The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 197 — Making sense of StockX's NFTs
Or, at least trying to, anyway
Good morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks for rocking out with your boy on this glorious Friday morning.
My bad for not dropping a thread on Wednesday, fam. I had a family emergency that I needed to take care of. Everything ended up being OK, but it was definitely panic SZN for me for a few hours.
With that out the way, let’s dig in.
Utility is the word
StockX is officially in the digital world. And, like everything else the company does, their introduction is pretty controversial.
What’s happening: StockX just created digital tokens of some of the most limited sneakers they keep on the platform.
Details:
So you have this token of, let’s say, the Panda Dunk. That token is tied 1-to-1 with a real, legitimate pair kept in StockX’s “vault.”
You can redeem that token at any time to get the shoe out of the vault but, when you do that, the NFT is completely destroyed and loses its value.
You can also hold that token for as long as you want and allow the value to build. It’s an investment.
StockX says the longer you hold the more exclusive access you’ll get to limited StockX drops. We don’t know what those are yet.
And therein lies the controversy. Many people — myself included — are struggling to find the true utility in this. Why does anyone want to do this?
Here’s my thing: Going back to the Panda Dunk, that NFT is worth $1,099 on the platform right now. You can sell that whenever. But I just don’t quite understand the value in it when the pair itself is only selling for $300 to $400. Why not just buy the pair? Why buy the NFT?
That’s when maybe someone would counter with StockX’s limited drops that we don’t know the details of. But I’m not really here for buying the mystery box. It could be a boat. Or it could be a box.
Also, these pairs are sourced from StockX’s marketplace. But are there guarantees that these vaulted pairs pass authentication? StockX’s terms say the token does not authenticate the product. So what’s the purpose in holding it then?
There are just so many questions that come with this. Some of them were answered in the #SampleSize Twitter Space where StockX’s VP of Product came through. But it’s still hard to define the specific utility these tokens have. And it ultimately will remain that way until, at the very least, we see the exclusive deals you get from holding these.
One last thing: This has really been bothering me. But it just feels like sneaker culture continues to slip further and further away from the people who made it pop.
You have to literally spend thousands to participate in this. More than the actual pair of sneakers. And you don’t actually get anything in hand.
There’s no artistry here. There’s nothing to appreciate. This token is essentially a voucher to eventually have a sneaker that you should be able to buy in the first place. That’s…bleak.
This is the marketplace of everything selling you nothing and telling you it has value. I’m here for NFT’s. I think there’s definitely use there. There’s a future.
I just really hope it looks much, much better than this.
Nike hears you on the supply chain issues
The supply chain issue has been the biggest story in the sneaker industry for pretty much half a year at this point and it’s not getting any better. Consumers are frustrated.
Nike sees that. And they're quelling that frustration. Or…at least, they’re trying to anyway. They just dropped content describing how they’re best serving consumers through this collapse.
Details: There were four points.
They’re opening new regional distribution centers that they’re calling their “sole train.” Corny, I know. There are centers in Los Angeles, Ca., Bethlehem, Pa., Dallas, Tx. and Madrid, Spain for Europe to go along with the Memphis spot.
Nike is using 1,000 “collaborative bots” — literal robots — in those distribution centers to help package and fulfill orders. They’ve already handled 10 million orders.
They’re dishing out Nike’s “Refurbished” program to extend product lifecycles and removing rush order options.
They’re also starting employees programs to drive upward mobility within the company.
All of that is well and good and, ultimately, some of it will affect the efficiency in which your orders are fulfilled and how you get product. A lot of it is also just word salad, though. You probably don’t care about it.
Here’s the thing: What it ultimately is, though, is Nike making another gesture in transparency to the public. They’re still working to regain your trust.
It’s the same as them peeling back the curtain on exclusive access at the end of last year. They want you to feel included and in the know. That way you’re less likely to be upset about late or canceled orders.
It probably won’t work but it’s certainly worth a shot, I guess.
Don’t be like T.I. Never, ever, ever be like T.I.
The sneaker industry and sneaker lovers can be very, very wasteful. There’s way too much product made out there that we buy and don’t really use. It’s ridiculous.
But T.I. takes things to a different level. He buys Air Force 1’s, wears them approximately once (1 time!!!), and then dumps them. He just…never wears them again. He admitted this on Instagram.
Now, look. I don’t understand being rich. But this seems completely silly.
An Air Force 1 after one wear isn’t creased badly. It’s not dirty. Totatlly still wearable. He just…doesn’t.
What does he do with the shoe after that? Who knows!
That’s just incredibly wasteful. Hopefully, he donates the shoes or at least sells them to someone else. There are plenty of folks out there who could use perfectly good pairs of Air Force 1’s.
This is just a case of someone buying something they don’t really need. There’s too much of that going on in sneakers these days. And it’s part of the reason why the game is the way it is now.
This tweet is getting dunked on for the remainder of 2022
In the words of Twitter Egg 4857435784592: RATIO. L.
First, this is hilarious. It’s always amazing when brand accounts use the lingo of the people because — more often than not — the person who hit send probably don’t talk like this. Like, ain’t nobody reading this in Gunna’s “Pushin P” voice.
Second, what the hell is P, bruh? Somebody break this down to me. I’ve only been asking for weeks now and I still have no explanation. Maybe I should hit Nike.
All that aside, y’all are finna use this tweet after every single SNKRS drop this year and I’m totally here for it.
#TheKicksWeWear
LET’S GET IIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!!!!!
The homie David got us popping with these OG Flight ‘89’s and MY GOD are these brilliant.
My guy Kendrew popped out with the Gore-Tex AJ1’s in the particle grey colorway. I was SLEEP on these.
Y’all already know how Storm give it up with the Paintbrush 1’s. These are so good.
The homie RickDUB popped out with the KD 8’s and, is it me, or is this a really underrated silhouette?
My guy Phil looking like a bag of money with these ALD’s and the Telfar. Sheeeeesh.
The homie Alex hopped out in the Bred 11’s for a GROCERY STORE TRIP y’all. My word.
Then my dog Marc pulled out an absolute classic with the Spi’Zike. BRUH. They need to bring these back.
The homie Smrty Jones popped out in the Galaxy Dunks and literally dropped my jaw.
And then my guy JBlock closed us out with the BRED 1’s. Classic. I don’t need to say anything else.
Y’ALL WENT CRAZY.
Thank you so much for rocking with me, family. I appreciate y’all! You’re the absolute best people. There’s a new episode of Special Delivery coming out today! Stay tuned, folks!
Talk to y’all Monday. Until then you know what it is. Peace and love. Be easy. Be safe. Be kind. Til next time.
-Sykes 💯