Nike Announce Change to SNKRS Pass Releases

After rolling out the Exclusive Access model last year to manage some of their most popular shoe releases, Nike have now announced changes to the SNKRS Pass, designed to give regular users a better chance at scoring the shoes of their choice.

The SNKRS Pass is an exclusive Nike Member Reward found in the SNKRS App which offers the opportunity to reserve selected Nike sneakers for pick-up in your size from a store near you.

The feature was designed to offer fairness to fans using the app and a chance to pick up popular shoes ahead of a scheduled release. Unfortunately, the first-come-first-served process has been exploited in the past by bot users.

In an effort to give genuine customers a better chance, passes will now be granted via a random draw from a pool of users determined by an internal SNKRS algorithm which takes into account a variety of factors including user activity, purchase history, the age of the account, and more.

Nike explain: “This evolution in SNKRS Pass integrates bot-filtration tools – the same technology used during in-app launches to help real Members secure pairs – and further protects the integrity, fairness, and authenticity of the experience.”

With the news that Nike will withdraw some of their product offering from third party retailers in favour of their own outlets, the sneaker acquisition game gets more cut-throat by the day.