The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 196 — Wish upon an All-Star
Normally we'd have All-Star content to look at right now, but where is it?
Gooooood morning, family! Happy Monday! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me today. Really appreciate y’all.
Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day. Going to share Dr. King’s letter to Coretta Scott where he talks about the pitfalls of capitalism and the need for radical change in our economic system. 70 years later…here we are. Same stuff. It’s really profound.
Now, without further ado…
A quiet All-Star weekend?
The NBA’s All-Star weekend is one of the biggest events in the sneaker world each and every year. Typically, it’s a big brand showcase for all the spots that you love.
Brands bring out their latest innovations and products to show off to the people.
We also tend to see a lot of hype in activations. For example, Chicago’s ASW in 2020 saw Virgil’s Off-White Jordan 5, Yeezy’s Quantum and JFG’s 992 all drop.
But uhhhh…It doesn’t seem like we’re getting any of that this year. Instead, it looks like this year’s All-Star weekend will be much like last year’s. Pretty empty. At least when the actual date rolls around, anyway.
It’s not that we didn’t get anything last season — there just got a bunch of delays. Remember how long it took to get us those All-Star weekend Dunks?
We’ve seen this quite a bit surrounding big tentpole dates and events in the industry over the last calendar year. We got Halloween shoes on Thanksgiving. Some Christmas kicks are just starting to roll in. You see the vibe — things are just late.
Why is it happening?: Y’all are probably tired of me talking about the supply chain at this point, but that’s the short answer here.
Product is being delayed all over the place. Not just in terms of shipping it to you but it’s also hitting distribution warehouses late, too.
The bright side: That doesn’t mean we won’t get All-Star product at all. We will. It’ll just take a while. And the special drops we normally get will be reserved for a different time.
So, as always, just practice a bit of patience. It’ll do you some good.
When doing the right thing comes at a cost
One of the more interesting developments coming at the buzzer in 2021 was the revelation that China isn’t the layup it used to be for the sneaker world.
What’s happening: For years, China has been a boon of business for footwear industry titan like Nike and Adidas but things have shifted drastically.
Sales for Adidas dipped by 16% in Greater China in the company’s Q2 report, per CNBC.
Nike’s sales dipped by even more at 24%, according to its Q2 report.
What’s more, consumers in China are beginning to prefer homegrown brands like Anta, Li-Ning and Warrior as opposed to North American brands, per a December report from the NPD Group.
This is happening because of a combination of things that are all connected.
The Xinjiang cotton crisis from last March is the start of it. Factories in Xinjiang allegedly used forced labor from the Uyghur population in China sourced through an internment camp system to produce cotton.
That was obviously flagged as a Human Rights violation. It’s pretty awful. And, because of that, many sportswear companies stopped sourcing materials from their factories and cotton fields.
Because those companies stopped sourcing materials from China, consumers in China have boycotted and shifted to Chinese brands.
Looking forward: That backlash is going to continue as we get deeper into 2022 and will only be amplified by the supply chain struggles everyone is having right now.
This is a situation to certainly keep your eyes on moving forward. Bottom lines across the industry will have dents in them because of this. And when money gets tight, we’ll see how these companies really react.
But this is good. This is the absolute right thing to do in this moment. These are human rights violations we’re talking about. And supporting that is a no-go on any ethical level — but especially so during a time where consumers care about the ethical stances the places they shop at take.
More Virgil projects are on the way
Virgil may have passed on from our world but his legacy in sneakers will almost certainly live on. Not only through what he’s already dropped, but also through what’s coming.
What’s happening: Virgil Abloh’s Nike x Louis Vuitton Air Force 1’s are slowly beginning to surface once again. Here’s a quick look via Complex.
My take: This isn’t a sneaker I love. I said this when we got leaks in 2020 and early 2021. This definitely looks like a custom you could’ve copped from almost any mall in the mid-2000’s. But maybe that’s the beauty of it.
But the bigger point here: Everyone wants to know who sort of steps into this creative sneaker space and fills the void Virgil left with his death. But that void really won’t exist.
Through the years we’ve seen countless Off-White samples that haven’t been released to the public.
Abloh seemed to be prepared for his transition. He had projects he was working on and those projects will still be shared with the world.
So, no. Nobody is stepping into that void. Because even in death, Virgil still has stuff coming down the pipeline. And we’ll probably see lots of it in 2022.
The question is: How will Virgil’s partners treat these drops? They’ll have to handle them with care. If Nike and Louis V are going to continue drop Virgil stuff, it’d be nice to see proceeds donated to charities he’s worked with.
We’ll see how it goes. But, rest assured, more sneakers are coming.
I’m not sure how to feel about this Tom Sachs joint
After a few years of waiting, Tom Sachs is finally reuniting with Nike on a project. And, to be quite honest with you…I don’t know how I feel about these.
We got on-foot looks at Sachs’ new “General Purpose” shoe and it’s so…plain? I think that’s the right word I’m looking for. It just feels not-very-Tom-Sachs like.
At the same time, this is clearly some sort of fusion between the Waffle One and the Killshot, which are two silhouettes I love. And it comes complete with a gorpcore outsole, which is definitely a vibe right now.
The good thing is it takes some cool concepts and fuses them together to make something new. And something new is always good.
I’ve got to see these IRL soon.
What’s droppin, bruh?
LeBron 9 “South Coast” — Thursday, January 20
New Balance XC-72 “Moonbeam” — Thursday, January 20
Reebok x BAPE “Club C” — Friday, January 21
Yeezy Boost 350 v2 “Blue Tint” — Saturday, January 22
Yeezy 500 “Blush” — Saturday, January 22
Nope. It’s not you. The release calendar is just dry.
Thank y’all so much for rocking with me, once again. You are the best humans ever. I can’t believe we’re going on year 3 and y’all still open these things.
Let’s chat again on Wednesday in the forum. Until then, you know what it is. Peace. Love. Be easy. Be safe. Be kind. We out.
-Sykes💯