sold out.

 

[iamkiddfuture]

Cuz all us 30 year olds wore fila when they were what was hot. Any younger and you missed that era lol

And correct.. fila will gladly take your money and smile but I had a quality issue more than once and it did not go smoothly

Skep I personally took care of you.