The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 145 — One head's trash is another head's treasure
Nike's refurbished program could change sneakers
Good morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear! Thanks so much for rocking with me today.
2021 has been a super busy year for me, but I think it’s time that we do another giveaway soon! Y’all have shown me lots of love this year and I gotta show you some appreciation. Details to come soon!
Alright, let’s get into it.
The sneaker cycle
(Photo by Gary Chan on Unsplash)
Nike’s new refurbished program is a complete game-changer. It’s essentially Nike’s own in-house pre-owned sneaker program where it’ll take those old kicks from years ago that you don’t wear anymore.
Here’s how it works:
Your old shoes are sent to Nike, where they’ll be reviewed and graded to see if they qualify to be refurbished.
They’re cleaned and sanitized if they pass the initial test.
Once clean, they’re sent to participating stores and sold at a discounted rate.
Their degrees of quality vary: Like new (one or two wears), gently worn (more than a couple wears) and cosmetically flawed (B Grade). Those that are too beat it’ll be ground up into Nike’s “Grind” material that they use for Space Hippie models. This is all part of “Move to Zero”: Nike’s initiative to reduce its carbon footprint.
A few questions.
First, what are the incentives for sending Nike your old kicks? Are people paid to do this? Altruism is dope, but I’m cynical in this case.
Second, how quickly does this expand? More stores mean more access. Is there a specific timeline we be looking for?
This is a big deal. It could completely reshape sneakers and how this all works. It completely knocks the resale market on its back.
Theoretically, one could shop Nike’s various refurbish spots for hyped kicks at a lower cost than retail. That’s a big win for the consumer who wants to actually wear their shoe. You might be able to skip out on massive resale markups.
It also potentially opens the door for a service where people send in their kicks to be refurbished so they can continue to wear them. And that’s huge.
That’d be the biggest win in sustainability. You don’t move to zero by buying everything up — you do it by wearing what you already have. There’s less waste to recycle because there’s less created in the first place.
This has tons of potential. Nike would do well to tap into it.
A Ma Maniére’s drawing is strict…maybe a little too strict
Last week it didn’t feel like Jordan Brand and A Ma Maniére were prioritizing women here for the AJ3 drop.
A bit has changed since then. But not in a great way. They released details on the raffle and they’re as concerning as they are encouraging.
The details:
The raffle opened strictly for women from April 14-17. Here’s the catch, though: They must appointments to go in-store and show government ID to enter.
That means participating women must be able to get to either Houston, D.C. or Atlanta in the middle of a p̶a̶n̶o̶r̶a̶m̶i̶c̶ pandemic.
Appointments are also available at Sister locations at ABP store and Social Status, but the point still applies.
And to add to that, even when the general raffle opens it opens to everyone — not just women. So there will be a lot of women who aren’t in those specific cities that get left out.
The effort here to prioritize women is nice. But in the process, they’ve excluded thousands and that stinks. We absolutely have to have a better system the next time something like this rolls around.
BTW…This is because of all those guys who created fake SNKRS profiles as women to get the Off-White AJ4. Shouts to y’all. Jerks.
Shopify’s big shake up
Shopify’s C-Suite is going to look a lot different moving forward. Three of their top 7 executives are leaving the company, the Ottowa Business Journal reports.
“Chief talent officer Brittany Forsyth, chief legal officer Joe Frasca and chief technology officer Jean-Michel Lemieux are expected to end their lengthy tenures with the company in June.”
That’s a big deal. The platform has become synonymous with sneaker drops over the years.
Infamously, it’s known for the botting issues that come with it.
But on the flip side, it’s allowed a number of companies over the years to drop products in an efficient, smart way.
Those three executives helped shape the way the platform is used now. And with them leaving, others will come in and continue to shape it in different ways.
We don’t know what that looks like. It could (probably will) be leaning more heavily into sneakers. It might not be, though! We’ll see. In the meantime, you’ll definitely want to follow this situation.
WOW y’all these Jackie Robinson x Griffey cleats
Fam. These Griffey cleats were made in celebration of Jackie Robinson day on April 15 and they are SICK.
We need these to hit the streets. I’ll get in the diamond
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBES! The Kicks We Wear! Let’s do it!
The homie JW started us off with these AMAZING KD 13’s. Goodness.
The homie Ryan popped out with the Quai54 13’s and this pattern is sick.
My dude Rube popped out in the Royal Forum highs. I LOVE these joints.
The homie Ant popped out in the Cool Grey 9’s looking fly as ever.
The homie Ninja Kitteh popped out in these smooth Hello Kitty Clydes and these joints are so smooth.
The homie JD popped out in the WearTesters’ NW1! Shouts to the homies. Go support.
The homie Greer popped out in the “Wild” Air Max 1. These joints are too clean.
The homie Ed popped out in the Free & Easy Mango Mohito Vans and look at this gold, y’all.
The homie Storm popped out in the SVSM AJ1’s and she had herself a photoshoot.
The homie Jose popped out in the Skepta Tailwinds and y’all really gonna make me buy these aren’t y’all? lol
The homie Christina came THROUGH with the Stained Glass Dunks. Good Lord man. She got so much heat.
And then the homie Jay sent us packing in the Kiss of Deaths. GOOD GOD.
SMOKED IT. Y’all did that, fam.
Thank y’all so much for rocking with me today! I appreciate you, fam. Have a wonderful weekend!
Don’t forget: Tune in to Special Delivery today at noon! It’s gonna be a fun one! We take a look at the GT Cut.
Talk to you next week, family. Peace. Love. Be safe. Be kind.
-Sykes 💯