The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 293 — When new solutions lead to old problems 🤦
Told y'all Nike's inventory issues were still a problem.
Goooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you.
How about my Wizards, huh? They’re really tearing this thing down to the studs. Good luck to all of my followers on Twitter for the next few years. My basketball tweets will be insufferable.
Let’s dive in.
Some dark days could be ahead for Nike
Told y’all Nike circling the block on some of its old retail partners was a sign of things to come. Turns out market analysts are seeing it the same way ahead of the brand’s Q4 earnings call next week.
What’s happening: Concerns are reportedly growing about a potential inventory glut across the footwear industry including for Nike, Yahoo’s Josh Shafer reports. It’s the same problem Nike had at the tail end of last year.
The demand for footwear has slowly stabilized from the fever pitch it was once at over the last 3 years when no one could go outside to buy shoes anymore.
Because that demand has slowed significantly, Nike and other brands are seeing inventory sit on shelves both virtually and in physical locations.
And because of Nike’s consumer direct approach, the brand doesn’t have many physical retailers to dish off product to wholesale.
As a result, we’re seeing a lot of promotions and sales that wind up helping product move but also lower the company’s bottom line. And, while that’s great for us, investors aren’t necessarily into selling things at discounted rates.
Market analysts are expecting a not-so-rosy earnings call and, as a result, the brand’s stock has dipped by 3%.
This is a big deal: Now, we don’t actually know what Nike will tell us on this call that hasn’t happened yet. But, if expectations hold true, these are the sorts of headwinds that shift company strategies moving forward.
We’re already starting to see that slow shift back from direct-to-consumer to selling wholesale to other retailers again.
We may also start to see the brand throw different things at the wall. Maybe the Jordan 1 and the Dunk don’t work as well anymore. Maybe the retro fad is played out. Maybe Nike finally finds the next thing to move on to. They’re going to have to.
The dark side: We could also see layoffs, unfortunately, if numbers don’t whip back into shape. The company is going to try and make up costs somewhere and, unfortunately, that often comes at the expense of employees who have nothing to do with the company’s broader decision-making.
But remember, following a similar period in 2015 where Nike’s product became stale, the company decided to trim its workforce by 2%, which amounted to about 1,400 jobs, per the Oregonian.
I’m not saying this is going to happen. I certainly don’t want it to happen. But this is certainly could be in play should the earnings call be less than spectacular.
In the end: This is a sign that, while Nike is still the giant it has always been, it’s not the same fortress it once used to be. What once appeared to be infallible now appears to be playing catchup.
As the leading company in this whole thing, this isn’t the greatest sign for the sneaker industry at large.
.Swoosh takes its next step with Fortnite
Nike promised that there’d be some integration with the gaming world when it came to .Swoosh and we’re finally starting to see it.
The news: Nike launched a virtual world in collaboration with Epic Games’ Fortnite called Airphoria.
Airphoria is an Air Max-themed world within the game. It features custom Nike characters (with completely ridiculous names) and virtual Air Max sneakers.
The world is live in the game until June 27. Players are essentially working to unlock these collectible, virtual sneakers within it.
There’s also physical stuff that comes with this…kind of. Nike dropped a coinciding Fortnite apparel collection to go with the creation of this new world within the game.
Let’s break it down: Though this is a partnership between Nike’s Web3 arm in .Swoosh and Fortnite, there don’t seem to be any NFTs directly involved, which caught me off guard. It’s not all I expected it to be.
Users do unlock achievements within the Fortnite universe and get a .Swoosh achievement for participating. Maybe that unlocks something down the line?
There’s also no direct transfer of, say, the Our Force 1 virtual sneakers into this virtual world. Which, I guess, makes sense since this is all about Air Max.
I’d love to see more NFT integration there from .Swoosh directly into the game since that was the big sell of it all in the first place. Instead, it feels like elements of Web3 are just…present. Not necessarily active.
The big picture: This feels like a first step in what Nike and Epic games have categorized as a “multi-year partnership.” There’s certainly more coming from these two and we’ll probably see more integration down the line than we have now.
Maybe that’s where the big payoff will come for .Swoosh users. Because it’s not feeling like this is it — at least not yet.
Action Bronson got it feeling like 2021 again
For the most part, as someone who has manual sneaker buyer who doesn’t use bots, I have to say it’s been fairly easy to cop the sneakers I’ve wanted for the last year or so.
Don’t get me wrong: It hasn’t been perfect.
We’ll always have releases like the Lost & Found Jordan 1s that completely crap the bed.
And, from what I hear, that Yeezy launch went pretty terribly for a lot of people.
But…The latest Action Bronson x New Balance 990v6 drop has to take the cake. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a sneaker release bomb as hard as the Lapis Lazuli 990v6 drop did.
What happened: The sneakers basically loaded onto the link out of stock — particularly in most of the bigger sizes. The shoes were gone within seconds.
The site got botted. Hard. Folks in the Shopify queue with “less than a minute” to checkout couldn’t even cop unless they were extremely early with it.
The big picture: This isn’t a regular thing for New Balance, but I do wonder how this happening for the second time in a row for the most hyped NB sneaker of the year will impact the brand’s goodwill with consumers moving forward.
Generally, their drops have been easy to cop — even collabs. The Joe FreshGoods 610, for example, has gone on sale multiple times. That’s good for us.
But, as we’ve seen with Nike drops, for some consumers only the big ones matter. And the Bronson’s have been a big miss twice so far this year.
We’ll see how things shape up moving forward — especially when sneaker of the year conversations start to happen. That public perception matters. Right now, for these sneakers, it’s not great.
Congressional kicks
I don’t know if you knew this, but there’s an actual Congressional Sneaker Caucus. It was created by Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) back in May. And, now, the caucus is fighting to create a space for sneakers on the House floor.
Wait, what? Yes, really.
As it stands, elected members of the House of Representatives are prohibited from wearing sneakers on the House floor where members and media meet.
The reason is tradition, of course. You’ve got to present well as a congressional representative.
Moskowitz wrote a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy attempting to lift a ban for sneakers for reporters first, Politico reports. Then he’ll fight for members next.
His reasoning behind all of this is pretty comical.
“No one is dressing like Thomas Jefferson anymore. … It doesn’t mean we don’t understand the seriousness of the place. But you can wear whatever suit you want or tie you want. It should be no different for the sneakers you want.”
No idea why Thomas Jefferson had to catch that stray. But he was a slave owner, so, whatever. He probably deserves that. Those big powdered wigs looked ridiculous.
Anyway, this is cool. Hope it works out for Moskowitz. I’d be devastated if work didn’t let me wear sneakers while on the job, so I can only imagine how he feels.
But, listen. If y’all figure this problem out before y’all figure these student loans out? We’re gonna have some issues, champ.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBES LETS GOOOOOOOOO
First, the homie Floyd got us started with these GORGEOUS Gone Fishing Dunks. Man. This is one of the best drops of 2023.
The homie Sneaker Dan came through with the Travis Scott AJ6s. Y’all. I can’t get over that lil pocket.
My dog Shawn P came through with these incredible Forces. I wish I could pull these off, man.
Y’all already know how the homie Storm give it up. SO. MUCH. HEAT.
The homie Ryan came through with one of his pups and a pair of Forums. We love to see it.
Then my guy Adrian sent us home with the Treelines absolutely ROCKING these joints. SHEESH.
SMOKED IT. Y’all too cool for me, man.
Thank you so much for rocking with me today, family! I appreciate you. Hope you have a fantastic weekend ahead of you.
Let’s chat again on Monday. Until then, peace and love. Be easy. Be safe. Be kind. And we out.
-Sykes💯