The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 301 — 😬 Vans is off the wall
Vans has been in trouble for a while. But can anyone save it?
Gooooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me this morning. I appreciate you.
Had an absolute blast celebrating Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary this weekend in the city. Saw some of y’all at the Hip-Hop Block Party in D.C. Really good time. Hope you all got a chance to celebrate wherever you’re at, too.
Let’s jump in.
Vans is on the ropes
Vans has always been known as one of the quintessential American footwear brands for a long time. The 2010s were very good to the company. Y’all know the song. “Got my Vans on but they look like sneakers.” The brand’s popularity was sky high.
We thought that was just the tip of the iceberg. Turns out that was the entire thing.
What’s the news: Vans’ parent company, VF Corp, reported more bleak numbers for the brand in its first quarter earnings call.
Vans’ revenue is down 22 percent overall. In the Americas, it’s down 40 percent.
VF Corp’s DTC revenue dipped by three percent overall. But if you remove Vans from that? It’s up by six percent.
Vans isn’t just underperforming. These numbers tell us it’s actually weighing VF Corp down a bit here.
So what happened? Like all style trends, people grew tired of Vans’ consistent look.
In 2020 when we were all stuck inside buying everything we could online, Vans couldn’t ride the wave. It still leaned on a few particular styles — the Old Skool, the Slip-On and the Sk8 Hi. Y’all know the ones.
Meanwhile, the aesthetic the brand presented us with fell by the wayside. Vintage 90s became the vibe. Normcore and dad vibes took over. Vans didn’t have that.
There was no new innovation to offer that would catch people’s eyes and keep things going. Its momentum stalled and the brand never got it back.
The growth numbers that were consistently in double digits for Vans reversed course by the end of 2020. Now, we’re here.
The situation: Vans needs a hero. The company is searching for one now. It’s doing it through new styles like the Knu Skool that the company hopes eventually catches hold and becomes a staple. We’ve also seen collaborations with creatives like Joe FreshGoods that introduced styles we’ve rarely seen used and brought new energy to the brand’s classics.
Vans is also introducing a new, premium division called OTW coming next spring, per Lois Sakany of Snobette. The division will be run by Lanie Alabanza-Barcena who has worked with big names and brands like Melody Ehsani, Reebok and more.
The company hopes that weaning off its classics and leaning on new products and collaborations will reverse its current course by the second half of 2024.
But…What if it doesn’t work? There’s a chance that, no matter what Vans puts out here, people aren’t going to dig it. We’ve seen this play out. Hear me out.
Think Converse. The Chuck Taylor is the end-all, be-all of the brand. They’re classics. They’ll always be there. They’ll always work.
That’s not enough to carry the brand in the current moment, though. So Converse has naturally tried some new things. But none of that newness has blown us away. Nobody is talking about the Run Star Motion. Some of the collabs work well, but the best ones all still involve the Chucks.
Revenues for Converse are up now, but it’s not a massive growth agent for Nike. Nike doesn’t depend on Converse to make its wheels spin.
Vans is a much larger part of VF Corp’s pie. It’s important. It needs Vans to work to maximize its long-term success. If it’s not? I’m honestly not sure what the brand’s future holds. It’s way too early to talk about a potential separation, but we just watched what happened with Adidas and Reebok. It’s not impossible — just unlikely. For now, at least.
The good news here is the bar is low. Maybe through these new strategies and styles work! They should. We’ll see.
In the meantime, this is undoubtedly a situation worthy of keeping our eyes on.
The future of the Kobe Brand
Nike answered some key questions about the launching of the “Kobe Brand” in a SNKRS Live broadcast on Thursday.
The skinny: It looks like the brand will be introducing a lot more of these “Halo” models through Bryant’s different silhouettes.
The new brand will focus on the Kobe 1, Kobe 4, Kobe 5, Kobe 6 and Kobe 8. Those are Bryant’s most popular models and ones that folks consistently wear today. That’s not shocking.
The key part is each of those models will be introduced through a “Halo” silhouette coming in an all-white colorway.
The brand will also be dropping releases annually on Bryant’s birthday, August 23rd. So every 8/23 we can expect a new Kobe model for the foreseeable future.
My thoughts: It’s good that we have Nike’s plans for the brand down on wax now. We knew absolutely nothing about the brand’s plans since Nike announced its plans for Kobe’s line earlier this summer. Just having this information gives you an advantage as a consumer. A small one, but an advantage nonetheless.
The cool part of this is that Vanessa Bryant reportedly has hand in designing these “Halo” models too and made them specifically to honor Kobe and Gigi Bryant.
There are still plenty of questions to be answered moving forward.
How limited will these sneakers be? If Nike and the Bryant family are doing the same exclusive drop styles they’ve been doing, this will be disastrous.
Also, how expansive does this brand get? Could we see signature Kobe models? Are specific athletes going to debut these pairs on the court?
Are there any new colorways coming on the horizon along with these? Leaks certainly indicate that that is the case, but the official word is always preferred.
We’ll get those answers in time. For now, let’s see how August 23rd goes.
A wild sale on Kyries
We knew Nike would put Kyrie Irving’s signature sneakers on clearance racks at some point, but SHEESH. But, man. This is a steal.
What’s happening: Kyrie Irving’s former signature line is on sale for $50. Yes. Just $50 y’all. For a very, very, very good hoop shoe. This is from the homie Sneaker Phetish.
This was at his local Hibbet Sports spot. It’s probably going on at your local Hibbett spot, too, if this is something you’re into.
The big picture: This makes me wonder about the future of these sneakers, honestly. Obviously, Nike wants nothing to do with Irving right now which is why these are on sale at such a deep discount. But 10 years from now, do we see these again?
By all accounts, Irving had one of Nike’s most popular models. It’s a good basketball shoe.
Plus, the brand could easily remove Irving’s name and branding from the model as Adidas has done with Kobe Bryant’s old signature shoes.
Nike basketball is a giant. There’s always going to be another athlete with a sneaker who gets the job done, so it’s not like the brand will need Irving’s shoe to work.
I just wonder how people will remember these sneakers now that they’re dead. If it’s fondly enough, I could easily see Nike swinging back and rebranding them for the future.
ALD for the kids
Look. I’m not one to buy $85 shoes for kids knowing good and well that they’ll just grow out of them in six months. But the ALD 550s for the babies had me tempted. So so tempted. My nieces would look great in these.
AND THEN THERE’S THIS ONE, TOO.
THIS HAS GOTTA BE THE CUTEST THING EVER. COME ON. Somebody stop me. Please.
What’s droppin, bruh?
GANNI x New Balance 1906r — Wednesday, August 16
New Balance WRPD Runner — Wednesday, August 16
Hal Studios x Asics Gel-1130 “Glacier” — Wednesday, August 16
END x Salomon XT-6 “Truffle” — Friday, August 18
Adidas Stan Smith “Homer Simpson” — Friday, August 18
Thank you so much for rocking with me today, family. Appreciate y’all. Hope you have an excellent Monday and a fantastic week ahead of you. Let’s chat again on Friday.
Until next time. Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯
Sykes how could you talk about Vans and not mention the no hitter last week pitched while wearing off the wall spikes?