The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 316 — Make sneaker commercials fun again 👏🏾
Anthony Edwards is talking trash and I absolutely love it, man.
Goooood morning, family. It’s Sykes. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. If it’s your first time here, thank you for being here! I appreciate you and I hope you enjoy the ride.
Lots of basketball talk today! The NBA season is officially back and my Wizards are already giving up 140 points in games. Fun times! Hope your team is doing much better than mine.
Let’s jump in.
I love a good competition
One of my biggest pet peeves about the sneaker industry today is that everything just feels so friendly. Doesn’t it?
Maybe friendly is the wrong word here. Of course, these brands are competing with one another. And it’s not like you’ll see New Balance ever partnering up with Nike or anything. But, listen. Brands need to talk more trash about each other.
Not mean-spirited trash, of course. But, you know, playful trash talk. Have fun with it!
All that to say: That’s why I loved Anthony Edwards’ new AE 1 sneaker commercial with Adidas. He called everyone else’s signature shoes trash.
Take a look: “No one touching them AE 1s. Pick a shoe.” Amazing tagline that lives up to the spot. You’ve got to see this one.
Edwards pulls out signature basketball shoes from other competitors including LaMelo Ball’s MB.01, Ja Morant’s Ja 1 with Nike and even LeBron James’ Air Zoom Generation. He says none of them are it. It’s hilarious.
The big picture: This is the sort of fun competition I love between brands. It’s what so many brands seem afraid of doing these days. They go out of their way to not mention the competition as if it just doesn’t exist.
No, fam. It’s there. Acknowledge it. Tell us why your thing is better than their thing. That’s the name of the game here.
That’s what makes this Anthony Edwards commercial a great one. Not only does it sell us his shoes, but it also sells us Adidas basketball. And it doesn’t make things too complicated.
Brands take themselves too seriously. They’ll give you a backstory on how a player came from nothing or tell you how their sneakers are changing the world.
Some of it is good. But, in the end, these are still sneakers, man. This is supposed to be fun. That’s what made spots like, say, Nike’s Lil Penny run or the Jordan and Spike Lee commercials so great.
This Anthony Edwards joint fits into that mold. Plus Edwards’ shoe is also really good. It backs up the talk.
An aside: The homie Nick asked me to rank my favorite sneaker commercials from NBA opening night. I saw four total. Here were my faves, ranked.
Ant Edwards’ AE 1 commercial: Do I need to break it down again? This commercial was awesome.
LaMelo Ball’s “Melo Man” MB.03 spot: Puma gets it. I just wish they had time to add in his response to Anthony Edwards’ commercial.
Adidas Superstar spot: I always love good historical references and the Superstar is a shoe with a ton of history behind it. Love the exploration here.
“Beyond” from Jordan Brand: Anytime you get MJ outside it’s a good look. And I absolutely get the idea of highlighting the next crop of Jordan Brand stars. But I wish they showcased a specific sneaker here.
Were there any spots I missed? Also, let me know what your favorite sneaker commercials are. I’ll get together an overall ranking soon. It’ll be fun.
The Curry brand has a new face
In a pretty surprising turn of events, Under Armour’s Curry Brand has its first signature athlete. Well, I guess, it’s second? Or, uh, well, the first one that isn’t Steph Curry.
The news: Let me stop rambling. Sacramento Kings All-Star De’Aaron Fox signed a signature sneaker deal with the Curry Brand.
Fox will get a Curry Brand signature shoe under this deal coming in 2024, according to a statement from the brand.
He’ll also run grassroots basketball programs on Under Armour’s UA Next hoops circuit. Think of it like you’d think of Nike’s EYBL circuit.
Can I be honest? This one caught me off guard. I’ll be frank — I don’t think my pride would let me sign this deal if I were De’Aaron Fox. As many times as Curry has cooked Fox and the Kings? Nah, man. Nope.
That’s just my foolishness, though. The more you think about this the more it feels like a promising opportunity for both sides.
As an All-Star and All-NBA player, Fox is more than worthy of this. But, playing in a small market like Sacramento, it was unlikely he would’ve found a signature shoe deal elsewhere. This is a huge win for him.
And for the Curry brand, Steph and company just added a 25-year-old star to its roster who is already great but has plenty of room to grow. Curry is 35. He won’t play in the NBA forever. Fox will serve as the next torch bearer for this brand.
As awkward as it might seem to me, it’s good business.
Bird’s eye view: I wonder if this is something we see more of moving forward — especially if this Fox partnership is successful.
Obviously, Curry is following the Jordan Brand blueprint here. But MJ is the only athlete who has played in the NBA and had his own brand — until now. Wouldn’t it make sense for Nike’s biggest athletes to want this, too? LeBron James has been talking about a LeBron Brand for years. Could Kevin Durant get one, too? I think it’s possible.
Not saying that everyone gets this treatment. But I think we see at least a few more of these player brands popping up over the next decade or so.
No more Yeezy…for now
Adidas is reportedly putting a pause on selling its remaining Yeezy stock. Yes, we’re here again.
The skinny: The company reportedly had its third scheduled Yeezy release coming up next month just in time for the holiday season but Adidas’ board voted to “pause” the drop, Complex’s Brendan Dunne reports.
The background: The company decided to sell the remainder of its already-produced Yeezy stock earlier this spring despite having ousted Kanye West.
There have been two Yeezy drops so far from Adidas sans Kanye. The first was earlier this year in May and the second came in August.
The restock reportedly earned the company $565 million while also reducing an operating loss that was estimated to be over $700 million.
The why: Adiads’ board reportedly voted this way to avoid more public backlash. Dunne’s sources posit that the conflict between Israel and Hamas makes it a riskier proposition.
Previous 2023 Yeezy drops did not cause significant negative feedback for Adidas, but the latest would have landed in a different political climate. One store owner speculates that, against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Hamas, Adidas found it too risky to release a new batch of product associated with an artist who has a recent history of antisemitic comments.
That tracks: Selling shoes associated with an anti-semitic artist while there’s an ongoing conflict would certainly not be a good look.
But…Honestly? This feels gross. It wasn’t a very good look in the first place to begin with. If you had to make this logical leap here then it’s worth asking was the move worth doing at all in the first place.
If we’re talking ethics? I think it feels like the answer is probably no.
Too much Air Max too fast?
There’s reportedly another Air Max model coming for Air Max Day 2024. It’s the Air Max DN, according to Sneaker News.
Take a peek:
It’s interesting. The heel unit reminds me a bit of the Air Max 2021 with that bubble. The upper obviously takes inspiration from the Air Max TN. I like them.
But…After this drop in 2024, we’ll have had five new additions to the Air Max line since 2018.
It goes: Air Max 270 (2018), Air Max 2090 (2020), Air Max 2021 (2021), Air Max Pulse (2023) and, now, the Air Max DN (2024)
It doesn’t feel like any of them have stuck around for long outside of the 270. That one has had plenty of staying power. You don’t see the rest.
On one hand: It’s not a bad thing that we’re getting new things from the Air Max line. I think it’s good Nike is continuously pushing the line forward.
On the other: You kind of just wish some of these models had more time to breathe and live with the people. Then maybe we’d feel that impact a little bit more.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBRATIONS!!! LET’S GET IT.
First, the homie Nick came through in the barber shop once again with these absolute heaters on. WE WEAR AJ1s TO GET THE CUT NOW, Y’ALL.
The homie Tati followed up with these paint splatter Air Force 1s and BOY are these fun.
The homie Jalen came through with the Protection Pack 2002r in the navy blue colorway and they’re HEATERS. Wow.
My guy Hector came through with the Mocha AJ1s absolutely crushing it. We love to see it, y’all.
The homie Golden Boy came through with the Rammellzee Supreme joints and, man, these are a literal canvas. Just beautiful kicks, dog.
Then the homie Floyd took us home with the Candy Corn Halloween SBs. I ain’t rocking with Candy Corn but I sure am rocking with these.
*clears throat* SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH. SMOKED IT.
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for reading today. I appreciate you. Have an excellent weekend.
Let’s chat again on Monday. Until then, peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. We out.
-Sykes 💯
I think there's a chance Adidas is kickng out Yeezy to 2023 for accounting reasons.
No evidence but yes, I do. But we will see when it reports FY results if there's a shortfall because Adi chose to push Yeezy sales forward.