Good morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you for rocking with me this morning.
I have some good news and bad news:
The good news: IT’S GIVEAWAY TIME! We’re hitting 3,000 subs VERY soon. As thanks, I’m doing a random draw at 3k. Two winners will get a piece of KYW merch of their choice as well as a pair of kicks up to $150.
The bad news: I’m going to have to push KYW’s return back to May 6. More family stuff just happened. Things are OK, so don’t worry. We’ll still do #TKWW and be back on that Friday.
Thank y’all so much. Let’s dive in.
Not the ending we wanted, but the one we needed
(Photo by Mike Von on Unsplash)
In news that you absolutely hate to see, it looks like Kobe Bryant’s estate and Nike are calling it quits. The two sides couldn’t agree on a contract extension and are splitting, per ESPN’s Nick DePaula.
What happened? It’s simple. Bryant’s estate had expected a “lifetime” contract offer like LeBron James’ and Michael Jordan’s. Nike didn’t offer it.
Vanessa Bryant also seemed frustrated with the chaos surrounding Bryant’s sneaker drops, DePaula writes
The implications of this are huge. There’s a lot to think about from the fallout.
Kobe’s are seeing another spike on the resale market since the split was announced.
From an NBA perspective, lots of players wear Kobe’s and many of them aren’t happy with the split, per our friend Harrison Faigen.
Think about this in the context of Mamba Week. Turns out, as awful as it was, that was really the last chance for many of us to buy Kobe’s at retail. Who knew?
This needed to happen, as awful as this all is. Everything needed to stop. Nobody was happy. And it’s easy to beat up on Nike here, but scrapping production plans built years in advance is hard. They couldn’t account for his passing. We can’t blame them for that.
But Nike didn’t handle this well. It’s clear that they should’ve paused all of this, at the very least. It was a delicate, unprecedented situation that needed time and care that it didn’t seem to receive. Delayed product would’ve been a much better outcome than what we got. And to let the Bryant estate walk out of the door like this is beyond disappointing.
It shows us just how cold this business can be. At the end of the day, this was a negotiation. The sides couldn’t agree to terms and so they both moved on. It is what it is. It just feels a bit…too callous.
What’s next: That’s what we’re all waiting to find out. The estate clearly has plans.
They hold rights to Bryant’s Mamba logo, his signature and other essentials. They could easily build a brand of their own or license everything out.
Overall, this is a good thing for everyone involved — especially since the family is OK. The power is in their hands now. We should be happy about that.
Big delays for the right reasons
(Photo by Mattia Faloretti on Unsplash)
Another snag has hit the A Ma Maniére Jordan 3 saga: The shoe’s drop has been delayed by a week to April 28.
It’s for good reason, though. Owner James Whitner said the delay was because he didn’t want the announcement of the Derek Chauvin verdict to be “overshadowed by sneakers.”
He also made sure to mention the killing of Ma’Khia Bryant — a 16-year old Black girl in Ohio who was killed by police.
“This day and this moment cannot be overshadowed by sneakers. We must take the time to take stock of what this moment means for Black people and what we must demand from our criminal and justice system. As we say justice served, more lives are lost. A 15-year old Black girl lost her life yesterday as the verdict was announced. It’s a constant empty feeling for us, our reality is never easy. We need this time to come together and look after one another, nothing is bigger than our community right now.”
Salute to Whitner. True character is revealed when the lights shine the brightest. And with the spotlight on him and his store, he chose to flip that onto the far more important issue of police brutality. That’s love.
So, yeah, safe to say I’m a fan.
Union AJ4’s BYKE
The Union Jordan 4’s are back and, I’ve got to say, these are growing on me. Images leaked via Pyrates on Twitter and they’re slick.
You should be encouraged about your chances of getting the Union Exclusive Taupe Haze joints. When they dropped the 4’s last year, not a single pair was botted.
The SNKRS joints? Uh, we’ll see. Best of luck. Hopefully, we get another draw.
Welp. Looks like I’m a fan of the Zion 1 now.
Leave it to Gen Z to bring back legitimate storytelling to signature sneakers.
Zion Williamson told the story about how he came up with the “Noah” colorway of the Zion 1 and, man, you just gotta hear it.
I’m such a sucker for storytelling, man. Gets me every time. Need these.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBES FAM LET’S GOOOO
First, my dog Baklava Boi pulled out the Court Purple 1’s on us in the Bad Posture hoodie. Shoutout to it! Go cop up.
Speaking of the KD’s, the homie Storm pulled up in these fresh 13’s. Sheesh.
The homie Jessica popped out in the Lemon Venom Space Hippie 04’s. HAPPY EARF DAY.
Then the homie Brett popped out in ALL of the AI swag. You love to see it.
The homie Wallabeees popped out in the ASAP Nast Legacy joints and, y’all, why are these so good?
The homie Dez popped out CRAZY in these SIA Collective joints. We absolutely love to see Black owned sneaker brands.
My guy Shamar popped out in the PSG 5’s and these are MONEY.
My dog Trey popped out in the Quickstrike AJ20’s and these are so clean, man. We be sleeping on the 20’s.
My guy David popped out in the Union AJ1’s and I am just insanely jealous of this. My Goodness I want these so bad.
Speaking of money, y’all see my guy Stepfan in the CPFM VaporMaxes? Just to hit Costco. Look at the wealth.
Mr. SNKRS aka Adrian pulled out the Varsity 85 AJ1’s. So clean man.
Then the homie B Mart pops out in the G-Dragon forces and GOOD LORD.
The homie Josh absolutely doubles up on us with some Yeezy heat.
Then Mags sent us home in the Gulf Racing Dunks. SHEESH man. These are too good.
SMOKED. IT. I don’t even know what to say, fam.
Thank y’all so much for rocking with me. I’ll see you soon. Miss you already.
Don’t forget! Special Delivery is coming today at noon. It’ll be fun! Hint: We’re diving into fast food today.
Don’t forget to tell your homies to subscribe. Get in on this giveaway! Be easy. Be kind. Holla at you.
-Sykes 💯
Congrats!!
Congrats on the 3K subs!