The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 280 — 🎬 The obligatory AIR review

I was wrong and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Apr 10, 2023

Gooooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me. I appreciate y’all.

Hope you had a fantastic week and a happy Easter weekend for all of those who celebrate. I got to kick it with the fam, which is always nice. One of those real “man, this is nice” Sundays, you know? Good vibes.

Let’s jump in.

AIR was…pretty good? Yeah, pretty good!

a person in a garment — *Photo by Taru Goyal on Unsplash*

SPOILER WARNING: There are mild spoilers for the movie AIR ahead. I’d highly recommend you go to see it before reading this. You know, if you’re into that sort of thing. Which I assume you are because you’re subscribed to this newsletter. One last spoiler warning…alright…you’ve been warned.

So I went to go see AIR over the weekend. For those of you who aren’t in the loop, it’s the movie about Nike’s big bet on Michael Jordan to — quite literally — change its future and its fortunes.

Quick reaction: This movie was very good. It’ll probably get some Oscar buzz when it’s all said and done. The performances weren’t all over-the-top great, but the names in the cast are going to catch headlines.

Viola Davis was the star of the show as Deloris Jordan — MJ’s mother. She was very clearly in charge throughout the entirety of the film.
Chris Tucker’s performance as Howard White — the current VP of Jordan Brand — was also outstanding. Just an amazing support character. Should get some Oscar love.
Matt Damon’s Sonny Vaccaro performance was good. Ben Affleck as Phil Knight was money. Other notable stars included Jason Bateman as Rob Sasser, Marlon Wayans as George Raveling and Matthew Maher as Pete Moore. Told you. Star-studded cast. ‘

This movie was fun. It’s a sneaker nerd’s dream. There were so many OG Nike silhouettes there — the Waffle, the Cortez, and so many more. And, if you’re a dork like me, you’ll absolutely love the introduction of Peter Moore in the film. It’s amazing.

The nitty gritty: I’ve got to admit — and y’all know this — coming into this movie I had so many reservations about it.

I was very concerned this was going to be a white knight scenario where Sonny Vaccaro and Phil Knight were painted as saviors for the Jordan family. In truth, the story is the other way around.
Nike wasn’t popular in the mid to late 1980s when this set. It needed Michael Jordan more than Michael Jordan needed Nike. It needed to actually capture that for this film to be good. At least in my eyes.

I’m always cautious when it comes to films like this because of the white savior stereotypes we’re used to seeing in Hollywood. Can you blame me? It’s a classic movie trope.

We’ve seen it over and over again. The Green Book. The Help. Remember the Titans. Freedom Writers. It always works like this — white person in position of power “discovers” a Black person has tremendous talent, they showcase that talent on some grand stage and then, boom, everyone’s lives are changed. Thank you, Mr. White Man.

This story sets a perfect stage for that. Except for that’s not how it happened in real life. And thankfully…

That didn’t happen here. Yes, everyone’s lives did change. But it was because Black Michael Jordan was willing to save white Nike — not the other way around. The movie did incredible work in displaying that dynamic. Yes, Air Jordan was a thing that happened to MJ by way of Nike. But without MJ, there is no Air Jordan. And there probably is no Nike.

That’s why Michael Jordan wasn’t in this movie. It’s not because they wanted to tell the story of creating Air Jordan without him or that he couldn’t be part of Nike’s story. No. It was because Jordan was so exceptional that Nike couldn’t be part of his. The company wasn’t good enough.

My “aha” moment came when Sonny Vaccaro pulled up on the Jordan family at their home. Deloris Jordan sits in the backyard with him and he makes his pitch.
- He asks if Michael is home. She says yes. He asks if he can see him. She bluntly says “it’s not time for that yet.” That’s when. I knew.

What I didn’t like: With that being said, I just wanted more Jordan, man. We know why that character is larger than life, but I couldn’t help but feel like we were missing out on something there.

I also wanted to see more of Nike’s struggle. There was a bit of a massaging when it comes to Knight and his relationship with Vaccaro. There was absolutely some tension there in the movie, but it felt like friendly tension. In actuality, it felt like Knight probably should’ve been a bit more of an antagonist to Vaccaro — at least until the deal was sealed. You can understand why that didn’t happen considering the input Nike and Jordan had on the film, but still.

All in all, I enjoyed the movie. I’d probably go see it again.

My favorite things:

The “wow” moment: Learning that George Raveling has a copy of the “I have a Dream” speech given to him by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself. Amazing.
Most memorable line: “A shoe is just a shoe until my son steps in it.” Deloris Jordan had bars.
My LOL moment: There’s a moment when Peter Moore is seen skating in Nike’s parking lot. Phil Knight asks why. Vaccaro says “he’s probably having a mid-life crisis.” Eventually, they ask more why he skates. He says “I’m having a mid-life crisis.”
What I didn’t like: Ben Affleck’s feet on the table. I know that was a thing Phil Knight did. It’s gross though.

RIP Shoe City

The direct to consumer wave just hit hard a little close to home for me.

What happened: Shoe City is no more.

Baltimore based company Shoe City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the retailer unable to pay $16 million in outstanding debt to vendors such as New Balance, Timberland and Nike.
Sales in the company’s 2022 fiscal year dipped by $8.5 million and were trending down for FY 2023.
The brand also shut down its YCMC website completely but is still processing orders and returns.

At the center: The retailer is shuttering following years of vendors decreasing the level of product the company received. Nate Delesline of Retail Dive has more.

According to court documents, Shoe City’s troubles worsened about three years ago. The retailer stopped receiving the same level of sneaker releases and high-end goods from key vendors, which are “critical to this industry.” In fiscal year 2020, the company had an operating loss of about $280,000 and in fiscal year 2021, that loss grew to $1.76 million, “which had a significant negative impact on the Debtor’s financial position and liquidity.”

The math here is simple. Shoe City stopped receiving the best product with DTC pushes from companies like Nike, Adidas and the like.

The less desirable products it did get sat until they were deeply discounted.
The return on those products wasn’t enough, collectively, to continue to hold the business up. So it fell. And now it’s gone.

This stinks: Honestly, this sort of thing doesn’t normally bother me as much. It’s just how business works. But I’m sitting here singing the “Your city, my city, it’s shoe city” jingle to myself as I type this and I just realize how much of a staple this place was in the DMV for kids like me.

The big picture: Shoe City isn’t the first domino to fall. It won’t be the last. Direct to consumer pushes from manufacturers are coming for everyone.

A’ja Wilson deserves more than the Cosmic Unity

The latest take on Nike’s Cosmic Unity sneaker is dropping on April 13 and A’ja Wilson is the face of it. ESPN’s Nick DePaula shared pictures of the WNBA’s brightest star sporting the kicks last week.

Nick DePaula @NickDePaula

Nike unveils the new Cosmic Unity 3 — headlined by @LVAces star @_ajawilson22 👀👀

Wilson has always been the face of Nike’s Cosmic Unity shoe and, generally speaking, it’s a great line.

To put it bluntly, it’s a good looking basketball shoe. And we don’t have too many of those these days.
But it’s also made with recycled materials, which is also very cool. You can see what’s in it here.

But look at the comments: I know that’s normally not a good idea — especially when it comes to women’s sports. But these are mostly safe. It’s just a lot of people asking where A’ja Wilson’s signature shoe is.

A few thoughts:

I can’t explain how refreshing it is to see this uproar for a woman in the sports world. And the sentiment is correct — A’ja is long overdue.
Obviously, this has been a big question for a while now. Now that Sabrina Ionescu has her own sneaker on the way, it seems to be bubbling even more.

The clock is ticking, Nike. Make this happen.