The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 257 — ❌ Lost & Not Found
So that was a mess, huh?
Gooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me this morning.
Happy Thanksgiving week! Hope you have a good turkey in your life this Thursday. Can’t wait to fry mine.
Anyway, let’s dig in. Wait, is that a food metaphor? Oops.
That damn SNKRS app
Congrats to everyone who passed on the Lost & Found Air Jordan 1 over the weekend. Shoutout to you for preserving your sanity. As for the rest of us, what a mess that was, right? Why in the world do we keep doing this?
Where we are: This might’ve Nike's most most SNKRS drop since Virgil Abloh dropped “The Ten.” It hit all the notes.
The app was buggy from start to finish with frozen screens and long load times.
Traffic hit so hard once the drop started that the app started logging people out — including myself. Many of us didn’t even get a chance to enter.
Those who did enter were met with incredibly long wait times to learn whether Nike was taking their money.
The whole thing felt like an exercise in futility. It painted a perfect picture in showing us why this system will never work to satisfy a majority of folks.
Here’s the why: There were reportedly over 300,000 pairs of this shoe available via SNKRS. If you count the pairs that went to other retailers we’re probably talking easily around 400,000 pairs here. Maybe more.
This was talked about as being one of the most widely available drops in Nike’s history. But it just didn’t feel like it at all.
That’s because the app — after all these years — still isn’t built to handle that sort of traffic burden.
Clearly, Nike still hasn’t come up with a successful strategy in easing that burden at all.
And there was no way for consumers to focus on one retailer with the shoes spread out so thinly.
There are just so many problems with the way this all works now. Obviously, everyone can’t be happy leaving a drop like this. But when it feels like nobody is happy? That’s when you know things went awry.
The big picture: This drop was everything I hate about sneakers (and SNKRS) in 2022. It showed why the “make more pairs!” calls don’t really work. It’s like asking for more lanes on the highway to alleviate traffic. It won’t ease the burden at all — it just creates more space for congestion.
We're all chasing the same shoe. And we're onlt doing it because this is what we've been shepherded to.
Yes, Jordan 1s are cool. Chicago’s are especially beautiful. But think about the toxic relationship you just had to endure to even have a shot at getting these.
It also showed us just how toxic our relationship with these shoes are.
You woke up early on your Saturday morning to log in to an app you knew wasn't prepared for one of the biggest retail drops of the year. You knew it would fail, but you tried anyway.
Before that, though, the SNKRS app told you that you could get early access to these shoes if you’ve already been defeated by the app 20 times over. You had to fail enough for the app to feel sorry for you and give you success.
And fret not! If you didn’t get them, don’t worry. This Jordan 1 becomes yet another L that can go to your count for exclusive access on…another Jordan 1? Whew boy.
The bottom line: It’s just all so flawed. We need a reset. I hope this shoe here serves as the end of an era. One where we’re not so obsessed with hype and just looking for the next cool thing. And by that, I mean cool in our own eyes. Not everyone else’s.
Ah, yes. The sneaker of the year lists are here.
ComplexCon was this weekend. The event has become a landmark event where all the brands and the hypebeasts gather to praise hyped kicks like they’re baby Jesus.
Why it matters: A big part of the event is crowning the Complex Sneaker of the Year. With the company being the lead tastemaker in today’s sneaker media, it’s safe to say their panel's choice has some weight to it.
That’s why I’m so confused why it’s a $10,000 sneaker absolutely no one has.
This should inform you on what the rest of the list looks like. What a strange pick.
Here’s why: Y’all know my vibe when it comes to this conversation. Three things matter most: Accessibility, aesthetics and, the least important factor, hype.
That shoe meets the criteria for hype, obviously. But it completely fails in accessibility. You will literally never see these in the streets. Nobody has these. And if they did they’d never wear them.
Also, if we’re keeping it a buck about aesthetics? It’s closer to “meh” than 🔥.
The take: Is this my sneaker of the year? No. Not even close. Wouldn’t even make my list. But, hey, man. Remember what we talked about a few weeks ago. This is all subjective. Their panel can feel how they want to feel about it.
But this feels out of touch. The sneaker of the year should be a sneaker that people wear — not one they may aspire to flip for cash.
Sneakers are aspirational by nature but not in this way. This is just too much.
Views from SneakerCon, including the homie Neckface
We went out to SneakerCon last week and had an absolute blast working with eBay on some cool stuff.
First of all, as y’all know, Neckface dropped a pretty dope SB back in October. We got to chat about that and the cool (yet terrifying) boxes he auctioned off with them to put together some funds for the Skate Park Project.
The dude was dope and funny as hell. For those of you who don’t know, Neckface is a legend in the skater world. To see him get his own SB after literal decades in this stuff? It’s pretty cool, man. Love that for him.
We also talked to the people to see if they’d be willing to wear Yeezy with no Ye. You’ll probably be surprised by their answers.
Can we PLEASE stop with the Off-White drops?
Off-White and Nike are collaborating on an upcoming pair of Air Terra Forma joints and — it pains me to say — they are awful.
Lukewarm take: Easily in the running for worst sneaker of the year.
And this is why I’m a firm believer that it’s time to end the Off-White x Nike drops. Virgil Abloh isn’t here anymore. I find it hard to believe his creativity would lead to…this?
It feels like a parody of his Off-White stuff as opposed to an actual Off-White drop. It’s normally simple with slight design tweaks that make it pop. These? They pop for sure. Just not in a good way.
No more of this. Please. Enough. Thank you.
What’s droppin’, bruh?
Nike Terminator High “Georgetown” — Tuesday, November 22
A Ma Maniere Air Jordan 4 “Violet Ore” — Wednesday, November 23
New Balance 990v2 MiUSA “White/Blue” — Wednesday, November 23
Kith x New Balance 993 & 2002r “Pistachio” — Friday, November 25
Air Jordan 6 “Chrome” — Saturday, November 26
Thank you so much for rocking with me, fam. Bless. Have a great turkey day. Hope you come back 5 pounds heavier.
Let’s chat again on Friday. Til then, peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯