Cleaner Ordered To Pay 600x What He Earns For Damaging Customer's Nike Trainers AsiaWire

A shoe cleaner who charges the equivalent of just £4 to wash shoes has been forced to pay more than 600 times that amount in damages, after he accidentally damaged a pair of limited edition Nike trainers.

Mr Liu appeared at Xiaoshan People’s Court in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province in East China, yesterday, April 22, after Mr Wei accused him of ruining his limited edition sneakers.

Wei had bought the trainers for the equivalent of £4,175 in July 2019, despite their original price equating to just £215.

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The Off-White x Air Jordan 1 trainers, released in 2010, were designed by Louis Vuitton menwear designer Virgil Abloh, and featured the red, white and black colour scheme of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls where Michael Jordan played.

According to court documents, Wei sent his trainers to Liu’s shop to be cleaned for the cost of £4 on October 2, last year. However, when he collected them three days later, he says the shoes were so badly damaged they were ‘beyond recognition’.

The court heard how Liu had allegedly also taken it upon himself to replace part of one shoe because it was too damaged.

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Wei, who demanded the full cost of the shoes as compensation, filed a civil suit against the tradesman on February 24, after the pair failed to reach an agreement despite months of discussions.

Cleaner Ordered To Pay 600x What He Earns For Damaging Customer's Nike Trainers AsiaWire

Liu is reported to have said:

I’m willing to pay damages, but the shoes retailed at £215. Why should I pay £4,175?

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The tradesman was allegedly willing to give his disgruntled customer the £215 for the value of the shoes, plus an additional £114 for the inconvenience.

Deciding on a verdict, the court said it had considered not just the retail cost of the shoe but also the market price, which of course had been inflated by the fact the trainers are limited edition and are hard to get hold of.

Factoring in the general wear and tear of the sneakers, the court decided Wei’s losses amounted to 60% of the value of the purchase price, amounting to £2,500, which Liu could pay in installments.

Cleaner Ordered To Pay 600x What He Earns For Damaging Customer's Nike Trainers AsiaWire

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The landmark case raised eyebrows on China’s social media site, Weibo, where users were left baffled that someone had paid thousands for a pair of trainers. Others commented on the fact that Wei had spent so much on the shoes, and yet took them to be cleaned at somewhere charging such a small amount.

‘Judging by these pictures, nobody would want them even if you left them by the side of the road,’ one user commented, while another added, ‘the inflation of shoe prices is ridiculous. There needs to be some form of regulation here.’