A Warning Before Anything Else
Sneakers are not an investment. They are not a financial product, they are not regulated as one, and nobody, including us, can tell you what a pair will be worth later.
This article is about why limited-run footwear is made the way it is and how to judge it. It is not financial advice, and you should not buy footwear expecting a return. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
With that said, the question underneath the hype is a real one: why do small production runs exist, and what actually makes a pair worth keeping for years?
How Sneakers Became Collectible
The sneakerhead subculture emerged in 1980s New York, turning specific silhouettes into status objects. A resale market followed, then bots, then authentication services, then a whole secondary economy.
That market is genuinely volatile. Platform fees, payment processing, and shipping erode margins, and counterfeits are pervasive enough that professional authentication became a necessary industry. Academic work on the sneaker resale market documents how thin and unpredictable returns tend to be for casual participants.
None of that is a reason to avoid buying well-made shoes. It is a reason not to confuse buying shoes with investing.
Why Small Runs Exist
For a large brand, a limited release is usually a demand-generation tactic. For a small maker, it is closer to a constraint.
We produce in runs of 40 pairs, 8 in each size from UK 6 to UK 10. That number is not chosen for drama. It reflects what a small team can hand-assemble to a consistent standard, and how much leather a single hide order yields.
The practical effect is that we hold less unsold stock and can control finishing more closely. The trade-off is that sizes sell out and we cannot always restock quickly. Both of those are true, and we would rather say so than present scarcity as pure mystique.
What Actually Makes a Pair Last
Durability is not a matter of grade names. It comes down to things you can check:
- Upper thickness. Ask in millimetres. Our uppers are 1.1 to 1.3 mm cowhide, which holds shape without becoming rigid.
- Sole construction. We use an EVA and TPR two-component outsole. EVA cushions, TPR resists abrasion.
- Insole. A 5 mm memory foam insole in our case. Thin die-cut foam compresses flat within months.
- Assembly. Hand-assembled in India. Hand assembly allows correction during construction; it is not automatically stronger than good machine work, and we would not claim it is.
- Repairability. Most modern sneakers, ours included, use cemented construction rather than a welt. That means resoling is limited. It is worth knowing before you buy anything described as an heirloom.
What Our Shoes Are Made Of
The Croco Edition uses croco-embossed cowhide at 1.1 to 1.3 mm, with soft-finish cowhide panels and suede accents. The croco pattern is an emboss applied to cowhide. It is not exotic crocodile skin, and no protected species are used in any VVID product.
KOHL and DEODAR use suede uppers.
Embossed leather is a worked, finished surface by definition. A croco pattern will not sit evenly on an untouched full-grain hide, so embossed designs use a smooth substrate. That is a requirement of the design, not a shortcut.
Buy It Because You Want to Wear It
The honest case for a small-run, hand-assembled sneaker is that you like how it looks, it is made from materials you can verify, and you intend to wear it for years.
That is a reasonable thing to spend money on. It is not a portfolio, it is not an asset, and treating footwear as either is how people end up disappointed. Buy the pair you want to wear, ask what it is made from, and expect a shoe rather than a return.