Have you ever owned a pair of Fila sneakers?
If so, when? What model? Would you consider a new pair?
Of all the brands out there, it seems Fila has somehow disappeared into the depths of discount retailers. Yet, maybe it’s just me, it seems like the brand still carries a “premium” aura to it for many people. The most recent pair I own is a pair from 2019. It’s pretty good quality but it was made for the Japanese market.
When Fila was prominent in the ‘90s, it was globally viewed as a top tier brand, or at least that’s what it seemed like. When I was working on the Eastbay Blog back in 2010, I traveled to Eastbay’s headquarters in Wisconsin regularly to find pages from old catalogs like the one you see here.
The thing that I was most surprised by was the prices. They were almost always less than I remembered them to be, and beyond that, almost everything was put on discount at some point.
A pair of Grant Hill 2s for $89.99 doesn’t seem like a bad price, especially considering they retail for $145 on the Fila website right now. Even as a huge fan of the shoe, I can’t imagine paying that with all the other great shoes on the market. I wonder who they think is willing to pay that much.