The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 141 — Not today, Satan

Nike v. MSCHF. 👀

Mike D. Sykes, II

Apr 02, 2021

Good morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear.

Thank you for rocking with me on this beautiful Friday morning. Hope you’re well!

Alright, let’s do it.

The Devil wears Nike

(Photo by Tech Nick on Unsplash)

WHEW, buddy. I picked a wild time for a mental health day, huh? This MSCHF x Lil Nas X “Satan” Air Max 97 custom really has people up in arms.

The details:

Lil Nas X and MSCHF dropped 666 (YIKES LOL) pairs of this “Satan” shoe as a follow-up to his Montero video.
Sort of like the Jesus shoe that was filled with water from the River Jordan, these are filled with red ink and a drop of blood.

Of course, there was backlash. And, of course, it reached Nike. So, because of that, Nike actually sued MSCHF.

They won a temporary restraining order halting sales, but it doesn’t really matter because all but one of the shoes already shipped. That’s beside the point, though.

This is potentially a big deal. The implications go beyond MSCHF. It sets precedent for Nike to come down on any “problematic” custom design.

Normally, that’s something they leave alone. Because of the noise they made a move. And that might be a future concern for designers everywhere.

Also…let’s be honest about it. This is pretty pointless. And…sort of hypocritical. Nike really only reacted to this shoe because of the visceral reaction in the aftermath to the drop.

The Jesus shoe drops and there isn’t a peep. The Satan shoe drops and there’s a lawsuit.
And I totally get it. Satan is...well, Satan. Jesus is not. But all of this could cause a murkiness legally that might eventually bite Nike in the foot.

There’s just so much to unpack here. The legal arguments only scratch the surface. But, at the end of the day, this is art. And this all surrounds Lil Nas X’s artistic expression.

There’s a much deeper conversation to be had about how religion — particularly Christianity — has been used for centuries as a weapon against the LGBTQ community. That’s a very real thing and a huge problem.

As a straight, Christian man I’m certainly not the best person to break this down. You should absolutely read this explainer from Vox’s Aja Ramano for an amazing, thorough breakdown of exactly what's at work here.

But I think the gist is this: This video and these shoes aren’t about devil-worshipping or brainwashing anyone’s kids. That’s silly. This was an openly gay, Black man throwing the destructive ideas that were forced upon him by society right back at it. Yes, all of this is jarring, but it’s supposed to be.

Instead of asking or questioning why society has ostracized our LGBTQ family in this way and what we need to do to stop this, people put their own sensibilities first and pushed back immediately. Nike kowtowed to that. And that sucks.

No idea how this ends. But I know one thing — MSCHF isn’t going away. They thrive off of this controversy. So does Lil Nas X. So one thing is for sure: This isn’t close to being over yet.

Buckle in, fam.

Virgil is really doing this

(Photo by Alex Haney on Unsplash)

It looks like the leak about the 20 different Off-White Dunk colorways that Virgil Abloh was doing for “The 20” drop wasn’t true at all.

It’s not 20. It’s 50. At least, if these numbered plates on the Dunks are any indication. And Virgil told us he couldn’t come up with that many bad colorways. Lol. Jokes on us, y’all.

Images of the Dunks have leaked online showing numbered plates on the midsole.

zsneakerheadz

A post shared by @zsneakerheadz

Virgil must be stopped. This is ridiculous. 50 shoes in one collab. All the same silhouette. On one hand? This is remarkable. On the other, where’s the creativity?

That’s the question we just keep asking with Virgil.

“The Ten” was one of the most ambitious collabs ever. 10 different silhouettes — some classics, some new. All with this new Off-White touch on them.
It was new. It was fresh. Many of us had never heard of Virgil or knew his work. That’s what made it so special.

Everything he’s done since has been more of the same. That ambition is lost. And “The 20” — or maybe “The 50?” — put that right in our faces once again. They’re just regular Dunk colorways with extra laces and a bit more quoted text slapped on them.

Yes, it’s the year of the Dunk. Nike is cashing in while it still can on the silhouette before it dies again. But…that’s not what these collabs are for. They’re supposed to spin things forward. They’re supposed to make us look to the future.

This? It’s just more of the same. And that’s so disappointing.

Bad Bunny x Adidas part 2

Here we go again. Adidas is dropping part 2 to the Bad Bunny Forum 84 on Easter Sunday — this time, the joint is coming in a pink Easter Egg flavor.

Concepts @cncpts

🎟️DRAWING🎟️ @adidas x @sanbenito Forum Buckle Low 'Easter Egg' is coming for in store pickup at 73 Newbury + 99 University. Details to come. #badbunny #adidas

CONFIRMED is playing this one differently. They’ve already opened the registration for these joints days in advance.

This allows folks to jump in at their own pace, similar to the Golden Ticket draw. But beyond that, it also should easy traffic on the app for the actual drop date.

This should be a plus for the consumer. It should mean a much less frustrating process and a lot less time wasted.

There will still be people unhappy — the supply just won’t meet the demand. But at least everyone will get a fair shot at it…theoretically speaking.

LMAOOOOOOOO

I saw this tweet of someone getting bamboozled into copping what they THOUGHT were a pair of VaporMaxes for $35.

And we just gonna call these VaporMins. Because…FAM.

Puerto Ricun @_Virgho_

My fuckin chest😭😭😭😭😭😂

No idea what’s funnier — the fact whoever bought these got THOSE shoes or the fact that they thought they were copping VaporMaxes for $35. Either way, I am cackling.