The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 271 — Pharrell? For real? 🤔
Is Pharrell the right move for Louis V?
Gooooood morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rocking with me today.
Folks was really out there buying those Astro Boy boots, y’all. I cannot believe this. I’m distraught. Just know, if it was you, I’m looking at you funny. I still love you tho.
Let’s jump in.
We got another one, Pharrell
No one can ever replace Virgil Abloh in all his endeavors, but Louis Vuitton has at least found someone it’s ready to move forward with.
What’s happening: Louis V is tapping Pharrell Williams as its new creative director, the New York Times reports, placing the acclaimed musician and creative in the spot that Virgil once held down.
The company announced Williams’ hire via Instagram, calling him a “visionary” whose influence stretches through music, art and fashion.
His background: That’s absolutely how you should describe someone of his ilk.
Obviously, Pharrell is a 13-time Grammy award-winning artist. But he’s also a trailblazer in the fashion world. Just ask BAPE or Adidas.
He’s also the Chief Brand Officer of Doodles, an NFT project Pharrell has shaped.
He’s respected amongst his peers, too. That counts for a lot.
When you add all that together, it certainly makes some sense for Louis V to tap him here.
Supplemental material: Sprezza’s Clayton Chambers, put together an excellent Twitter thread diving into his thoughts on why the move makes sense. The biggest is simple: Pharrell has been creating for 30 years.
I have to be honest: With all that being said…I’m a bit skeptical. I just can’t remember the last impactful thing Pharrell has created in recent years.
I know that sounds harsh. And I would never deny Pharrell’s influence. I even wrote about it. He’s one of the original OGs in this. But will his ideas be fresh? Will they be new?
His Humanrace x Adidas stuff has trended toward uninspiring over the years. His “Premium Basics” line is filled with overpriced essentials.
What he’s doing with Doodles is certainly going to be looked at as a plus — NFTs is part of LV’s strategy moving forward. But what does that look like long-term? He’s dropping a Doodles album — we’ll see how it does.
He knows luxury — Pharrell collabed on a collection with Chanel. But you probably don’t remember it because it didn’t move the needle.
Here’s my thing: It might’ve made more sense to bring in someone who was new. A fresh face. LV looked at names like Telfar Clemens, Colm Dillane (aka KidSuper), Martine Rose and Grace Wales Bonner, according to the NYT.
Though they’re not as experienced as Pharrell, they do have fresher perspectives — the same thing Abloh had. They’re building things people are getting excited about right now. I just don’t know if Pharrell is.
The big picture: Williams has earned this spot. He deserves the opportunity to try. And the more Black creatives in high places, the better. I’m not complaining. I just need to see how this works. Hopefully, it goes well.
It’s very nice to see hip-hop taking people to high places. Keep the party going.
Kool Kiy Strikes Back
Back in 2022, Nike sued both Kool Kiy and Omi for sneakers the company claimed violated the trade dress of the Air Jordan 1.
What’s the word: Now, Kool Kiy is coming back with a counter. Say that 3 times fast.
On Monday, Kiy LLC filed a countersuit on Monday in the Southern District of New York arguing that Nike’s trademark infringement claims are “invalid and unenforceable.”
The company — owned by Nickwon Arvinger — claims to have designed the shoes intentionally to be different from the Air Jordan 1 and the Dunk.
Between the lines: This is essentially the same argument John Geiger made in his defense of the GF-01. The claim is that there are certain design cues that differentiate Kiy’s shoe from the Air Jordan 1’s. There were two specific points hammered home.
First, it was that Kiy’s lighting bolt was “nothing like” Nike’s swoosh, according to the claim. That bolt is also a registered trademark for Kiy LLC.
Kiy also argued that the materials used in Kool Kiy products are different, ranging from finer materials to leathers and different color palettes.
Here’s the thing: Just like the Air Force 1 in the Geiger case, it’s pretty clear that the design of this shoe is a riff on the Air Jordan 1. There is a huge difference between this case and the Geiger case, however.
There’s no BAPE or anything of that nature to point to and say “hey, why the double standard?”
Maybe they could argue that Nike has warped the Jordan 1 design so many times, its trade dress is unenforceable. But it’s hard to know how well that will fare.
Kool Kiy is in for a long, long legal battle. Nike’s got the cash and resources to keep this going for however long it takes. We’ll see if he can keep up.
Salomon got the biggest win of the Super Bowl
Listen. As an Eagles fan, there are only two parts of Super Bowl 57 that I am going to acknowledge. They are:
Jalen Hurts balling the hell out. Pay that man.
Pretty much everything about Rihanna’s halftime performance.
Dassit.
Speaking of Rihanna’s performance, did y’all peep what she wore though? Rih rocked Salomon’s Mason Margiela MM6 collab in this sick red colorway.
Here’s the thing: Y’all know me. I don’t normally gas the celebrity here. That’s not my vibe. But this is different.
Why is this a BFD: It’s the Super Bowl — arguably the biggest stage in the world. Everything that touches that stage gets blown up. There’s a reason why ads are $7 million a pop during the game at a minimum. It’s the biggest advertising stage we have.
Some examples:
Rihanna’s streams across multiple platforms reportedly spiked by 640% after her performance.
The same thing happens for other acts every single year just by being on that stage.
That Super Bowl stage makes a huge difference for well-known artists so just imagine what it does for a sneaker brand still finding its footing in the mainstream. It’s going to make a huge difference for Salomon.
Google searches for the brand after her appearance spiked by 4000% on Google Trends, per the Business of Fashion.
The bottom line: Here’s yet another big win for the “others” that we keep on talking about. That’s a good thing for the sneaker world at large. The more competition, the better. This certainly helps.
A look at the first 2023 Kobe sneaker
We’ve been wondering when the first big Kobe drop of 2023 was going to come down the pipeline. Apparently, it’s coming in March, per Sole Retriever.
The backdrop: It’s another model honoring the late Gigi Bryant’s birthday — she would’ve turned 17 this upcoming May.
Let’s hope this drop goes better than the Mambacita Sweet 16 joint because, uh, yeah. That was bad.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBES LET’S GOOOOO
First, the homie Yosh popped out in the Overbreak which is one of the most underrated shoes we’ve seen in recent years IMO.
Then, my dog Adrian came through with the Jordan 2 that I’m just going to call the Eagles colorway because that’s what it is.
The homie Amy popped out in the Archeao Jordan 3, which was her first pair of Js. So let’s all toast to that!
The homie Dellan popped out in the 9060 and I still maintain that this is the best sneaker silhouette out right now.
The homie Rick Dubb popped out in some Chicago Lows and, yes, we show AJ1 lows love here, too.
Then the homie Rudez brought us home with the JFG 990v3. These joints are CRACK. Love this shoe, man. Ugh.
DASSIT. Y’all smoked that! Good stuff, folks.
Thank you so much for rocking with me, fam. Hope you enjoyed reading today and I also hope you have a fantastic weekend ahead of you.
Let’s chat again on Monday. Until then, peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯