The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 176 — If this is what breaking barriers looks like, plz rebuild them
Kanye West and Yeezy have done it again
Good morning, family! The Kicks You Wear is back! Thank you so much for rocking with your boy on this amazing Friday morning.
Missed y’all last week! Sumeet’s and Tash’s wedding was awesome. Me and the fiancé had a wonderful time. Big congrats to them on this new journey they’re embarking on together.
Alright, let’s jump in.
How far is too far with Yeezy?
(Photo by David Lezcano on Unsplash)
Kanye West has designed some incredibly polarizing things in his life. But when it comes to footwear, I’m not sure anything tops the Yeezy Knit Runner. They’re so weird.
Yet, they still sold out.
The takeaway: Folks will really buy anything from Kanye as long as Kanye’s name is on it. Let this have been, say, a Reebok joint? It doesn’t move. At all. No one is talking about it. Hell, I’m not even writing about it. But it’s Kanye! You’ve got to talk about it.
There’s a reason for that, though. People trust Kanye to deliver.
And not only do they trust him to deliver, but they trust him to give them something that they’ve never seen before. Something beyond their comprehension or understanding.
Because of that trust, people will flock to the things he gives them without hesitation. Basically, it must be good because, well, Kanye said it was.
And, honestly, that’s fair. Kanye has earned that in many different avenues. He spent years delivering quality, so even when he drops mid it’ll still resonate with the people. Just look at Yeezus. (I’m sorry I had to.)
There’s also this: I believe I’m on record in saying that I do not like Kanye West. For a number of reasons. But, at the same time, I am thankful for his presence in sneakers.
He’s always pushing the edge. Whether it’s in design, presentation, marketing. He’s always thinking outside of the box. And the game needs that. The Knit Runner is that outside-the-box thinking comes to life and that’s a good thing.
Here’s my thing:
From a design perspective, these are awesome. We’ve never seen anything like it. That’s why people are reacting the way they are — including myself.
But at the same time, I have no idea what to do with them. Like, how do you actually wear these? This thing looks like a Dr. Mario pill. I don’t even know what to call it. Is it a mocassin? A clog? a slipper? A sneaker? It’s just so weird.
Weird isn’t a bad thing, though. It’s just…weird. I feel like this shoe is more of a collector’s item than anything else. But for you, it might be different! It might be wearable!
That’s the beauty of all this. It’s in the eye of the beholder. One person’s trash is another’s treasure. And if you love this shoe? Well, I love that for you. And I’m also sorry that happened to you.
GOAT x GRAILED
(Photo by Peter Neumann on Unsplash)
The GOAT Group just got a little bit fatter. The company just led a $60 million Series B investment fund for Grailed — another reseller platform and, now, a former competitor.
This makes a ton of sense. Their ethoses match up well. These two companies have very specific niches surrounding the curation of style and fashion
Grailed traffics in men’s sneakers, apparel, vintage gear and streetwear.
Apparel and streetwear have become a boon for GOAT. The platform saw a 500% increase from 2019 to 2020 in apparel sales, per Glossy.
On the other end of the spectrum, its main competitors in StockX and eBay traffic in just about anything with resale value from electronics to figurines.
Reading the tea leaves: GOAT has been scooping up its competitors over the last few years. Grailed is the latest. They also acquired Flight Club back in 2018. It’s reasonable to assume we’ll only see more of this.
This feels like a resale market arms race. GOAT is valued at $3.7 billion at this point and, clearly, that’s rising. StockX is at $3.8 billion and reportedly preparing for an IPO. There will be more acquisitions on both ends to come.
Here’s my question: How big can these vehicles continue to get before they just cannibalize the marketplace? This is a double-edged sword for the consumer.
Yes, some Grailed functions will be optimized. And we may even get the Grailed app back at some point, which was pretty good!
But there’s also the matter of having spaces to compare prices. You could use GOAT to price a StockX offer. And you could use that to price a Grailed offer, which you could also take over to eBay.
Y’all get the point. At what point do we run out of those options as the market continues to swallow itself whole? I don’t know.
In the meantime, though, GOAT is going to keep doing numbers.
A must-read on the WNBA’s signature shoe history
The list of signature shoes in the WNBA isn’t long. But it is excellent. Aaron Dodson and Nick DePaula of The Undefeated dive into the history of that excellence in this latest piece.
They spoke to all 9 WNBA players who have had a signature shoe in their career so far. Almost all of them are former players with the exception of 1 — Candace Parker. And she’s on the back end of her career. That’s how long it’s been. 10 years, y’all. 10. That’s the last time a player in the W had a signature shoe.
Breanna Stewart is coming with her first next year and that’ll thankfully break the streak.
The skinny: It’s such a huge missed opportunity. Rebecca Lobo — a WNBA legend and a former signature athlete herself — talked about how much of a miss it was for all parties.
“It really surprises me that it’s almost been 10 years since we’ve seen a woman with a signature shoe…I’m buying my own daughters multiple pairs of basketball sneakers every year. … Certainly, if there was a women’s signature shoe, that’s the one they would want. It just doesn’t seem like it makes sense in terms of a share of the marketplace.”
The mold will be broken soon. And once it breaks, hopefully, more will come flooding in.
Until then, this rich history is worth appreciating.
Alright, I talked enough about the Knit RNR. But this was funny
You know how, a lot of times, when we talk on the internet we write LOL or LMAO or whatever and we don’t actually laugh?
I audibly laughed at this. This is hilarious.
If it’s one thing the Knit Runner is going to do, it’s get absolutely roasted on the internet. Thank you, Kanye.
I was wondering what these things reminded me of. Apparently, it was a shocked Homer Simpson all along.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBRATIONS! Let’s get it!
First, the homie Ray kicked us off with these dope Vans. Simple, but so complicated at the same time.
Then, the homie Mike got us rocking with the Luka 1’s and then switched over to these WILD Crocs. I’m still hating, btw. These are cool tho.
The homie Devin gave us a real good look at New Balance’s P-9000. Gotta say, these are pretty sweet.
Candace popped out in the Undefeated “5 on it” AF1’s and, man, what more can I say about how awesome these are?
Y’all already know the homie Storm put on a show for us heading into the fall. These Waffle Ones are INCREDIBLE.
The homie Dandin popped out in these BEAUTIFUL Flightposites. An era, y’all.
The homie Adrian stepped out in the 11 Low IE joints and WHEW these take me back to my broke days. Well, I’m still broke. So I mean my more broke days.
The homie Phil popped out in the Offline slides and, uh, I think I need a pair?
Then we got it popping with all the Union AJ4 love with the homie Kendrew coming through in the Guava Ice pair.
Then my guy Andrew absolutely sends us home with the Desert Moss joints. And, all of a sudden, I’ve decided to cut the tongue on my Unions. Amazing.
Smoked it, y’all. Beautful job. Beautiful, beautiful job.
Thank y’all so much for rocking with me today! Appreciate y’all, as always. Y’all are the absolute best.
Let’s chat again on Monday, family. Til then! Peace and love. Be safe. Be easy. Be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯