The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 269 — 💰 Filling the gaps
Another one of those "others" we talked about is blowing up
Goooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you.
HOUSEKEEPING: KYW will be out next week for the Super Bowl. It’s not because I’m going to be partying and (HOPEFULLY) celebrating an Eagles win. I’ll just be helping out For The Win with their coverage throughout. It’ll be back that Friday, though!
Let’s jump in.
Hoka is blowing up
As Nike continues to leave gaps in the footwear space by peeling back its wholesale attack for the sake of its direct-to-consumer strategy, other companies are going to continue to step in. Hoka has done just that.
What happened: Deckers Brands held its Q3 earnings call on Friday and announced a 13.3% increase in sales to the tune of $1.34 billion, mostly driven by Hoka.
The company saw a 90.8% boom in sales in Q3 at $352.1 million compared to $184.6 million last year.
Not only that, but the company just crossed the $1 billion revenue mark over the last 9 months.
Hoka is blowing up. It’s not quite a footwear powerhouse yet and is still considered niche. But it’s given Deckers something to hold onto outside of Ugg.
Why is this happening? That’s the question. The biggest factor here is the company’s leaning on wholesalers.
We saw more Hoka in stores like Dick’s Sports Goods and REI’s where you’d expect it.
We also saw them in places where sneakerheads are, like in Footlocker’s family of stores. I’ve even seen pairs in boutiques, like local DC operation Somewhere.
As a result, Hoka’s wholesale revenue bumped up by 83%, which is a huge jump.
Between the lines: Correlation is not always causation, but it seems pretty clear that Nike’s absence from the shelves of many of the stores mentioned above has led directly to competitors gaining a foothold — no pun intended — in the space.
Remember, last year, Nike pulled its products from the shelves of many retailers behind its DTC offensive. Some had Nike accounts completely zapped. Others, like Foot Locker, only saw partial losses. Either way, space opened up for competitors.
There’s also this: We saw brand awareness for Hoka increase a ton last year — particularly with Millennial and Gen Z audiences.
It was partly behind their increased presence on shelves, sure. But we also saw the brand partner with more hyped brands like Bodega and even a luxury brand in Moncler. They’re meeting people where they’re at, and that’s led to a jump in popularity.
It’s particularly spiked amongst women in that 18-to-34-year-old range, Insider’s Danny Santana writes.
Gen Z and millennial women have especially driven sales growth for Hoka by regularly visiting the brand's website to view what's new and purchasing shoes, Powers said. The new Solimar cross trainer released in the fall is an example of this trend, he said. The Solimar launched without much brand marketing behind it, but is still in the top five of styles purchased by women aged 18-34.
The bottom line: Hoka hasn’t hit the heights of, say, a New Balance or Asics yet. It’ll never be Nike or Adidas. But its rise in the sneaker space won’t stop because there’s so much space for it to happen.
So long as brands like Nike continue to leave space for others to creep in, the “other” brands we talk about will continue to do so. Hoka seems to be one of the first to take advantage of this, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Jordan Brand enters the world of luxury — again
On Friday we talked about how the Tiffany Air Force 1 and how Nike is morphing into a luxury brand right before our eyes. Over the weekend we got more evidence pointing to exactly that through a rumored Jordan Brand release coming sometime in holiday 2023.
The news:
Jordan Brand is reportedly dropping a retro Air Jordan 1 Hi 85 retailing for $1,500. Yes, you read that correctly.
The low version of the shoe is also reportedly coming for $1,300. Once again, yes, you are reading that correctly.
The two silhouettes will reportedly be part of Jordan Brand’s “Wings” Collection, which will feature sneakers using high-quality materials.
I’ve reached out to multiple sources at Jordan Brand in an effort to confirm this pricing but have not received comment yet. Leaks are always shaky, but this is coming from a trusted source in @zSneakerheadz.
Here’s the thing: Jordan Brand is an aspiring luxury brand now. At least, partially, anyway. The brand has been building this out for years.
It initially launched a luxury line with its “Pinnacle” collection years ago back in 2015.
The brand also has a new “World of Flight” retail concept launched in Milan aimed at high-net-worth consumers. A second space is coming in Tokyo.
Why is this happening?: There’s a burgeoning market for luxury footwear with younger consumers at the center of it. Everyone wants to stunt now. It’s no longer about what your sneakers look like, but rather how much they cost. Nike, Jordan Brand and other mainstream retailers want in, so they’re elevating certain products to meet those standards.
The bottom line: Ultimately, Nike and Jordan will always have a mainstream level of product because there’s too much money involved for them not to. But as we move forward, get ready to see more $1,500 shoes. That’s just where we’re at now.
General Purpose is returning to Kohls
Tom Sachs’ and Nike’s General Purpose Shoe is returning to shelves in Kohl's once again this week.
What’s happening:
Sachs is releasing his GPS in a mocha brown colorway via his NikeCarft site on February 6 and worldwide on February 7
Part of the worldwide release is an in-store drop at Kohls, which he also did with the Sulfur colorway back in October.
Kohl’s released another ad with these joints to make it official. They’ll be in department stores near you soon…potentially?
That’s the thing: As much as I appreciate this sneaker being released in a more accessible, actually physical way, it still feels like it’s a bit limited in scope.
We don’t know the department store list yet and hopefully, it has expanded. But there were some spaces that were excluded from the drop list last go-round.
These shoes aren’t accessible online. They still sell out instantly with high resale prices.
That may change this time around as Sachs and Nike take their learnings from the last drop and apply it to this one. We’ll find out this week. Either way, I’m excited to see hypebeasts once again lining up outside of Kohl’s again.
This is dumb…but kinda fun?
MSCHF — the Brooklyn Art Collective that seems hell-bent on getting sued by everyone — is back at it again.
Instead of giving us warped sneakers this time, though, they’re dropping something that has my nostalgia meter on 1,000. ASTRO BOY BOOTS, Y’ALL.
To be clear: This is dumb. They’re literally just rubber boots and they look incredibly uncomfortable. No idea if I’d even fit in them.
But — and hear me out — what if they make my feet turn into rocket jets like this?
I’m just saying! As an OG anime nerd, I’d be in.
What’s droppin, bruh?
Nike Dunk Low “Valentine’s Day” — Tuesday, February 7
Tom Sachs x Nike “General Purpose Sneaker” — Tuesday, February 7
Air Jordan 4 “Oil Green” — Wednesday, February 9
Nike Vomero 5 “Cacao Wow” — Friday, February 10
Air Jordan 4 “Craft” — Saturday, February 11
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for rocking with me today. Appreciate you. Hope you have an amazing week. Don’t forget to submit your questions for KYW’s mailbag at the end of the month. February moves fast!
Let’s chat again on Friday. Til then, peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯