The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 318 — When doing too much is not enough
Nike's big jersey problem. Plus, Complex's potential sale and the most adorable unboxing you've ever seen.
Goooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me this morning. Hope you’ve had a great week and have a fantastic weekend ahead of you.
Housekeeping: Let’s do our first November mailbag next Friday! I’ll open up the mailbox on Monday and we can get it popping. Be on the lookout for that link soon.
Let’s jump in.
I want to love these, but I just can’t
I hate it when I have to come on here and be the harsh critic. But I cannot tell a lie. These new NBA city jerseys? They’re bad, man. And it’s not just me — that seems to be the consensus opinion out there on them.
The background: For those of you who don’t know, the NBA has been dropping alternate “City” jerseys for its teams since 2017 when its partnership with Nike began.
Simply put, these are alternate jerseys the league’s teams occasionally wear.
Nike partners together with each team to design the jerseys individually.
Each one usually tries to take design cues from a characteristic of the team’s city or community.
It’s pretty cool in concept. The execution hasn’t always been great, though. We’ve seen some stinkers through the years. There’s almost always been some good, too.
So what’s different: This year, in particular, it doesn’t feel like there’s much of that good to go around.
Most of these jerseys are kind of blah. For example, the Heat’s jersey simply has the word “CULTURE” written on the front under the team logo. What is that?
Or just look at the Wizards’ joints. These take inspiration from the stone monuments around Washington. But it feels like these just don’t know what they’re supposed to be. What in the world is this color scheme?
The Memphis Grizzlies just have what look like bar codes spelling out the letters MEM.
Let’s be real: Not everybody is going to like everything. Jerseys will always be polarizing. You’ll rarely get a straight consensus on them. But when players complain about the jerseys it’s just not a good look.
But…Kuzma is right, though! The NBA and Nike are doing way too much. Quality is almost always forsaken when quantity is prioritized and the league is producing City jerseys for every single team every year. It’s too much.
We don’t get a chance to live with any of these jerseys anymore. Every season it’s just on to the next one, no matter how much of a hit the previous iteration was.
Folks would much rather see the Heat’s Miami Vice jersey return this season than this bland Heat Culture version of it.
There’s likely a contractual obligation between the NBA and Nike that requires the latter to produce these jerseys. But, as a fan, I just wish they’d both read the room a little better. That skill is what has made both brands through the years.
Zoom out: The deal between Nike and the NBA was originally an eight-year agreement. That eighth year is coming up next season.
The good news here is that we’ll likely get some changes to this system soon. That’s if these two choose to partner up again for the foreseeable future. We’ll just have to wait and see how things shake out.
Complex might be on the move
BuzzFeed is reportedly in the process of selling Complex Media for less than half of what it purchased it for back in 2021, the New York Times reports.
BuzzFeed is reportedly in talks with NTWRK to sell Complex to the e-commerce platform for less than $140 million. It was originally purchased for $300 million in 2021.
Back then: Complex was once seen as an attractive digital media asset in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
It launched Complex Video in 2012 and found success in shows like Hot Ones, Everyday Struggle, Full-Size Run and more.
It also launched ComplexCon in 2016, which is still one of the biggest brand festivals in digital media. That showed a major diversification of its revenue streams outside of advertisements, which digital media leans heavily on.
And now: Today, that’s not working so well. BuzzFeed has reported more than $155 million in debt and has lost $64 million in the first half of this year. The company’s stock is trading at less than a dollar and risks being delisted from the Nasdaq if it doesn’t raise its value, per Adweek. That’s at the center of this potential move.
Being honest: This isn’t the worst idea in the world. It’s a pretty good one, in my estimation.
Complex never quite snuggly fit under the BuzzFeed umbrella. I thought the acquisition was weird when it happened. The audiences didn’t quite mesh.
There’s lots of synergy there with NTWRK. The whole hypebeast-y culture Complex has fed on for years is built in. That’s no coincidence — many executives at NTWRK are Complex alums.
This feels more like a “when” thing and not an “if” one. It’s only a matter of time. It’s probably the best thing for both sides. I just hope a ton of people don’t lose jobs in the process.
No comeback coming for Vans
VF Corp held its second-quarter earnings call this week and, yup, the company is still down horrendously.
What’s happening: Things are not looking up. Vans is still bleeding cash at this point. The company’s revenue is down 23 percent for the quarter. Overall, VF Corp’s revenue has dipped by two percent.
But there’s more. On top of that, Vans president Kevin Bailey is stepping down after returning to the company to help fix its problems in 2022. It didn’t work out. Now the vultures are circling.
Snobette’s Lois Sakany has more here.
The company’s difficulties have drawn in activist investors, Legion Partners and Engaged Capital. Both want VF Corp. to make adjustments to how it spends money, with Engaged Capital allegedly pushing for the company to strategically review and possibly sell Timberland, Dickies and Supreme to help pay off massive dept of $5.6B.
Engaged Capital was particularly critical of VF Corp.’s moves under former CEO Steve Rendle’s leadership, including his decision to relocate company headquarters from Greensboro, North Carolina to Denver, Colorado. Describing the headquarters as The Death Star (!!), the investment firm, according to Retail Dive, noted the move was responsible for “massive spend and significant employee turnover.”
VF Corp has a long way to go before it’s back to where it was a few years ago when it went on its acquisition spree. Vans getting back to where it previously was as a staple is essential to that, but that’s not happening anytime soon.
New VF Corp CEO Bracken Darrell says he’s coming with a plan to fix all of this soon. It better be a good one. Because this hole just seems to be growing deeper and deeper.
The best unboxing I’ve ever seen
I’ve unboxed many a shoe in my day, but I could never have done it better than Naomi Phillips did here — the inspiration for Adidas’ upcoming Rivalry Lo collab with UnheardOf Brand.
You’ve probably seen the Grandma’s Couch shoes floating around the internet. If you haven’t, here’s a look from the very woman that inspired them. She’s 100 years old. And four months!
This hit me right in the feels, man. Mrs. Phillips happens to have been born the same year as my grandma right around the same time. It truly warms my heart to see her appreciated like this.
I probably won’t be lucky enough to score a pair of these, but it’s more than enough knowing something this sweet exists. Well done, Adidas. Well done.
Love you, gramma. 🕊
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS!!! LET’S GET IT!
First, the homie Preet kicked us off with the JFG 610 on a quick jaunt around the neighborhood with the lil one. ADORABLE.
Then the homie Nick came through with the Brand Black Salehe joints and they are TORCH.
My dog Waterloo came through with every pair of Sabrina 1s possible. These look good!
The homie Kyle followed up with a BIG flex. CDG 1906R? Sheeeeeeeeesh.
The homie Shy popped out with an AMAZING lace swap on these Black Cement AJ1s. This is FIRE.
Then the homie Nate came through and took us home with the Animal Air Max 1. GYAAAAAAAAT DAAAAAAMN.
Y’all really smoked that, man! Pat yourselves on the back, folks. Sheesh.
Thank you so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate y’all. Have a fantastic weekend, folks! Til next time.
Peace and love. Be easy. Be safe. Be kind. We out.
-Sykes💯