The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 313 — A clean slate 👍
The president of Adidas North America is out. Plus, Shaq x Reebok!
Gooooood morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me this morning. I appreciate you.
About that poll: It turns out y’all agreed with Jaylen Brown! In our poll on Monday, I asked you your opinion on today’s basketball shoes. Did you agree with Brown that they’re boring or did you think they were in a solid space?
We got a total of 67 votes. Thank you so much for responding in the poll if you were one of the 67!
A whopping 87% of you agreed with Brown’s thoughts on basketball sneakers being bland.
That’s not at all shocking. I hope it gets better.
Now, let’s dive in for this week.
A fresh start at Adidas
Big changes are underway once again at Adidas. Rupert Campbell, the president of the company's North America division, is stepping down at the end of this month, Retail Dive reports.
The backdrop: Campbell had been at Adidas for just over a decade, initially joining the company in 2012. He became the lead for Adidas North America in 2021. No specific reason has been stated for Campbell’s departure here other than his goal to “pursue other opportunities.”
With where Adidas stands currently, though, it’s not hard to see why a separation is in play here.
Let’s be real: Campbell inherited a mess that he had to clean up while handcuffed.
He joined Adidas NA in 2021 while the company’s relationship with Kanye West and Yeezy was completely deteriorating.
The company cut that Yeezy tentpole down, for obvious reasons, but it amounted to a 16 percent dip in sales and the brand’s first annual loss in three decades.
The only thing that softened the blow was Adidas’ decision to still sell already produced Yeezy models, but that decision was a highly controversial one — again, for obvious reasons.
The Yeezy thing is the big one, obviously. But it’s not the only failure here. There’s the also Beyoncé and Ivy Park flop plus the inactivity from Jerry Lorenzo and Fear of God.
The brand’s collaboration strategy stopped working. Campbell had to adjust on the fly and bring in positive results. It was an impossible job in the short term.
The other side: To his credit, he did try. He did a few things Adidas will likely benefit from in the long term. The company did make positive strides over the last couple of years, even if it didn’t reap the benefits immediately.
The rise in popularity for the Samba is partially because of the boom the sneaker has seen in North America over the last couple of years.
Adidas has also made really nice moves in sports — particularly in the NIL space. The Nebraska Volleyball thing was really cool, too.
Adidas Basketball has also made healthy moves like tapping in with the Crazy Infinity 2.5.
Those moves weren’t going to be enough to save Adidas from the huge losses its suffered over the last year. Ultimately, that’s why it was time for Campbell to move on.
The big picture: The pressure is on for CEO Bjorn Gulden now. It’s reset time. Adidas needs North America to work. He said so with his own words: “We also know that if you’re not successful in North America, you’re not really a global brand.”
He can now handpick a new president and get down to business. And it better work. All fingers will be pointing at him if it doesn’t.
The Big Presidential
Folks. This is not a drill. Shaquille O’Neal is now the president of Reebok Basketball. And Allen Iverson is his VP. Talk about an ELITE 2024 ticket. Reebok has tapped these two in hopes of breathing life back into the company’s basketball division by 2025.
The backdrop: O’Neal, Iverson and Reebok have a long shared history that has now once again been reunited under the Authentic Brands Group umbrella.
Iverson and O’Neal are Reebok’s two biggest signature athletes. O’Neal joined the brand in 1992. Iverson followed up in 1996. Silhouettes from their signature lines like the Shaqnosis and the Question are still iconic today.
Both O’Neal and Iverson have signed on under ABG. O’Neal came in 2015 and Iverson joined earlier this year in 2023.
ABG bought Reebok back in 2021 — a move that was, at least partially, at the behest of Shaq. Now, the conglomerate has him running Reebok.
This has all coalesced into a partnership that is pretty exciting. The nostalgia play hit me right in the feels. AI and Shaq are two icons from my childhood. Of course, I’m here for this. I imagine many of you feel the same way.
Their goal of reviving Reebok’s presence in basketball is also an exciting one.
Shaq told Complex that his presence will be mostly on “player development and partnerships,” which sounds like Reebok is going to have him and Iverson use the connections to players they currently have to bring them over to the brand. That’s smart.
Both Iverson and O’Neal still have deep relationships with so many of the league’s stars today. I imagine they’ll be leveraging those relationships here.
The other side: While this is very exciting, I do wonder what the executive side of this will look like as this duo has to build out Reebok basketball again.
It’s not just about establishing relationships. There has to be product, too. Will Shaq bring in a new design team? Will they start from scratch? How much is left to work with?
The biggest question for me is what do they do with retro. That’ll be an easy win for Reebok. But will Shaq’s Reebok give us anything new to be excited about?
I can’t wait to get answers to these questions. Today, though, I’m just really excited to see these two working together.
The Shock Drops ain’t so shocking anymore
Yes, this is a complaint about Thursday’s Cherry 12 release on Nike’s SNKRS app.
The problem: I know more people are passing on pairs these days and botting is ALLEGEDLY less of a problem. But remember when shock drops were, you know, actually shocking?
Nike dropped an early release notification for the Cherry 12s on my phone at 11:59 a.m. for a noon drop. But the thing is, people knew about this way beforehand. This post from Sneaker News is from October 11 — a full 12 hours before release.
I guess I just don’t understand the point of this anymore.
This isn’t a shock drop — it’s just an early release. And that begs the question about what the actual point is here? Is Nike doing this only to make people feel like they have an actual second chance at these drops? If so, it’s not working.
If you’re not giving early access or doing a true shock drop that actually feels shocking, then I find it hard to find any actual purpose in this.
In the end, it’s not a big deal. These weren’t shoes that were an absolute must-have for me and I suspect it’s the same for plenty of you out there.
My concern is mostly with the process here, though. It needs to get better.
On that note!
I’m interested in your thoughts on this. Do you like this shock — or, uh, early? — drop format?
If you feel so inclined, let me know how you’d go about fixing the process in the comment section below.
Birkenflop. I’m sorry. I had to.
Remember that Birkenstock IPO we talked about on Monday? Yeah, that didn’t go over too well.
The numbers:
The company’s stock traded at about 12.6 percent below its listing price of $46, per The Morning Brew. It finished its first day at around $40.
This wound up being the worst opening for an IPO of, at least, $1 billion in the two years.
The company sold 10.75 million shares and raised nearly $500 million, pushing its valuation to around $8 billion, per CNBC.
A bit of perspective: Hate to see it. To me, this says more about the condition of the current risk-averse market than Birkenstock.
But, overall, I think things are fine. We’re still talking about billions of dollars for a company no one ever expected this from. High Snobiety’s Tom Barker puts it perfectly here.
“While 12.6% short of its valuation, it's a testament to how popular the German label has become. If you'd told any fashion-conscious person that the purveyor of frumpy sandals would be worth that much 15 years ago, you'd no doubt have been met with laughter.
Once a cardinal fashion sin, loved only by those willing to trade foot support with style, the brand's image has taken a full 360. This is proven not only by its billion-dollar valuation yesterday, but also by the LYST Index — a quarterly report that tracks online shopping behavior — released on the same day.”
Will Birkenstock ever hit that peak it’s looking for? Probably not.f But this is already more than anyone ever expected from a company that makes sandals.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBRATIONS.
First, the pettiest Lakers fan came through with the International Flight AJ3s and these joints are so good.
The homie Saoirse Lannister popped out with my FAVORITE Bron signature shoe. This is the best Bron. Nobody can tell me otherwise.
My dog Tej came through with the Driftwood 9060s and I just LOVE this colorway. Sick.
The homie Nate came through with the Medillin Sunset AJ3s and THIS IS DEFINITELY THE MOST BEATIFUL SNEAKER OF 2023.
Then, last but not least, my dog Big Crawf came through in the A Ma Maniere AJ2s getting ready for his wedding day. CONGRATS MY G!!!!! We absolutely love to see it.
Y’all smoked that, man. Per usual. SHEEEEESH.
That’s a wrap. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. You could’ve been anywhere on the internet but you’re here with me and I appreciate it.
Let’s chat again on Monday. Until then. Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯