Limited edition collectors can rejoice. The All-Star Game is usually the time of the year for the sneaker industry to hype and market their products like no other. In the past, Nike has often used this time to launch the much anticipated Air Jordan lineup. Every fan, and even teammates alike would wonder just what shoe Mike will be breaking out during the AS event. The colorway is usually unique for that one game alone. When Mike sets a trend, then the industry usually follows. This year, we've seen the buildup reach an all time high.

      Companies like Dada – with no endorsers in the Game, look for their publicity by sponsoring the referees with their new Sprees. The Dada shoe featured a "spinner" inspired by Latrell Sprewell's rims. Maybe the shoe is a tad over the top, but you got to at least give them a big thumbs up for being creative and unafraid to take risks. Two years prior, Chris Webber (then president of Dada) wore a pair of all chrome CDubbz that had everyone buzzing. All that blinding blitz and bling would have been banned during a regular season game. But for the All-Stars, anything is fair game. The limited edition CDubbz (1000 pairs) created the hype that Dada needed in order to have consumers notice their product. The CDubbz went on to produce an insane amount of colorway to become Dada's best seller.

      Other companies like Reebok and adidas has also seen its share of spotlight during the AS Games. The Reebok Pumps peaked in publicity during Dee Brown's Slam Dunk contest. Before each dunk attempt, Dee would pump up his shoes via an orange ball on the tongue. Of course, he did back up the publicity stunt with an assortment of incredible dunks to become the winner. There was enough air time for the shoe in that one contest to make up for a month's worth of commercials. Fans flopped to stores to pick up those Pumps and for once, Rbk had a product that even Nike would be envious of. Adidas had been rather quiet in past years about its All-Star releases. The Kobe sunshine certainly comes to mind with its bright yellow "notice me" colorway. This year, the a3 Superstar Ultra debuts on the feet of Garnett and Duncan. Tracy McGrady turned it up a notch by wearing mismatch blue and red patent leather T-MAC III's on each foot. Of course, for fans who want to replicate the same styling, they'd have to buy TWO pairs of the shoes. The idea is for folks to purchase more of the public release colorways, but perhaps it would have been a lot more hype to have offered an All-Star edition package that includes one red and one blue.

      In the 2004 All Star Game in LA, the "Empire Strikes Back". Nike's limited edition Shox VC III and Huarache 2K4 caused a pandemonium previously seen only for special Air Jordan releases. White/Royal/Red is the name of the game and Nike flaunts the colorway all over both pairs. Along with the shoe, the All-Star package involves a specially made box commencing the 2K4 Game and a chamois bag with the AS patched stitched on. To further the hype, these shoes were ‘limited' to Niketown LA and Niketown.com. The shoes sold out so fast most fans that lined up outside the store were unable to even pick up a pair. Online collectors waited in front of their computers from midnight to 5am for the shoes to be made available. When the shoes finally did sell on Niketown.com, there were enough hits and sessions to the site to cause it to malfunction. In a matter of hours, the limited supply run ran dry at both the store and website – leaving Ebay the only alternative choice to pick up a pair of these kicks.

      Initial aftermarket prices skyrocketed to $300 for the Huarache 2K4 and $400 for the Shox VC III. It seemed as if half of the supply of these shoes was circulated on the auction site. Once the excitement waned, prices are now at more reasonable levels - just a slight markup from retail prices. The question on every collector's mind is how well are these shoes perform in the long run? Assuming the supply is indeed scarce as Nike claim, there's no question these shoes will crawl back up in value over time. Most limited edition release has a trend of an initial spike in price, trailed by a sharp drop to readjust to the market conditions and then followed by a long period of incremental increase in value. It is still unclear how the Huarache 2K4 All-Star colorway will be affected by Nike ID. The ability to create your custom colors has always hurt the collecting value of shoes in the past (see Shox BB4). Nike was able to protect much of collectors' interest by not allowing the exact white/royal/red to be reproduced via Nike ID. What will also distinguish the two is the AS box and bag that comes with the unique package.