The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 235 — 📉 StockX is crashing
StockX is sacrificing sacrificing service for money. Again.
Gooooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me. I appreciate y’all.
Housekeeping: KYW will be back in August after this edition. I’ll miss y’all, but I’ll be kicking it with my (soon to be) wife which is pretty awesome. I’ll miss you too. Wait, didn’t I say that already? ❤️
Anyway. Let’s dive in.
StockX is doing the people dirty — again
If people had a hard time truly trusting StockX before, it definitely didn’t get any easier over the last week. They made all the wrong headlines.
What happened: First, the company laid off another 8% of its workforce earlier this week, per Sole Retreiver.
The range of the departments laid off was a pretty wide one, according to the report.
This follows the news that the company laid off 12% of its workforce back in April. That’s 20% in just a two-month span. That’s massive.
The company dropped a full statement after the news broke, saying “macroeconomic challenges impacting the global economy” was the reason behind the layoffs.
A translation, please: Business ain’t booming like it used to. Why? It’s inflation. Consumers are obviously spending less money than they were even just six months ago. And when they are spending, it’s on more important things than the sneakers that came out last month.
We aren’t at the height of the pandemic anymore where people were inside spending extra cash on sneakers. Those times are over.
Here’s the kicker: The troubling part of this was really the response from StockX here. The company is obviously looking to recoup some cash by laying off 1/5th of its workforce. But they also tacked on an extra $2 on electronics, apparel and trading card sales.
Doing this while laying employees off is a bold decision.
The fees will increase while their service will undoubtedly get a bit worse because of these layoffs.
Meanwhile, folks who sell on the platform will have a bit more shaved off the top because of these “macroeconomic challenges” that are such a burden to the company.
The big picture: This is why people have such a hard time with this platform. You want to lay off employees? That stinks. But fine — it’s the company’s right. But where is the care or concern for the service to the consumer? Why should regular people have to take a haircut in this instance?
I’m not sure what the bigger issue here is. Maybe StockX grew a bit too fast over these last few years. Maybe it’s too focused on that IPO.
But, regardless, at some point they have to think about taking better care of the consumer. Because if they don’t? More folks will flock to the alternatives.
Take that, Kanye
It’s not that strange to see Kanye West having an adversarial relationship with Adidas. This dude does what he wants when he wants to and he’ll call out whoever he sees fit — even if it’s his own partner. It’s who he is.
But on the other hand it is kind of weird to see Adidas going back at Kanye. Even if it’s in a sneak-dissy sort of way.
They dropped this on the timeline for everyone to see earlier this week.
What this is?: It’s a side-by-side picture of Adidas’ new adiFOM Q next to the shoe that the brand says inspired it, which is 2001's Adidas Quake.
If you’ve been on the internet, though, you know this wasn’t a post aimed at just educating the consumer. Nah — it’s way more than that.
A lot of people called Adidas out for the adiFOM, saying it was a sneaker version of Kanye West’s Foam Runner. The design is definitely similar.
That outcry was only amplified by the fact that Kanye called Adidas out for the Adilette ‘22 slide.
Read between the lines: The tweet above feels like Adidas’ response to all that. Not only are they saying they aren’t copying Kanye, but they’re also implying that Kanye has taken inspiration from designs the company has previously released.
This is all just so weird to me. These two sides are supposed to be partners, but they feel more like competitors these days than anything else. Imagine Jordan Brand publicly dressing down Nike. It wouldn't happen.
It makes you wonder what could potentially happen when West’s deal is up.
The 10-year extension West signed with Adidas in 2016 expires in 2026.
It’s possible they could make their way back to the negotiating table — we’ve seen Kanye turn heel more thane enough times for that not to surprise us.
But will Adidas want to keep the party going? My gut says yes. But this tweet makes it feel like that remains to be seen.
A tariff rollback might be on the way
The footwear industry and retailers around the country are looking for a bit of relief as the economy starts to slow behind inflation. And President Joe Biden might be willing to dish a bit out in the form of a repeal.
Remember: Back in 2019 as part of the trade war on China, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Chinese imports up to 25%.
The Biden administration is considering potentially “reconfiguring” those rates, per Bloomberg.
What that means: The details, to this point, are unclear. We don’t know what “reconfiguring” means, but it’s possible a significant rollback may be on the horizon.
Why that’s a big deal:
The tariffs initially only targeted industrial goods, but eventually expanded to household items like clothes and phones and appliances. So those tariffs began to hit regular folks like us hard.
A reduction would ease inflation by .3%, per the Washington Post. That’s not much, but it’s something.
I don’t know about y’all, but for me? Something sounds a lot better than nothing.
It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t find any new clogs to complain about
Look, I know clogs are in right now. But, honestly — does everybody have to have a pair? My word, man.
New Balance is getting in on the fun now. They just dropped the New Balance clog and, boy, do these things look like space shoes.
I get it: Clogs are trendy. We’re into them as a society right now — they’re comfortable and they’re colorful and they’re easy to match with so much.
But they’re also ugly as hell. Please stop wearing them outside of your house. I’m begging.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBES LETS GOOOOOOOO
First the homie Adrian popped out in the BeTrue Dunks to send Pride month off with a bang.
Then the homie Dellan came through with these heaters doing the same. The vibes are immaculate.
The homie Stasia popped out in the Patent Bred 1s absolutely holding it down. KILLING it out here.
Then the homie Storm came through, per usual, absolutely stunting in the CMFT AJ1. Appreciate the love, Storm.
Shy popped out in the Parra Dunks and, man, these are art. Plain and simple.
The homie Kali popped out in the Bred SBs and long live the SB Dunk. Forever.
The homie Alysha came through in these absolutely STUNNING Huaraches. SHEEEESH.
Then my dog Greezy came through in the A Ma Maniére AJ2s that will absolutely be SMOKING everything in Jamaica next week.
And then the homie Monica sends us off in the Far Out Air Max 1 and, man, this pack is still undefeated.
FLYEST. GANG. OUT. Don’t let nobody tell you otherwise.
And that’s a wrap! Thank you so much for rocking with me on this journey, fam. I appreciate you. Y’all are the best. Love you. Can’t wait to chat again.
Until August. Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯
Congratulations in advance on the nuptials my guy! enjoy it!