The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 244 — 🔥Ye's scorched earth path begins
Just like that, Yeezy x GAP is dead
Gooooood morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear.
Cheers to the fantastic weekend you have ahead of you. It’ll be a blast. Thanks for letting me usher you into it with some sneaker talk.
Let’s dig in.
Well, that was fast
Kanye’s scorched earth tour has begun and it’s starting with GAP. West has officially parted ways with the company after just a couple of years of working together. He formally notified the company on Thursday with a letter, per the Wall Street Journal.
West cited the lack of follow-through on brick-and-mortar Yeezy stores that were promised to him as the reason why.
He also mentioned they’d failed to actually release apparel he’d designed for GAP stores.
On top of that, he said they weren’t receptive to the ideas he brought to the table.
What they said: An internal email from Global GAP brand CEO Mark Breitbard leaked onto sneaker Twitter. He said the company was moving on.
“Simply put, while we share a vision of bringing high-quality, trend-forward, utilitarian design to all people through unique omni experiences with Yeezy Gap, how we work together to deliver this vision is not aligned. And we are deciding to wind down the partnership.”
The backdrop: The two sides came together in 2020. Ye signed a 10-year agreement with GAP that seemed to include a plan to make Yeezy a more egalitarian brand. It never happened.
The ironic part is this time two years ago we were talking about how Yeezy had actually saved Gap. Today, it might actually be in the worst shape than it ever was.
Last November Gap’s stock reached as high as $25.50 per share. As of Thursday evening it’s at $9 and falling.
The takeaway: There was a lot of promise here. It’s such a shame it won’t ever be actualized.
Set aside the scorched earth path West chose here — it doesn’t really matter. That’s just what he does. He can get away with it because he’s Kanye West. He’ll bounce back.
But the real loser here is the consumer.
It’s starting to feel like we’ll never get that egalitarian Yeezy we were once promised from West. It didn’t happen here. It won’t happen with Adidas. Where will it come from?
When — not if — West goes independent, I doubt we’ll see reduced prices considering manufacturing, distribution and marketing costs will rise for Yeezy.
It’s hard to pinpoint where Ye will hold true to his promise to the people. All folks out there clamoring for this stuff can do is wait for it at this point. Just…don’t hold your breath.
What’s next: Adidas.
The billion-dollar Chef?
Under Armour is reportedly on its way to making Steph Curry a billion-dollar basketball player.
The news: In a sprawling Rolling Stone profile on Curry, Matt Sullivan dropped this little nugget.
“He’s nearly locked a lifetime contract with Under Armour worth potentially more than $1 billion.”
Why this is a big deal: This puts Curry in the same space as Michael Jordan or LeBron James, which makes sense considering he has the Curry Brand at UA.
But it just doesn’t feel like the smartest deal for Under Armour. The timing isn’t right.
Just 2 years ago they used a Force Majeure clause to sneak their way out of a massive sponsorship deal with UCLA that wound up being settled out of court.
The Securities and Exchanges Commission also dinged the company for fudging numbers.
Things have been so bad that former CEO Patrick Frisk jumped ship after 2 years.
Let’s be real: Under Armour probably didn’t have much choice here. For an athlete of his stature, this is probably the next logical step in keeping him after he nearly left the brand a few years ago.
Especially with how much they lean on him — he drives their footwear sales essentially all by himself.
But on the other hand: Under Armour Q1 2023 footwear sales were flat. The Curry Magic they had in 2015 has yet to return. It doesn’t feel like it’s coming back. Maybe they leverage him outside of basketball through golf or something else, but even that route is limited. He’s not a pro-golfer.
This just feels like Under Armour playing by the playbook that Nike wrote. And they very obviously aren’t Nike. That’s a losing battle.
Regardless of all that, though, Steph got the bag. And I absolutely love that for him.
We won’t be getting that Salehe x Nike collab anytime soon
It’s very rare that someone would get an opportunity to work with Nike and end up turning it away. But Salehe Bembury did just that.
Wait, what?: Yep. That’s right. In this dope Fast Company profile by Mark Wilson, Bembury explained Nike presented him with “very attractive keys,” sending him an offer to work with him that he ultimately rejected.
“Bembury brought his visitor’s pass home with him to keep as a memento. “I framed it in the most obnoxious, ornate gold frame. When I sent it in to get framed, that represented the day that I accomplished the thing I most wanted in my entire life,” he says. “But then, seven weeks later, when I got it back? It represented the day that I accomplished the thing I’ve wanted my entire life that I didn’t take—which almost made [the pass] that much more powerful.” Ultimately, Bembury wanted to preserve his rare role as an auteur in shoe design, and New Balance felt like the better partner for that than Nike.”
Creative control, creative control, creative control. That’s what it seems like got in the way.
This is so Nike:
I’m not sure what “attractive keys” are. But with a designer like Bembury, of course, they’d want to keep him in-house.
That probably meant no Crocs, no New Balance, no (insert brand X here). And that’s just not…Salehe.
Ultimately, I’m thankful we’ll still get the Salehe projects we’re getting because they’re awesome even if his Spunge site is a complete dumpster fire. I’m just sad we’ll never get the Salehe x Nike collab we deserve.
My obsession: The Workin’ at Work podcast
So a couple of weeks ago I hopped on a podcast hosted by my former Axios colleague, Jeremiah Allen, called Workin @ Work. First of all, it was super enjoyable. Please listen to that here.
But, more importantly, I find the concept of the podcast so exciting. For me, as a Black man, it took a long time for me to get comfortable in my various workspaces filled with coworkers that didn’t look or behave like me.
Allen explored that in a way that made me realize I didn’t know how much it had actually effected me. And I also hadn’t realized how comfortable being able to wear my sneakers made me in that environment.
But that’s what makes the pod so good. Tap in. Especially if you want to hear about RompHims. What an era.
Worth your time: The Workin’ at Work podcast and all its episodes.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBRATIONS LET’S GOOOO.
The homie Dizzzy got us started with these beautiful Chicago 1.5s that he’s going to eventually turn into some 1s. Love to see it.
Candace kept the Jordan love going with these beauties. Wowwwww.
The homie Sean joined in on the fun with the Sulfur GPS joints and I will have these someday. Book it.
My guy Irving and his pup popped out with the Patta Monarch Air Max 1s and, yup, they’re still fire.
The homie Bars NC popped out with THESE BRED 1s and absolutely SMOKED this. Wow.
The homie Andy came through in the JFG Penny Cookie Pink 90/60 and MAN I gotta wear my joints this weekend, don’t I?
The homie Mike Guillory popped out in the Protection Pack coming in this beautiful orange flavor. Absolutely love it.
Then the homie Luke came through and sent us home with these INCREDIBLE Asics Gel Noosa Tri 8 joints. These colors. WOW, y’all.
SMOKED IT. Give yourselves a hand, fam.
Have a wonderful weekend, family! You deserve it. Y’all are the best. Thanks for your time.
Let’s chat again next week. Til then. Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯