The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 155 — The Mamba mixup
All of the drama behind the Mambacita Kobe 6
Good morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear! Thank you so much for rocking with your boy.
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Let’s jump in.
Nike just can’t seem to do right by Kobe
(Photo by Mike Von on Unsplash)
Just when you things were quiet between Nike and Kobe Bryant’s estate, another problem arises.
Vanessa Bryant is understandably livid after finding out the “Mambacita” Kobe 6 she designed personally in honor of Gigi Bryant has apparently leaked all over the place. The shoe is out and about despite her disapproval and neither she nor her children have pairs.
She voiced her displeasure on Instagram.
The details:
Vanessa revealed she designed the colorway in honor of Gigi but that the shoes were “not approved for sale.” The contract fell through and the shoes were scrapped. Or so she thought.
The wild part is she also says she hadn’t approved the actual creation of the shoes in the first place.
This is just wild. It’s another layer of drama added on to what has unquestionably been one of the messier breakups we’ve seen recently industry-wide.
These shoes are everywhere. Vanessa Bryant pointed this out on her Instagram story. They’ve been reviewed at editorial spots like Bleacher Report. They’re being sold at Foot Patrol UK. NBA players like Khris Middleton are rocking them in games. And they’re certainly already on secondary market platforms.
How does something like this happen? It’s hard to say. We don’t know the details. But this feels like another huge misstep for Nike in the handling of Bryant’s brand.
That’s the most concerning part. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: None of this had to actually be this way.
No one can fault Nike for not being prepared to lose an icon like Kobe Bryant — you can never prepare for something like that. It wass impossible to know how that will play out. But they clearly haven’t responded well. Their strategy didn’t work Customers aren’t happy. The estate isn’t happy. And Nike is getting beat up for it.
To this point, there hasn’t been a response from the brand on what’s going on here or what they might be able to do to fix it. But it probably doesn’t matter.
The bridge is burned down at this point.
A little bit of creativity from Nike basketball
(Photo by chelsea ferenando on Unsplash)
Remember that KD and Kyrie collab that was talked about a few months back on Kevin Durant’s podcast?
It’s here…kind of. Irving and Durant have their sneaker collab in the bag. But it’s not in the way we were all thinking when they initially broached this topic.
Nike took KD’s “Weatherman” colorway and stuck it on the Kyrie 7 and took Kyrie’s “Dream” colorway and planted it on the KD 14.
This isn’t what I thought it’d be. The two did collaborate. But instead of creating a new design, they took old classics form each other’s line and put them on their new silhouettes.
Still, this is a step in the right direction.
Nike Basketball still has a long way to go to get back to being what it once was. But this has every element you could want in a signature sneaker.
There are elements of storytelling, friendship, and creativity to it that we just don’t generally see in basketball sneakers anymore. And they look pretty good, too.
Please, more of this, Nike. And everyone else, too, while we’re at it.
The Jeremy Scotts are BYKE
In an absolute shock, Adidas announced this week that they were collaborating with Jeremy Scott again to bring back some of his old work with the brand.
Remember those winged shoes you saw everyone wearing through the 2010’s? Or the shoes with the money print on them? That was Jeremy Scott and Adidas.
The brand announced Scott was coming in Fall 2021.
This totally caught me off guard. I never expected Adidas to collaborate with Scott again after the partnership lost steam in the mid-2010’s.
A version of the shoe with shackles attached to them leaked on the internet which, of course, didn’t go over well because, uh, slavery was a thing.
That drop was obviously canned in 2012. Scott dropped his last Adidas joint in 2015.
These joints being back is pretty exciting. I don’t know about y’all, but I was a huge fan of these back in high school when I had absolutely no clue what they were. I just knew they were hot.
The timing makes perfect sense. The Forum was the centerpiece of Scott’s collaboration and the Forum is also having a huge resurgence right now. It’ll be interesting to see what else this potentially morphs into.
In the meantime, definitely run me some winged shoes. I need parts.
Big Z x Zion
Meet Big Z who is, apparently, Zion Williamson’s number one fan. From waaaaay back in the day. This is hilarious.
This is just so dope. It’s cool to see Zion getting a character, too. Michael Jordan had Mars. LeBron James had the LeBron puppets. Penny Hardaway had Lil Penny. Now Zion has BIG Z.
This is the sort of creativity we’ve been missing from sneaker ads. I absolutely love it.
OH. Speakin of Zion.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW WHAT IT IS. The Kicks We Wear, coming at you!
MY QUEEN KICKED US OFF with her Crocs and some new Animal Crossing jibbitz courtesy of your boy.
Then the homie Ant got us started with the Viotech Brons.
My guy Mitch popped out super clean in these Viotech Brons. These are so good.
My guy Harrison popped out in the Kuz x Rhude Puma Clyde All-Pros. These are pretty slick!
The homie Chris popped out in the Luka 35’s and, you know what? That boy is hooping.
The homie Ace popped out crazy in the Bron 10’s. Cult classic right here.
My guy Garrett came out in the UCLA flavors with the Dunk. I want these so bad.
Alex aka Adrian’s better half came through STUNTING with her first pair of J’s. We absolutely love to see it.
My guy Raymond came through CRAZY with these Air Spans. What an underrated silhouette.
My guy Eddie Factzz popped out in the Carmines. These joints are soooo good.
Then the legend Mr. Unloved 1’s sent us home with the Pine Greens. TOO COLD.
Thank you so much for rocking with me, fam! We’ll chat again Monday. Don’t forget — a new episode of Special Delivery is coming today at noon!
A bit of housekeeping: The newsletter is out next Friday. We’re celebrating my fiancé’s birthday with a little beach trip. Should be fun!
Alright, family. Peace. Love. Be safe. Be kind.
Signing off.
-Sykes
I'm honestly baffled by the Kobe situation. I know that designs leak all the time but for Nike management to completely fumble this is just disrespectful. Immediately after the tragedy they should've had a meeting to go over what was already scheduled and in production and planned and make sure that for this line everything was tight.
I'm not even talking about the brand stuff with Vanessa and the estate. Just have some respect for a legend who moved *tons* of product for you. Do right by him and keep those pairs locked down. Smh