The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 214 — Customer Service is so important
This is why no one trusts the institutions of the sneaker world
What’s good, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me this morning.
Yerboi has a dental appointment on Wednesday, so no KYW thread. We’ll be back on Friday though.
With that out the way, let’s dig in.
The people should always come first…but they don’t
It’s not a secret to anybody who has participated in sneaker culture that there’s definitely an antagonistic relationship between the consumer and resale markets.
Here’s why: At every turn, you are reminded exactly why you cannot buy those sneakers that you so badly want. It’s always the little things that tick everyone off.
For example: The email that comes from StockX or GOAT dangling the carrot of the sneaker you just took an L on that Saturday will straight ruin your day.
But it’s not just that — it’s also the way they treat people. There are just times when they simply are not great at communicating with buyers or sellers on their respective platforms. We got an extreme example of that last week.
What happened: A StockX customer who says they were sold a counterfeit KAWS Jordan 4 tried to send it back through the platform and was rejected. They then turned to Twitter to share their gripe and try and get some movement on the complaint.
And that’s when this happened:
StockX literally said they were lying for clout and, if they really had problems, then they should email the platform. This escalated from helpdesk correspondent to YouTube commenter extremely quickly.
Here’s the thing: Whether this person was right or wrong, this is absolutely no way to talk to a customer. Especially not in a public forum like Twitter. All this is going to do is anger other people who have — or have heard — similar stories like this one.
That’s exactly what happened. StockX was trolled, the tweet was eventually deleted and we don’t really know if the matter was resolved or not. All this has resulted in is further damage to the reputation of an institution in the sneaker world no one trusted to begin with and, honestly, that stinks.
These resale platforms are supposed to be tools for the sneakerhead. A path to unlock access on something you may not be able to get otherwise.
Instead, they feel like an enemy to the consumer. A barrier. Something you have to compete with instead of something that works for you. Period.
The big picture: It’s not just the resale platforms when you really dive deeply into it. There’s a huge mistrust of the sneaker brands out there.
Think about all the stuff we’ve gone through with Nike, for example, in the last calendar year with the botting and reselling and Joe Heberts of the world.
Yes, what you see above is just a Twitter interaction on its face. A social media manager who just lost their cool in a moment.
But in the grand scheme: It is indicative of a larger problem within sneaker culture right now. And that is a lack of care or concern for the everyday consumer. That needs to be fixed. If it isn’t, this culture won’t last. Period.
Adidas is diving headfirst into the NIL game
It’s almost been a calendar year since the NCAA finally let down the gates and allowed student-athletes to monetize their name, image and likeness rights. It opened so many students up for sponsorships.
My big question as it related to these sneaker brands was how would they operate in this? What would this look like for the Nikes and Adidas and Under Armours of the world?
I think we’ve seen that play itself out in a few different ways so far, but none more comprehensive than what Adidas just did.
The news: Adidas made a big splash in the NIL pool by opening a new “network” for student-athletes at Adidas schools across multiple sports.
The program will grant more than 50,000 students entry into Adidas’ NIL program.
The student-athletes will essentially become paid spokespeople for the three stripes. They'll be paid from sponsored posts from the brand and will earn a royalty from the number of sales they produce on-brand products. It’s unclear what that royalty percentage is at this point.
Why this matters: This sets a pretty incredible precedent for what can be done from a brand standpoint. Adidas literally opened things all the way up here.
They’re the first major brand to launch a NIL network like this directly under their name with students profiting from it. We’ve seen things close to this happen already, but nothing quite like it.
Phil Knight and other former Nike execs opened Division Street last year and that does similar things. But it’s not a Nike initiative directly and it only benefits students at the University of Oregon.
Moving forward: From a brand standpoint, this gives Adidas a foot in the door with so many athletes. Big collegiate names will choose Adidas schools because of this and that’s a big deal.
But from the athlete’s view? This is absolutely how it should’ve always been. These students have been running around in brand gear for years — in a lot of cases before they even get to college — and are essentially walking billboards for the brand and their schools. They never got a check from it.
Now, they do. And that’s exactly how it should be.
Dreams and Nightmares
Bruh. Y’all want to see my dreams crushed in a matter of hours? Come on, it’ll be fun. For y’all.
I get home on Friday night to a package at the crib. Y’all know the vibes. We crack that thing open. BOOM. It’s Concepts’ Heavy Air Max 1. I’m feeling good — feeling great, in fact. Great enough to take this picture.
You know it’s real when I buss out the KYW sign. In my mind, I’m Thanos. Collecting these Air Maxes like Infinity Stones. I go to bed with all the confidence in the world that I’m finna conquer Air Max Day and get the Far Out’s from Concepts.
We coming up on 11 am ET when the next joints drop. I’m so confident, still. I got it in the bag. Got my tabs ready. Got my card ready. We good. I tweet this.
Copping as a family. BAH. Just call me Harry Potter and stick me under the staircase, dog. Y’ALL the family. Me? I’m clearly just an unloved step child. How else do you explain THIS when I try to cop.
Dog. The levels of heartbreak here. I cannot. Went smooth through the Captcha. Drew the stupid boxes. Clicked the right size. Everything. Only to be booted.
I absolutely hate it here. I hate it. And you know the L was cemented when I started rationalizing like God cares about these stupid sneakers.
Nope. You just took the L bud. That’s all. To the aftermarket we go.
SPECIAL DELIVERY: These new Kawhi’s are 💰💰💰
The second iteration of Kawhi Leonard’s signature shoe with New Balance is here and, of course, it’s called the Kawhi II. Our first introduction to it? The New Money colorway. The design inspiration here is obvious — it’s a 100 dollar bill. And, honestly? It’s pretty cool.
What’s weird, though, is the timing of it all. We have a Kawhi signature shoe with no Kawhi Leonard. He’s out with a torn ACL.
So our question is why drop the Kawhi when there’s no Kawhi? We have an answer on this week’s SD.
Tap, tap, tap in.
What’s droppin, bruh?
Nike ISPA Flow 2020 SE — Tuesday, March 29
Union LA Dunk Low “Argon” — Thursday, May 31
Union LA Dunk Low “Royal” — Thursday, May 31
Marimekko x Adidas Ultraboost 5.0 — Friday, April 1
Air Jordan 1 High 85 “Georgetown” — Saturday, April 2
Thank you so much for rocking with me today, family! I appreciate you. Y’all are the absolute best.
Have a fantastic week, y’all. Random, quick thought: You are more than good enough to do that thing you’ve been wanting to do. So, ya know. Get it done. Peace and love. Be easy. Be safe. Be kind. And we out.
-Sykes
It’s a sad truth to know that both corporations and US-born humans are both legal citizens, but even sadder to see how both can have egos size of the price of old Yeezys
820% agree that StockX shouldn’t have spoken to someone that way. While, as we are all probably thinking, they can probably get away with it more often than not, nobody wanna buy anything from anybody who talk any kind of greazy in a professional setting.