The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 264 — 🗣️ It's time to make some noise, Adidas
Adidas has a real chance to grab your attention this week. Will it?
Goooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day. I hope you take some time to reflect on the state of our world today if you’ve got some time off.
I’ve shared it here before, but you should definitely check out King’s letter to Coretta Scott. It’s one of my favorite works because it gives us the full picture of the man and what he believed — not just the whitewashed version we’re always presented with. It talks about a need for radical change in our economics and much of it still applies today. The same can be said about much of King’s work. This one just hits me the hardest.
Mailbag day will be here soon! Don’t forget to fill out the mailbag form. Alright, now Let’s jump in.
This is a big week for Adidas
I told you all coming into the year that I thought Adidas had a big opportunity to reestablish itself in the mindshare of the consumer. That opportunity starts this week.
What’s happening: Adidas is dropping two fairly big non-Yeezy collaborations this week.
First, Sean Wotherspoon’s new Orketro is coming on January 19. This shoe matches the aesthetic of the day with a 2000s retro look. It’s certainly Wotherspoon’s best work with Adidas yet.
There’s also Beyoncé, who is coming with a revamped version of the Adidas Top Ten on January 20. This is an OG silhouette Adidas originally built for Kobe Bryant at the top of the millennium but with an Ivy Park treatment.
The timing is right: Check your calendar — this week will be a quiet one. Everyone is only worried about whether the Year of the Rabbit AJ1 is actually dropping or not, and truthfully, none of us have any idea.
Adidas is rolling out two of their biggest non-Yeezy collaborators who — let’s be honest — could use a bit of positive energy behind them.
Sean Wotherspoon’s designs have been bad, to put it plainly.
Ivy Park releases were all the craze when they first released, as we’ve discussed here. The gear still sells just fine, but the hype isn’t the same as it once was.
The big picture: Let’s face it — Adidas needs wins. It’s been a while since Adidas took headlines for things that were positive and unrelated to Yeezy. Right now, the biggest topic of conversation for the brand is that it has $500 million in unreleased Yeezy gear it has no idea what to do with.
There’s an opportunity to do that here and it could mean a lot for the company in the long term if it successfully establishes the Orketro and Top Ten 2000 as mainstays for 2023.
A successful week here won’t change everything for the 3 stripes, but it’s certainly a start. And that’s all the company needs for today — a good start.
SneakerCon finally speaks but I don’t buy it
The videos of the predatory mystery boxes being sold at SneakerCon went viral over the weekend. The outrage was enough to cause SneakerCon to actually release a statement.
What they’re saying:
“We are aware of the mystery boxes put together at our events, and are currently assessing the situation. Sneaker Con’s objective is to create a safe and welcoming environment for all attendees and we will be developing a position on these type of activities that reflect that.”
In simple terms, SneakerCon is evaluating whether the mystery boxes violate their terms of service. The result should be cut and dry.
According to SneakerCon’s terms, as Sole Retriever points out, gambling is not allowed at these conventions.
Furthermore, Chase Briner, who owns the shop that sells these boxes, clearly states “it’s a gamble” in a statement responding to the outrage. Gambling, again, isn’t permitted at these conventions.
If you take a quick look at Briner’s TikTok page, you see most of the posts on his page are of children purchasing these boxes.
Again, as I said on Friday, I’m sure there are adults who participate in this. And I’m sure there are successes as well — Briner says himself there’s a 33% rate of success. But it’s pretty clear that they’re moving off of sticker price — not retail prices. And sticker prices can be whatever the Briner’s shop wants them to be. It’s a win-win situation for his operation.
How it works: Let’s say they stick a $100 shoe at MSRP in the mystery box. But, at Briner’s shop, that shoe gets a marked up sticker price of $350. His company could technically say say the box is worth its value despite that valuation being invalid almost anywhere else.
It’s an easy way to move off of stale inventory that every reseller seems to have these days and still make a profit.
This is wrong: No matter what way you cut it. But then when you add kids into the mix, it turns ghoulish. It needs to stop. Hopefully, SneakerCon nips it in the bud.
Ja Morant is giving Nike one hell of a marketing campaign for the Ja 1
Ja Morant is one of the best athletes in the NBA, obviously. But, as it turns out, he’s a pretty great salesman, too. Ja absolutely destroyed the Pacers with what might well be the best dunk of the NBA season. Don’t worry. You can watch it here.
He was asked about it after the game and he took the opportunity to shamelessly plug his new signature sneaker, the Ja 1. IT’S THE SHOES.
Corporate shilling can be extremely corny and cringy a lot of the time. But this is fun.
That should sound familiar: It’s the same tagline that Nike used for Michael Jordan back in the 80’s. Maybe we should call the shoes the Air Morants?
Ja’s kicks are bland. They aren’t nearly as good as any of the early Jordans. But as a salesman — both on and off the court — it’s clear that Ja is top-tier. Morant having a signature shoe might actually be pretty cool.
My first cop of 2023!
The 1906r is going to be a big sneaker on the New Balance roster this year just like the 2002r has been for the last few years. These joints might be the best of the ones we’ll see.
This is the “Refined Future” Reflective colorway of the model. It’s fire. This picture was awesome so I wanted to share it.
Gotta circle back for that Turtle Dove colorway. It’s only right. Can’t wait to rock these though. Cheers to 2023.
What’s droppin, bruh?
Nike Dunk Low “Montreal Bagel” — Tuesday, January 17
Sean Wotherspoon x Adidas Orketro — Thursday, January 19
Nike Zoom Vomero “Photon Dust” — Thursday, January 19
Ivy Park x Adidas “Top 10 2000” — Friday, January 20
Jordan 1 low “Year of the Rabbit” — Saturday, January 21
A quick word on that Year of the Rabbit joint. A lot of folks have been asking me about it looking for a release date, and it’s been rumored to be dropping on January 21.
However, the sneaker has not populated the SNKRS app calendar yet. Nike hasn’t released any details or images either. So I wouldn’t expect these to come this week, but just in case they do the date is there anyway.
Thanks so much for rocking with me today, fam. I appreciate y’all! Hope you have an amazing holiday today and get to spend some time with some loved ones.
Let’s chat again on Friday. Til next time. Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯
Thank You Mike Sykes for the Coreta Scott letter. I am an ancient person and have did not know about it. Can You imagine. It sums up perfectly my view on life. Thank you again for educating me in a quite diffrent way. Chris Allard