The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 213 — Nike finally did right by Kobe

This is great news.

Mar 25, 2022

Gooooood morning, family! Thank you so much for rocking with the Kicks You Wear this morning. We appreciate you over here.

Y’all ready for the weekend? I’m hitting Top Golf for the first time in, like, 3 years. Here’s hoping I don’t toss the club or something wild. Wish me luck. Also give me golf swing tips because I suck.

Anyway, enough about me. Let’s do it.

They finally got it done

I expected Nike to come to an agreement with Vanessa Bryant and the Kobe Bryant estate at some point down the line. But I never thought it’d be this soon. Yet, here we are. It’s happened.

What’s happening: Nike and the Kobe Bryant estate have finally come to an agreement on continuing Kobe Bryant’s signature sneaker line with the swoosh.

Things broke off earlier this year after the two sides couldn’t come to terms on an agreement to continue working together.

Vanessa and the estate expected to be offered a “lifetime” contract from Nike in the same vein as Michael Jordan or LeBron James.
It’s unclear what they were actually offered, but it wasn’t that. So they left and took Kobe’s likeness with them.

That was nearly a year ago in April 2021. Here we are in March 2022 and things are back on. Vanessa Bryant announced the move in a post on Instagram.

Michael Sykes, II @MikeDSykes

Definitely expected Nike to circle back to the table with Vanessa and the Kobe Bryant estate at some point but didn't expect it to be this soon. Shouts to them for getting it done and doing it in a way that makes sense.

The details:

The new partnership will focus on “championing a new generation of fans and encouraging youth participation in sport,” per a Nike release.
The first new shoe from the partnership will be the Kobe 6 Protro “Mambacita Sweet 16” in honor of Gianna Bryant.
All proceeds from Gianna’s shoes will be donated to the Mamba and Mambacita Foundation annually, per Vanessa Bryant’s post.

It’s been a long time coming — but, honestly, not as long as I thought. This was something I figured would take years. I thought the Bryant estate would explore their options, Nike would move forward with their other signature athletes and, eventually, both sides would return to the table with clear eyes about their worth years down the line.

But instead its done now. And in Vanessa’s post, it’s spelled out pretty clear why:

“I am so proud that my husband's shoes are still the most worn by players on NBA courts and that the demand for his shoes remain so desired by his fans around the world.”

People never stopped wearing Kobe’s. From regular fans to legitimate NBA players and hoopers at every single level. It remains Nike’s most popular signature basketball line today and that was never going to change.

So many NBA players wear Kobes from Ja Morant to DeMar DeRozan and Devin Booker. They weren’t going to stop.

That’s what drove Nike back to the table and what, ultimately, got this deal done.

Be smart: This isn’t just a straight-up win for fans — not yet. We still need to see how accessible these pairs will be and how Nike will get these in the hands of Bryant’s true fans. That’s one thing Vanessa Bryant harped on from the very beginning.

We’ll see how that goes. But regardless, things are up and running again. And, for my money, that’s a great look.

Nike and Footlocker have peaced things up…for now

I told y’all we would get something interesting out of Nike’s earnings call on Monday. Particularly, something interesting with Footlocker. That’s exactly what happened.

The news: Nike CEO John Donahoe actually went out his way to silence the noise of Nike completely shutting out Footlocker. Despite all the misinformation and confusion swirling about with it, it’s just not happening.

What he said:

To be crystal clear, Foot Locker always has been and always will be a large and important partner of NIKE's. And that will continue to be the case. And they'll have a very distinct role in our marketplace strategy as a wholesaler, with a particular focus on the culture of basketball, on the sneaker culture and on kids, which is a really big and important opportunity for us. So just to be clear, they are one of our important partners going forward.

That’s a pretty solid endorsement of Footlocker from Donahoe, though I guess one could argue that it isn’t quite that strong since Nike is still pulling at least some product.

But, at the very least, Nike seems to still view Footlocker as an essential part of its plans moving forward.

In particular that line about FTL’s role with Nike being focused on “the culture of basketball…the sneaker culture and on kids,” was very interesting.
It sounds like they’ll still use them for Signature Sneaker drops, some general release models and on kids stuff.
Just…maybe not the hyped AJ1’s we’re used to at some point? We’ll see.

Regardless, at least we can finally put to bed the idea that Nike is removing all of their product and won’t have Footlocker as part of its future. That never seemed realistic in the present time.

Could that change? Absolutely. As DTC accelerates and Nike expands a bit more with brick-and-mortar stores, more hits like this will come across the board.

But until then, the tools you have in your toolbox shouldn’t change too much. Footlocker will still largely be there for those Saturday Ls.

Is Travis Scott really back? Like, back back?

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything surrounding Travis Scott after the debacle that was his Astroworld festival in 2021.

There were riots and 10 people, unfortunately, loss their lives during the show while Scott performed.
After the tragedy Scott went on an apology tour that backfired because he didn’t really apologize. And then he went quiet.

But now: Travis seems to be making his way back into the picture. We saw him a few weeks ago at the 76ers-Nets game where he was supporting James Harden. And this week he had another sneaker leak out.

The skinny: A Travis Scott rendition of the Air Trainer 1 is making the rounds on the internet. We don’t know when this thing is coming but we’ve already gotten some pretty detailed looks.

Sneaker Bar Detroit @SBDetroit

On-Feet Photos the Travis Scott x Nike Air Trainer 1 "Grey Haze" 🌵 sneakerbardetroit.com/travis-scott-n…

These sorts of detailed looks along with a public appearance here and the HEAL project charity work he’s involved in shows us he’s gearing up for something. No idea what, but this is him working to rehabilitate his image.

Is it working? We’ll find out. But make no mistake — whenever those shoes drop, folks are going to go crazy over them.