The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 237 — 😴 Just Zzzz it
Rest is essential. It's good to see Nike treating it that way.
Goooood morning, family! Happy Monday! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you.
Did you have a good weekend? Hopefully, you did. Me? We got some new floors in the crib. It’s been super chaotic. Got a good laugh on that below so keep reading.
Let’s jump in.
Nike’s global offices are taking a break
In our society of constant everything, it’s nice to see Nike taking a bit of a rest.
What’s happening: The Swoosh is closing its global offices this week, writes Footwear News’ Peter Verry, for what they’re calling “well-being week.”
Nike did this for the first time last August ahead of their return to the office in the fall despite it eventually being pushed back by the omicron COVID-19 surge that swept the globe.
How it works: It’s pretty simple. Employees working at Nike’s global offices around the world are getting a week off.
On top of that, employees at the distribution centers and retail stops are getting 7 extra days of paid time off.
A quick thought on that: It’d be nice to see them close stores for a full week as well and completely forgo that profit in exchange for employee health. But I also don’t think anyone is going to complain about 7 extra PTO days.
Here’s the deal: Rest is very important. We don’t get enough of it — 1 in 3 adults are sleep deprived, per the CDC. It’s something we take for granted.
It’s not because we want to, but rather our society demands it. We live in a “rise and grind” world where we’re taught to power through fatigue in the name of profit and productivity.
President Biden just worked through COVID. We’ve all been working through a pandemic for 2 years and counting now.
There’s no space for rest. Believe it or not, some folks don’t have the PTO. And, even if you do, take too much and you feel pressure to come back because of fear of being replaced.
And it also doesn’t help when we’re constantly bombarded with pro-corporate propaganda on our social feeds every single week.
All that leads to this corporate culture that we live in and it sucks people dry.
But it’s changing in some spaces. In the United Kingdom, for example, employers are experimenting with 4 day work weeks. Experiments like this are proving people are willing to work more in the allotted time they have if they get more rest.
The bottom line: This move is just Nike slowly getting with the times here. Hopefully, they keep it going. Maybe other companies will follow.
I, for one, am looking forward to having Fridays off someday.
The supply chain strain is finding relief
The global supply chain has been moving at a snail’s pace for the last 2 years, but those days may be over soon.
The news: Pressure on the supply chain just decreased for the third month in a row in July, per the Global Supply Chain Pressure Index.
How it works: The GSCPI measures the pressure on the supply chain through 3 components: Delivery time, backlogs and purchased stocks. They combine ratings for those 3 factors into one to create the pressure rating.
The numbers:
July’s pressure rating of 1.84 is the lowest mark the GSCPI has had since January of 2021 (1.42).
While it is low, the pressure rating is still sitting at a historic level. The pressure rating very rarely eclipsed 1.00 before 2020. Now it lives there.
This downward trend doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet. We’ve seen this sort of swing before only for the rating to spike again. But it is a positive sign. We’re seeing some of that in sneakers, too.
The effects: Prepare to see more sneakers in stock and fewer full sellouts — even for hot drops like the Patta’s from this weekend, for example.
That’s a good thing for us. Make sure you check up on your local outlets over these next few months — some discounts are coming.
The problem with sneaker leaks
So we’ve been getting early looks at what is reportedly the A Ma Maniére Jordan 4 that is supposedly dropping in November. And they’re so confusing.
What happened: We’re getting pictures of leaks from across the internet that run contrary. From one account, you’ll get one leak with what is supposed to be the shoe’s official look.
Then, on the other side, we’ll get something like this, which is closer to the mock-up images we’ve seen leaked over the last year.
Between the lines: The picture above is reportedly the actual look. And that’s fine. It looks great. But this cycle puts sneaker media’s problems out front and center.
Everything. Leaks. Literally everything. And it’s hard to know who or what to trust.
There are reputable sources out there, but they’re a far cry from official journalistic mediums.
In the meantime, every blog regurgitates everything. It’s chaos.
There’s more: We also lose the excitement of the reveal of the shoe. And one like this almost certainly comes with a theme or story that we aren’t yet clued in on. We lose lots of context here.
I say all this to say every leak is not a good leak. We don’t have to “drip, skip or flip” everything we see into oblivion. Please. Let’s just chill on these til November.
There are too many sneakers in my house
HALP. I hate clutter. But I love sneakers. I might need an intervention.
“Love shoes.” Well said, Jasmine. Well said.
What’s droppin, bruh?
Salehe Bembury x Crocs Pollex “Cobbler” — Thursday, August 18
Air Max 97 “Muslin” — Friday, August 19
Nike x AMBUSH Air Adjust Force — Friday, August 19
thisneverthat x New Balance 1906 — Friday, August 19
Air Jordan 13 “French Blue” — Saturday, August 20
Thank you so much for rocking with me! Appreciate y’all. I’m putting the Wednesday forum on pause until I can figure out something better to do with it. So we’ll chat Friday.
Til then, fam. Peace and love. Be easy. Be safe. Be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯