The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 144 — The DTC squeeze in real life
A look at what happens when brands take the DTC route.
What up, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear! Thanks so much for rocking with me this morning. Appreciate you!
We absolutely have to start by saying Rest in Peace to DMX. The man was a true hip-hop legend, pioneer and, most importantly, an incredible man. He was a human who truly left the world a better place while he was here. We’ll miss you, Dog.
Let’s jump in.
DTC hits where it really hurts
(Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash)
The direct-to-consumer strategy brands employ is a double-edged sword.
On one hand, it’s a revenue booster for the companies that employ the strategy. On the other? Mad layoffs, a booming resale market and cutoffs for small businesses. It stinks.
We always talk about the numbers with it. But it’s also very important to see that in real terms — to humanize it with real stores. That’s what the Philly Inquiere’s Mike Sielski did in this column on how Nike’s DTC strategy is drying out local sneaker setups in Philly.
While they reap the benefits, some loyal consumers and store owners are cut out. And many of them are people of color. They just don’t need them anymore, Sielski writes.
To Nike, most of its traditional stores and distributors — despite their value as longtime neighborhood institutions and cultivators of social capital — have become drags on its profit margin. They’re unnecessary, second class.
There were so many heartbreaking tales and feelings of betrayal in the piece. And the worst part is there will only be more.
Here’s a real life example of what that looks like from Sielski.
Talk to William Woo Chung, whose store, Real McCoy, had three locations — one at Broad and Olney, one near Temple, one in Camden — and relied on Nike for 70-80% of its sales. Chung closed those stores three years ago, after Nike shut down his account. Drive out to the suburbs and towns around the city, to The Run Around in Abington or Sneakin’ In in Bellmawr, stores whose owners are hoping they’ve diversified their merchandise enough to hang on.
This is disturbing for a couple reasons.
First, because we know Chung and Real McCoy aren’t the first to experience this and won’t be the last.
Second, and maybe more importantly, this is only going to get worse. Under Armour and Adidas are taking the DTC route, too. There’s nowhere to turn.
The boots on the ground principles that built this culture are dying and this is why. It’s sad, but it’s also our reality. And it’s only been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Maybe someday, this changes. But that day probably isn’t coming anytime soon. There’s no putting this toothpaste back in the tube.
Baseball is stepping out of its comfort zone
(Photo by Phil Goodwin on Unsplash)
The sports industry is the biggest marketer for the footwear industry in the world. And baseball is largely unmarked territory.
But the sport is starting to come around. Last week Major League Baseball and Nike launched “City Connect” jerseys starting with these joints from the Red Sox.
They’re breaking tradition. There’s not a spec of red on them — they’re blue and yellow for the Boston Marathon. We’ve never seen them outside of their traditional colors and they’ve been around for more than a century.
This is the sort of deviation that we need to see from MLB. It’s a sport that has been marred in its traditions both on the field and off and that’s led to audience and diversity issues.
MLB is aware of that and are trying to fix it, a Red Sox official told ESPN’s Joon Lee.
“We understand that for traditionalists, this may not work for them and we’re OK with that,” [Red Sox Chief Marketing Officer, Adam] Grossman said. “We get it. This is not meant to replace our crisp whites. That’s not what this is about, but it’s about connecting and having other people look at us differently, especially younger more diverse crowds. We embrace that, and it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate that, and that’s what this represents.”
That’s really encouraging and could mean a lot for the sports’ sneaker prospects moving forward. And with the young star power the league has right now, the moment is perfect for them to take advantage of it.
WOOF WOOF! Sole Retriever is on your phone now
Raffles are at the heart of sneaker culture today. They’re our best hope for copping hyped kicks on the internet. That’s where Sole Retriever comes in.
Their new app makes that process so quick and easy.
You can set up personalized notifications for alerts as soon as new raffles pop up.
It also has an “autofill” feature in the raffles to populate them with shipping, sizing, and payment info from your profile.
I’ve been using the app over the last week or so — it dropped on April 1.
That autofill feature is too clutch. You can fill dozens of raffles out with speed.
For example, with this weekend’s upcoming Hyper Royal 1 drop I hit six different raffles in about 15 minutes. And y’all know how long it takes to do these things.
A caveat: Haven’t caught a W yet, but that’s just my luck.
I will say that there are times where the sites aren’t always receptive to that autofill feature, but that’s fine. It isn’t something I haven’t been able to workaround. My experience has been pleasant.
BTW…A heads up: There’s a waitlist of 34,000 folks right now. Jump in ASAP if you’re into it.
A SNKRS comic?!?
I’m always a sucker for an editorial touch and a bit of a backstory from a sneaker perspective, so the fact that there’s a SNKRS comic coming really has me hype.
Shouts to the homie Juju for putting us on. The series is going to be about MariSole and it’s going to be incredible.
NikeVengers, assemble.
What’s droppin, bruh?
Nike LeBron 8 “HWC” — Wednesday, April 14
Reebok Answer IV — Thursday, April 15
Nike Air Griffey Max 1 — Friday, April 16
Sean Wotherspoon x Adidas ZX 8000 “Super Earth” — Friday, April 16
Air Jordan 1 “Hyper Royal” — Saturday, April 17
That’s a wrap, family! Thank you, again, for rocking with me! Have a fantastic week.
I’ll holla at y’all Wednesday. I didn’t forget about our Twitter Spaces thing — I just have no clue what I’m doing haha. I’ll figure it out tho. Promise.
Take care! Be safe. Be easy. Be kind.
-Sykes 💯