The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 350 — The consequences of beef 💥
Let's talk about Nike's future with Drake after this battle with Kendrick Lamar.
Goooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate your time.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommas out there! We love you. Thank you for all that you do for us. We wouldn’t be who we are without you. Hope you have a special weekend with the ones you love. I hope they buy you a good pair of kicks, too ❤️
Let’s jump in.
The Boy might be cooked
Y’all thought I wasn’t going to talk about this rap beef? Tuh. Come on. I’ve been playing “Not Like Us” on a loop for the last week just like the rest of you have.
Never thought I’d see the day the internet turned on Drake, but I think we’re here. It took the biggest peer he had eviscerating him on wax to get it done. Kendrick Lamar has people questioning everything they ever thought they knew about arguably the most famous rapper to ever live because of this beef.
The result: This is already impacting Drake in a number of ways. It’s not just with music—it’s also impacting things on the business side, including his dealings with Nike.
What happened: Drake’s new NOCTA Hot Step II was released in an all-white colorway on Thursday. Nobody wanted it.
The shoe dropped at 10 a.m. on Thursday via Nike’s SNKRS app. A few hours later, most sizes were still sitting.
That still held at 11 p.m. ET on Thursday night.
Let’s be honest: Setting the beef aside for a second, I’m not sure people would’ve gone hard for this shoe anyway.
Some of the sizes undoubtedly would’ve disappeared. And maybe they still will eventually. But it’s an all-white non-OG model that didn’t have a ton of hype around it. I don’t think these would’ve sold out completely either way, but I could be wrong.
Still, I think it’s fair to make the connection to this beef when you look at a few other factors here.
The Total Orange colorway of this shoe nearly sold out. People like this silhouette. Even if this colorway isn’t for everyone, it’s hard to believe no one would take a chance on these.
Plus, they’re roasting Drake in the comment section of every post about these on Instagram. All you see is Kendrick bars. It’s bad.
Maybe this shoe was never going to be a winner, but I think we’d be mistaken to say that this ongoing (???) beef between Hip-Hop’s two biggest stars has no impact here.
The big picture: Everyone wants to know whether this puts Drake’s business dealings with Nike — and everyone else, for that matter — in jeopardy.
I think it’s too soon for us to get to that point. Again, this is one sneaker that was alreadyn’t the most popular. We’re also right in the swing of things with this beef. If this is still happening, say, five or six months later? That’s concerning from a business perspective. But we’re just not there yet.
The challenge for Candace Parker at Adidas
Candace Parker has been the face of Adidas Basketball on the women’s side for a long time on the court. Now, she’ll get to run point off of it.
The news: The WNBA legend announced her new role as the President of Adidas women’s basketball on Wednesday.
Parker’s announcement comes just a few weeks after she announced her retirement from the WNBA.
The backdrop: This has been a long time coming for Parker, who wore Adidas throughout her basketball career at Tennessee and at every stop in the WNBA.
Parker is the first and only woman to launch a signature shoe with the brand. Her Ace Commander and Ace Versatility models are discontinued today, but she’s been the face of Adidas’ Exhibit performance basketball sneakers, which are built specifically for women.
Looking forward: She won’t be the brand’s last female signature athlete. Adidas’ WNBA rostetalentstacked with talent like Aliyah Boston, Kahleah Copper, Erica Wheeler, Chelsea Gray, Betnijah Laney, th,e Ogwumike sisters and more.
Yes, but: I don’t think a new signature athlete should be a priority for Parker. Not at this point, at least.
The brand should instead focus on building out a robust inventory of sneakers made for women by women. No other major brand has attacked the market this way.
When you search for women’s basketball shoes on Adidas’ website, most of the models that pop up are primarily built with men in mind.
The only shoes created specifically for the female foot are Adidas’ exhibit models, which are few and far between on the site.
Brands like Moolah Kicks have done incredible work serving the female consumer in the basketball space, but having a major brand like Adidas moving in and carving out space would be a huge deal industry-wide. Especially so when you consider the boom women’s basketball is seeing right now.
What she said: Parker acknowledged this need in a piece for Fast Company examining her new leadership role at the brand. She said most women have been wearing men’s sneakers but that it’s good to “have stuff made specifically for us.”
To have her acknowledge that is a good sign for Adidas basketball. But acknowledging it is just a start — we need action.
Parker just started the job a few days ago. Rome wasn’t built in a single night, of course. But hopefully, we will see her building out those products made specifically for women soon — and at a reasonable price point.
GO DEEPER: Read more on the women’s athletic shoe boom here from The Business of Fashion’s Daniel-Yaw Miller.
So about these Jordan 4 lows…
Let me admit from the start here that I’m not the biggest fan of alterations to OG Jordan models.
I can live with, say, AJ1 lows. But when we start talking about, say, Jordan 6 lows? It gets weird for me. So when I heard that Nigel Sylvester was getting a Jordan 4 low collaboration with Nike, I was a skeptic.
AJ4 lows have always been weird to me. The shoe is already nearly a low cut — especially for a Jordan model. We’re going even lower? Weird.
But then… I saw them. They are glorious.
That deep green and the Bike Air on the back—there’s something about these that just makes that low-cut work.
What do you think of these, folks? Are you rocking with them? Or are you passing?
I’ll share the results here on Monday!
A$AP Rocky gets spicy
A$AP Rocky calling Adidas the opps when he used to wear them all the time is hilarious. I love this energy.
Seeing him deny Jared Muros a fit check warmed my heart because of his kicks. Rocky looked down, saw three stripes and stopped him right there.
“This [expletive] talking about a fit check with the Adidas on right now. You a opp,” Rocky told him. This is just like Anthony Edwards calling everyone else’s first signature shoes trash.
And, you know what? That’s fair! Don’t show up to a Puma event with Adidas on. Shoutout to Adidas tho. Keep cooking.
#TheKicksWeWear
LET’S GET IIIIIIIT!!!!!
First, the homie Gray Beard came through with the LA AJ10s today. Love these joints man! Folks sleep on the 10s.
The homie Guru came through with these Air Max TNs. This is such a perfect silhouette. The shape is incredible.
The homie Rocky popped out with the Lost & Found AJ1s. ALWAYS good to see these joints.
My guy Vasilios came through with the Maui Wowies on deck. SHEEEEEEEESH.
Then the legend himself, Higher LXNG, sent us home with the TIFFANY FORCES. My guy says he’s CHILLING. That’s crazy, man.
Y’all SMOKED this. I love it. WHEW.
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading today. I appreciate y’all. Hope you have a fantastic week ahead of you.
Until next time! Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯