The Kicks You Wear

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The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 137 — Don't fall for the okie-doke

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The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 137 — Don't fall for the okie-doke

Nice pivot, Nike

Mike D. Sykes, II
Mar 12, 2021
3
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The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 137 — Don't fall for the okie-doke

kyw.substack.com

Good morning, folks! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rocking with your boy on this glorious Friday morning.

🚨 Tune in to Special Delivery later today at noon ET! It’s a good one.

Alright, let’s go.


This one ain’t on the bots, Phil

(Photo by Kristian Egelund on Unsplash)

Nike CEO Phil Donahoe has finally spoken up about the Ann Hebert situation, though, it wasn’t publicly.

Donahoe addressed Hebert’s resignation in an internal all-hands Nike meeting, per Complex’s Brendan Dunne. In the meeting, he reportedly spoke about the eroding trust from their consumers, particularly “around the launch of a product. And he’s right. That’s definitely a thing.

But here’s where he’s wrong: He thinks it’s only because of the bots.

  • Donoahoe called out botting as the root of the problem and said that the company would be doing an “audit” of their drop processes online to regain people’s trust.

  • He also said Nike has been working on anti-bot tech for the “last several years” and would need to “double down” on their efforts to nip things in the bud.

That’s all well and good. But it doesn’t even begin to address the real issue at hand with the situation, which was that it seemed that Ann Hebert — a prominent Nike executive — had a hand in building up her son’s reseller business.

Sure, bots are part of that problem. But that only just skims the surface of these turbulent waters.

The fact that an executive of Ann Hebert’s stature was bankrolling this operation presents a massive issue that bots aren’t part of. Furthermore, it is wholly concerning that the company still doesn’t seem to think she did anything wrong.

Heidi O’Neill, Nike’s president of consumer and marketplace, spoke during the meeting and said the company’s legal department did a compliance review of Ann's connection to Joe’s business and found she still hadn’t violated company policies. It seems Hebert stepped down was just because of “poor judgement.”

“To be clear, we believe that Ann demonstrated poor judgment. However, we made the decision to not take corrective action against Ann…That decision was based on the information that we had at the time of the review. Following media reports, we had a more complete understanding than what we did when the review was conducted a few months ago and, together with Ann, we decided that it was best for her to resign.”

That’s an issue. To any objective observer there is a fairly clear conflict of interest here. Ann Hebert’s job literally fueled her son’s business. And yet, somehow after a thorough review, there wasn’t a problem. That’s just wild.

So, yeah, bots are bad. But that’s a deflection. The bots don’t stop the Hebert situation. The bots don’t solve whatever the heck happened with Marcus Jordan’s Trophy Room drop.

And, most importantly, they aren't at the root of Nike's strategy revolving around scarcity. Sure, they feast off of it. But they're like vultures feasting on a decaying carcass. They're just benefactors of work that is already done.

The bigger issue seems to be company policy and company strategy. That’s stuff that has to be dealt with internally. Those are standards that need to be strengthened and retooled.

Hopefully, Nike takes care of that along with whatever they do to stop the bots.


COLLAB SOUP

(Photo by Calle Macarone on Unsplash)

One of the things that I was concerned about coming into 2021 was the oversaturation of the collaboration.

Today, I feel like that concern is validated. We have a new Travis Scott Jordan 1 coming with Nike…but it’s also a Fragment shoe? Yeah, y’all just take a peek.

ovrnundr.io
A post shared by Ovrnundr (@ovrnundr.io)

That’s…really a thing. And I’m just struggling to come up with a reason that it even exists.

  • Maybe it’s a 1 of 1 and won’t drop! Or maybe it’s something like the Playstation Dunk that they only made a handful of pairs for. That’d be fine.

  • Or maybe Travis Scott just loves Fragment as a brand. And maybe he hit Hiroshi Fujiwara and they decided they wanted to work together on something?

  • Maybe Travis Scott’s favorite color is secretly blue and he had to go through Fragment to get it for the AJ1. I don’t know.

What I do know, though, is that this feels like the collab project I feared. This is collab soup. There are 3 different brands on one shoe and that just feels like way too much.

This isn’t what collabs are for. There’s no soul to this thing. There’s no solid story to tell us or no tale that they can spin that’ll make this one make sense. It just feels like a money grab all around and that’s disappointing to see.


CONFIRMED’s next challenge?

It looks like another pretty big test for CONFIRMED is already lining up. Bad Bunny has a new Forum joint coming to the app.

Twitter avatar for @snkr_twitr
SNKR_TWITR @snkr_twitr
3/17 Bad Bunny x adidas Forum Lo via CONFIRMED App bit.ly/3qBJS8h #AD
Image
2:13 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021
136Likes17Retweets

This continues that vintage basketball trend we talked about a few weeks ago with a little bit of an international popstar twist to it.

These are certainly clean, but I wonder what the hype will be like surrounding them.

  • No, it’s not the same as Yeezy. But Bad Bunny is a pretty big name globally. These might fly just like those Crocs did.

This drop is going to show us where Adidas is right now. They’re still working their way back to the hype they found in 2015 where whatever they dropped flew off the shelves.

It’s been a long time coming, but they’re getting there. This Bad Bunny joint might show us how close they are.


A hoodie with no pockets is a hoodie that isn’t for me

Listen, man. It’s all in the headline. Don’t make no hoodie without pockets or drawstrings. Because that isn’t really a hoodie.

Somebody should’ve told Ye that before he made these.

Twitter avatar for @Ovrnundr
Ovrnundr @Ovrnundr
Yeezy x GAP “The Perfect Hoodie”
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Image
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6:23 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021
1,089Likes105Retweets

You truly hate to see it. Yeezy x GAP gotta come better than this, man.


#TheKicksWeWear

Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBES. Let’s get into it.

The homie Wack started us off with the Cool Grey 3’s so you KNOW we going crazy today.

Twitter avatar for @wackhumanbeing
wackhumanbeing, but the hornets are good now @wackhumanbeing
@MikeDSykes stepped out in the newly arrived c̶o̶o̶l̶ ̶g̶u̶y̶ cool grey 3s for my social event of the year (first COVID vaccine dose)
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11:41 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

Herb man followed up in the Viotech AM 90’s and these joints are CRUCIAL.

Twitter avatar for @Thabearjew_420
SuperHerbMan @Thabearjew_420
@MikeDSykes Viotec Un ds today before we get Two feet of snow here in Denver
Image
11:00 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

The homie Cord popped out in these LOVELY waffle joints.

Twitter avatar for @CordCastle
The Moedalorian @CordCastle
@MikeDSykes I finally get to participate again
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11:52 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

The homie Sarah followed up with the Killshots and these are CLEAN.

Twitter avatar for @thesarahkelly
sarah kelly @thesarahkelly
@MikeDSykes I HAVE A SUBMISSION THIS WEEK
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12:16 AM ∙ Mar 12, 2021

My man Rube brought out the Laser 4’s and his student showed off the most adorable Crocs ever.

Twitter avatar for @rubentomas
rubentomas @rubentomas
@MikeDSykes My student wanted to show off her new kicks
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11:46 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

The homie Brenden popped out in the Salehe Bembury Anta joints and they are slick.

Twitter avatar for @brendenbosse
Brenden Bosse @brendenbosse
@MikeDSykes Wore my Anta Salehe shoes to pick up this local pair for a steal!!!
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11:49 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

The homie Hardly Clerkin brought out the Taupe Haze 4’s with the PS5 flex in the background.

Twitter avatar for @HardlyClerkin
Mr. One Through Five ™ @HardlyClerkin
@MikeDSykes Week old fire #TheKicksWeWear
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11:42 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

Then the homie Shamar popped out in the South Beach 9’s going crazy.

Twitter avatar for @bkdemocrat
shamar lomax @bkdemocrat
@MikeDSykes Had to break out one of my all time fav brons
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12:33 AM ∙ Mar 12, 2021

My mans Baklava Boi popped out hitting homers in the Griffeys. Good Lord these are so good.

Twitter avatar for @georgeythegreek
baklava bozo 🇬🇷 @georgeythegreek
@MikeDSykes hat backwards swingin for the fences
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11:42 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

The homie Greer also came out with these TORCH Max 98’s. MAN this is such a good shoe.

Twitter avatar for @GreerEngonga
Greer Engonga @GreerEngonga
@MikeDSykes
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12:28 AM ∙ Mar 12, 2021

The homie Yosh popped out in these Fiery Scarlett Converse joints. Sheesh, fam.

Twitter avatar for @Yosh25
Yosh @Yosh25
@MikeDSykes It’s hot hot hot in NYC (plus, Wandavision) so... no better time than to pull out the Converse “Fiery Scarlett” #TheKicksWeWear
Image
11:43 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

Speaking of Converse, Mags popped out in the Southern Flame Converse joints and y’all know that’s a KYW fan favorite.

Twitter avatar for @magdalenakala
Mags 🔥 @magdalenakala
@MikeDSykes 🍑🍑🍑
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11:46 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

My dog Brett popped out in these FIRE Half Cabs courtesy of the OG Russ. You love to see it.

Twitter avatar for @weisband
Brett Weisband @weisband
@MikeDSykes broke out some sunshine for the sunshine - 2012 20th anniversary Half Cabs that I scooped from the legend @russbengtson
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11:52 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

Then the homie Summeet sent us PACKING in the TurDunken joints with the top notch photoshoot. SHEESH.

Twitter avatar for @PE_Feeds
Sumeet Shah @PE_Feeds
We goin' Dunk hunting, @MikeDSykes. #thekickswewear
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11:33 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021

SMOKED. IT. You love to see it.


Thank y’all so much for rocking with me, once again! Let’s talk on Monday!

Be safe. Be easy. Be kind. Peace and love.

Signing off.

—Sykes 💯

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The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 137 — Don't fall for the okie-doke

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