The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 172 — These are GASSSS
Nike has some new biodegradable kicks in the pipeline
What’s good, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with your boy this morning.
Hope everyone on the east coast is safe. The weather has been insane all week, man. Flooding, severe thunderstorms, tornados. It’s scary out here, family.
Let’s jump in.
Gassed up, shorty
(Photo by Nelson Ndongala on Unsplash)
Nike already gave us shoes that were made from literal trash. Now they’re preparing to give us shoes that come from gas, Input Magazine’s Ian Servantes reports.
Wait, what? The Swoosh is partnering with a biotech company called Newlight to develop sneakers using a process that converts greenhouse gasses into alternative materials for leather and plastic.
The details: The process actually seems pretty awesome.
There are microorganisms in the ocean that convert oxygen and carbon into a material called polyhydroxybutyrate — or PHB, for short.
Newlight pulls those organisms and converts their PHB into a white powder that can be melted into different forms.
They mold the PHB into the fibers and materials needed for design. They’re already doing this with straws, cutlery, handbags, wallets and sunglasses.
This is all biodegradable, which is the key part here. The “AirCarbon” material is carbon negative, which means it removes more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits. That’s great for reducing carbon footprints and could go a long way for Nike.
What’s next is actually developing a product with the materials and scaling it to a level that is of significance — sort of like the Space Hippie line. Maybe a bit further, even.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this works. But it does all come with a caveat.
In the big picture, we have to remember that less is always more when it comes to this stuff. No matter how eco-friendly a sneaker is, it still has some environmental impact. It doesn’t stop the planet from dying, it just slows the process a bit.
To make a real dent means producing less. That leads to less factory work which leads to less shipping which leads to a reduction in carbon emissions which is the real way to sustainability.
More sneakers like this are great. But this is just one piece to the puzzle that needs a lot more work before we can finally see the bigger picture.
Climate change is impacting your sneakers, too
(Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)
Speaking of climate change, I’m sure you all have seen the severe weather just rampaging up and down the east coast this week.
This is all very real. And we saw so many examples of climate change impacting even the most simple and mundane areas of our lives — and, yes, that includes our sneakers.
There have been product delays all over the place because of severe weather across the coast.
Social Status pushed back their Dunk release because of the weather. So did Undefeated.
That’s just on the logistics side of things. It’s less tangible for most people because we don’t really see that side of the business. We just see the kicks when they hit our doorsteps and that’s about it.
But…what happens when the place you store those kicks gets flooded because of torrential downpours? It looks a bit like this.
Now, that’s the extreme end of the spectrum. But we saw a lot of that this week. And there’s plenty more to come, unfortunately, with our planet being in the state it’s in.
This is bigger than us. This is why it’s important to hold these corporations and our elected officials all accountable for this. That’s how we change things. That’s how we save all of those little things we love.
Naming shoes well is SO important, y’all
We’ve all seen some pretty terrible sneaker names out there, right? Names of silhouettes, names of colorways, names of materials. Sometimes, they’re just bad. It happens. And I get that.
But the “Moonlight” Jordan 5 is one of the worst sneaker names I’ve ever seen.
The Oreo Jordan 5 is retro’ing for the first time since 2013 this weekend. But it’s not the Oreo anymore — it’s the “Moonlight.” Objectively terrible name.
It gets even worse when you hear the story behind the name on the SNKRS app. It’s legitimately because people “camped out in the moonlight for a week” waiting for these in 2013. Allegedly.
That’s just bad, man. So bad. It’s one of the worst stories behind a sneaker’s name ever.
And, look, I get it. There’s a lot that goes into naming sneakers.
There are legal considerations to be made with terms like “oreo” and “cookies and cream.” Nike can’t just use those on a whim.
With that being said, though, this is still pretty wack. Names are important. When the public tells stories about these sneakers, this is what they use. No one is calling these the Moonlights. Sorry.
It’s whatever. People will still buy these. But this is just another example of exactly why we can’t leave storytelling in the brand’s hands. It ends up corny like this.
My heart. It hurts for this man
Imagine catching your first-ever W on the SNKRS app. That’s already impossible enough as is. But imagine it comes on the FRAGMENT x SACAI WAFFLES. I don’t like them joints, but that’s still a big W.
Next, imagine you get the box. You open it. And there are two right shoes in there. TWO RIGHT SHOES. That actually happened to this dude.
And all he got was a refund and a 15% off coupon. PAIN. Prayers up for this homie.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBRATIONS LETS GOOOOOO!
The homie Young Choi is about to hit the ground running — literally — in the AlphaFly Next% joints.
The homie S. Janelle is out here rocking the Patina J’s with this AMAZING lace swap.
The homie Kali popped out in these phenomenal 574’s. These are supposed to be beaters?!?!
My guy Daniel popped out in the Dunk from Above 4’s and, MAN, these shoes are not appreciated enough.
The homie Brett pulled out some CUSTOM VANS for his WEDDING. This is awesome! Congrats!
My guy J Block came through in these absolute classic 13’s, man. This is a slept on J — if there ever were such a thing.
Baby Gaines was out here ready for school in his New Balances! Absolutely love to see it.
MORE BABIES. My guy Adrian and his baby girl came through with the Cool Grey 4’s. Already fly as hell.
My guy Warren came through in the Denim 3’s and, fam, these joints are hitting.
The homie Acumarino popped out in the Champagne 8’s on CLB-eve. You absolutely love to see it.
And then the homie Dandin sent us home in the CLARK KENT SB Dunks. Y’all. This was back when SB’s was SB’s, man. An era.
Y’ALL SMOKED THAT. Man.
Thank you so much for rocking with your boy today! New Special Delivery drops today at noon! We’re hitting the Off-White Dunks. Tap in!
Hope you have an absolutely amazing weekend, family. As always, peace and love. Be safe. Be easy. Be kind. Talk to you soon.
-Sykes 💯
The guy with two right shoes found someone who got two left shoes!
https://www.reddit.com/r/SNKRS/comments/peq28a/general_maybe_something_gonna_happen_reposted/hazclqr/