The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 211 — Here we go again
The supply chain's shape just got worse with China going back on lockdown.
Gooooood morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me on this glorious Friday morning. You’ve got a fantastic weekend ahead of you.
How’s Air Max month treating you? I’ve had a couple of solid weeks in getting both Concepts pairs — one at retail and one through (GULP) resale. Wasn’t too bad. If you missed out, don’t worry. We’ll cop a pair for you once you win KYW’s giveaway. Best of luck.
Anyway, let’s jump in.
Back at Square One
It’s been quiet on the supply chain front lately but things are about to get a lot worse very soon.
What’s happening: China just experienced another COVID surge with more than 10,000 cases coming across 27 different provinces, per NPR.
Now several major cities are going back on lockdown. There are 37 million people in the country who are unable to leave their homes, which is probably for the best considering, ya know, pandemic.
On the flip side: These lockdowns also means ports are locked down, too. An already rickety supply chain just got even shakier.
Vietnam and China are the main manufacturing hubs for most footwear brands in the country, Footwear News’ Shoshy Ciment wrote in January.
With key factories potentially shutting down indefinitely, it’s impossible to know how it’ll impact the footwear industry and for how long.
No one knows what sort of impact this will have on an already lean supply chain — most experts you’ll read just say they know it’ll be bad. It’s already having an impact on multiple industries including the tech space and the automotive space.
The timing is the important thing to think about here along with the locations of these lockdowns.
It’s hard to tell how this will play out. As we’ve seen, China has an excellent disinfection infrastructure. But no one knows how long this will last or how long it’ll be until it happens again with China’s zero-tolerance policy.
There’s a lot up in the air here and it’s almost impossible to predict how things will turn out. Just be prepared for those shipping and inventory problems across industries to get a little worse.
BTW…There’s still a pandemic outside. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but it’s true. Please. Be safe out here.
I’m…kind of tired of Dunks?
I never thought I’d see the day coming where I typed these words out, but it is here. I am officially over this Nike Dunk craze.
Let me be clear: I still love the silhouette. And I’ll always have a place in my heart for the SB models in particular. But with these generic GR models that are coming out in limited capacity? I wish they’d disappear. Or at least slow down.
The Dunk’s comeback was exciting and it had itself a moment. But I feel like the well is running dry.
There are still unique models that come along every once in a while, but the creativity feels like it’s lacking a bit with some remixes to colorways we’ve already seen.
On top of that, the quality of the Dunks just isn’t great at all. My Georgetown Dunks were creased upon arrival. Yes, it’s that bad.
Here’s the thing: For a general release model? That’s totally fine. You’re supposed to see repetitive colorways and they’re not always supposed to be super creative. But that’s not what these Dunks are treated like at all.
You can’t just walk in the store and buy a pair. Ther drop in limited quantities as high heat releases. That’s what bothers me the most.
Maybe there’s a world where this reverses and we can get more dope pairs and fewer cooky colorways. But that’s just not a world that exists right now. And it’s such a shame because this could easily be the next Air Force 1 for Nike.
Instead, folks will continue to struggle to cop the Pandas. And that stinks.
Another high-end collab for Adidas
If there’s one thing Adidas is going to do, it’s find a high end fashion brand to collab with.
Who is it this time?: There’s apparently an Adidas Triple S Balenciaga joint out there that…exists. I’m not sure if this is old or if this something that’s coming. But it appears to be a thing.
And it still looks like a horse hoof, as you can see.
This has become Adidas’ bag: A trendy topic of conversation in some sneaker circles has been whether Nike could become a luxury fashion house someday. You look at collaborations with Virgil and Louis Vuitton, Dior, and even Commes De Garcon.
But I think Adidas will probably beat them to it. They’re already well on their way there.
They’ve got collaborations with Prada, Gucci, Alexander Wang and, now, potentially Balenciaga depending on if these ever release.
You see it: Put aside the fact that this is 2018-chic — this is a pretty well done rendition of this sneaker.
Adidas is pretty good at this. They do a solid job of making these wild, designer sneakers that pop a bit without having them look like completely ridiculous knockoffs we see from time to time.
That’s something I can certainly appreciate.
Sneaker Madness is upon us
This week has been filled with March Madness fun, but I don’t think anything has been more fun than Unboxed’s sneaker March Madness bracket.
It has been INSANE. Look at these matchups, y’all.
I’ve been over there voting on Instagram and seeing how much of a hipster I am compared to everyone else. It’s dope.
It also made me realize this: We’ve been SPOILED over the last four years or so. There have been so many crazy joints that have come down from different brands from the Union 1’s to Virgil’s stuff to New Balance’s stuff. It’s been insane.
I’ve got to do a better job of appreciating this heat. We all do. It’d probably be easier if we could get our hands on some of it, though. Ha.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL ALREADY KNOW THE VIBES. LEGGO
First the homie Dallas got us kicked off right with the Air Max month celebration. Love to see it.
Then my guy Adrian repped home with the Aussie Prestos. Thes joints are so clean.
Storm came through with…everything! Literally, y’all.
The homie Ninja Kitteh showed out with these fresh ZX 8000’s. Joints were so clean.
The homie Trey popped out in the Maui Wowies. Straight flex for St. Patties.
My guy Tej wore these Nike By You Dunks and he did one incredible job of making some fire.
The homie Shamar popped out in these absolutely CLASSIC KD’s. SHEEEEESH.
The #KicksFam came through STUNTING all over the place for the homie Sumeet’s birthday. You love to see it.
The homie Monica kept the wave going with the Salehe 2002r. I cannot get enough of these joints.
And then my guy D Weiss sent us home with these PHENOMENAL Animal Pack 95’s. SHEEEEEESH.
Ain’t no kick game better than the KYW fam’s kick game. Y’all can go tell em I said it.
Thank you so much for rocking with me today! It was hard as hell writing this while the college basketball games were on but I got through it. Thank you for reading it, too.
I’ll catch y’all on Monday. Peace and love. Be easy. Be safe. Be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯