The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 256 — ✂️ Cutting ties when it's convenient
Kanye is out at Adidas, but Yeezy certainly isn't
Gooooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me on this glorious Friday.
I’m on my way out to San Jose for SneakerCon this weekend with Special Delivery! Is anyone else popping out? I’d love to meet up!
Alright, let’s get to it.
Adidas might be done with Kanye, but it’s still using Yeezy
Adidas will never work with Kanye West again. But that doesn’t mean his shoes won’t be put to use.
What’s happening: On a Wednesday earnings call, Adidas officials made clear that the company still had plans for the existing Yeezy inventory they’re still sitting on.
According to this graphic from Adidas’ presentation shared by Complex’s Brendan Dunne, the company plans on leveraging that inventory in 2023.
The backdrop: The company once again shuffled around projections behind the 500 million euro revenue shortfall they’re suffering from cutting West — Yeezy was a big Q4 winner for Adidas and that’s gone now.
To counteract that loss, they’re going to move the existing Yeezy inventory. It was already manufactured. Some of it is already in retailers’ hands. It just needs to be sold.
They’re also saying they’re saving money by not paying out West’s royalty, which feels extremely weird to read and will certainly not at all result in any litigation. Right? Right???
We’ve known this was coming. It was no coincidence that Adidas made clear that it owns the rights to Yeezy designs in the statement they released upon cutting West.
“adidas is the sole owner of all design rights to existing products as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership.”
It’s pretty clear they’ve thought this through. Adidas seems to have had an action plan ready to go in the event of West’s departure however it happened.
But what remains to be seen is whether it’ll work or not.
This doens’t go for everyone, but people wore Yeezy because it had West’s stamp of approval.
Without that branding, they’re almost certainly going to lose a lot of those fans. And some others may believe it’s distasteful for Adidas to even do this.
Here’s the thing: On top of some fan pushback, Adidas is probably signing itself up for a legal headache here. They’re not paying West his royalty anymore, but they’re still going to use products manufactured under his brand name. Even I can tell that’s legally murky.
It just makes me wonder if this is worth the trouble it might bring. Sure, the inventory might sell. But Adidas isn’t gaining any fans from this. It’s both ethically and morally questionable. And it presents a legal window for West’s team to attack if they choose.
So, the question is, why would Adidas do this despite all the risks? The answer is simple. They don’t really have anything else right now.
Yeezy was their Jordan Brand. It was the fallback option when things failed. Now that’s gone until they can find something else to replace it with. And, well, good luck with that.
The bottom line: We’re going to see Yeezy — or whatever Adidas is going to call it moving forward — until Adidas doesn’t need it anymore.
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that day.
Speaking of Adidas…there’s a new guy in charge
Starting on January 1, former Puma CEO Bjoern Gulden is officially taking over at Adidas.
The backdrop: Gulden served as Puma’s CEO from 2014 to 2022. Obviously, the brand still isn’t any sort of power player on the level of Nike or Adidas in sneaker culture. But it certainly made huge strides as far as both market and mindshare go.
The company’s annual sales rose by 5.3 billion euros from 2014 to 2022, per Footwear News.
My take: The thing about Puma is the company has seemed quite forward-looking during Gulden’s tenure. They hit singles when they’re there.
Gulden oversaw Puma’s return to basketball and has turned it into a true player with Breanna Stewart and LaMelo Ball as signature athletes.
The brand also tapped into pop culture in a way it never has before by working with names like Rihanna, J Cole, Nipsey Hussle and Jay Z.
Adidas needs that energy. Badly. They’ve been playing catch-up for years. Not just with competitors, but with the energy they had back in 2015 when this all started. They’ve been looking for home runs and missing everything else. Gulden can change that.
Hopefully, Adidas doesn’t mess this up.
Phil Knight says Kyrie Irving is done with Nike
Kyrie Irving’s retweet of an antisemitic film just cost him his Nike deal. At least, according to Phil Knight, anyway.
What happened: Nike’s Chairman Emeritus popped on CNBC to talk about Irving’s exploits over the last few weeks. The result was a pretty stern rejection of the notion that Irving could possibly come back to Nike someday.
“Kyrie stepped over the line. It’s kind of that simple. He made some statements that we just can’t abide by and that’s where we ended the relationship. And, yeah, I was fine with that…I would doubt that we go back. But I don’t know for sure.”
Between the lines: That “I don’t know for sure” point is one of the strongest caveats I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to tell how much decision-making power Knight still has at Nike. He’s no longer chairman but, certainly, he still has influence.
Never say never with anything involving money. But it’s safe to say Kyrie and Nike are done. At least for today.
By the way…before you heap too much praise on Phil Knight, remember he’s out here trying to buy elections like they’re Nike Dunks or something.
YoonFlakes???
Ah, wrong cereal brand. But Ambush Puffs sounded way worse than Yoon Flakes. Anyway, I don’t know which one of you scoundrels told Yoon Ahn that she needed to have a cereal collab, but dammit, it’s a thing.
First of all, let’s keep it a bean. Yoon don’t look like she’s had a bowl of cereal a day in her life. She’s too rich for that. She’s 45 years old but looks 22 and it is a well-known fact that Reese’s Puffs ages you by at least 2 months per bowl. The math ain’t mathin’.
Damn. There goes my Reese’s Puffs ad chance. Whatever. Every few months there’s some weird legacy brand pulling a “how do you do, fellow kids?” It’s weird, y’all.
Hopefully, we can dead this in the next sneaker era before we stumble upon, like, a Sam’s Club x Travis Scott collab or something. We are dangerously close, folks.
#TheKicksWeWear
LET’S GOOOOOOOOO
First, the homie Storm kicked us off with a flurry of, well, kicks. Get it? Kicked us off with — nvm. Just look at the heat.
My dog Midtown Brown convinced me to go out and buy the 990v6 this weekend. Yes, I’m doing it.
My boo Jasmine popped out in the Fossil Rose Dunks fresh out the box. I must say, she got some great taste.
The homie Candace popped out with wifey and this good pup and some HEAT.
The homie Plain Pat popped out in the Ishod joints that still hold up as one of the best sneakers of the year.
The homie Reu came through with the JFG 993s and I’m definitely going to finally wear mine this weekend because of this.
Then the homie JD brought us home with the A Ma Maniere special. SHEEEEEESH my G!
Y’ALL SMOKED THAT.
Thank y’all so much for rocking with your boy. I appreciate you. Again, if you’re at SneakerCon this weekend in San Jose, pop out! Let’s link.
Anyway, talk next week. Til then. Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯
Ok, so because I’m curious and weird, I watched the whole documentary in question with Kyrie. It’s horribly boring and not well made, TBH. And also, 99% of it is backing Black Hebrew Israelite theology, which is not a new theology or idea. And also, there are some really awful antisemitic moments that are easy to miss in the documentary because it’s so long and boring. If BHI theology is by nature antisemitism, then so is atheism, agnosticism, evolutionary biology, Christianity, Islam, basically every other non Jewish theology/worldview.
I’m sure Kyrie is guilty of not answering the initial question unequivocally. However, Nike deciding to cancel is contract and cost him millions of $ feels like the punishment doesn’t meet the crime...especially since it’s coming post apology AND post the entire U of Oregon student section chanting “F*ck the Mormons” during a BYU game and Nike continuing to fund $$$$ there with 0 penalty for the University.
Something is off here with Nike. Kanye “going defcon 3” tweet is legit antisemitism (along with all the other stuff!). Kyrie actually never said anything antisemitic and has never been accused of being that or saying anything.
Any thoughts? Sorry for the long comment...