The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 320 — Adidas has figured it out 💡
And, on the flipside, I have no idea what Foot Locker is doing
Goooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate your time!
Thanks, again, for your excellent mailbag submissions! We got some thought-provoking questions in there and I’m thrilled with the way it turned out. Remember, there’s another in a couple of weeks. So please keep coming with that heat.
Let’s rock.
Finally. A direction
Most of you have probably heard the news that Adidas may never release remaining Yeezy inventory it has.
On a conference call last week, CEO Bjørn Gulden said the company could’ve released its remaining inventory in December and had a positive outlook for the rest of the quarter but chose not to. There was no point.
Instead, the company is looking to set itself up for a more positive 2024. It looks like our friend
of Snobette News was spot on about this.
The big picture: There’s a more important story here though. And that is the fact that Adidas seems to be looking finally be looking beyond Yeezy for its identity now.
What he’s saying: Gulden indicated the company’s focus was to “build a business” now through a range of different products. That’s the opposite of how things have been for Adidas through the last decade.
Here’s the full quote via Retail Dive:
“We could easily have sold Yeezy in Q4 to look good,” Gulden said. “But it doesn’t make any sense where we sitting, and I hope you agree with us that what we’re trying to do is to build a business now, with brand heat, with performance and lifestyle products that we can extend for a longer period of time.”
Translation: For years now Adidas’ business hinged on the success of its collaborations — not just with West, but with folks like Beyoncé, Pharrell, Jerry Lorenzo (which Gulden revealed to be another big mess), and more.
But that time is over. It’s time that Adidas sold itself for a change.
The backdrop: For the last decade Adidas has stuck with the Yeezy blueprint. That was reasonable. Yeezy brought the three stripes out of a dark place.
Before Kanye, sales in North America dipped by one percent in 2013, per Insider.
Three years later sales jumped by 18 percent in 2016 — widely regarded as the peak for Yeezy.
But in focusing on that, the brand never built itself up. Always just its stars. That was a mistake.
It cost Adidas a lot of money and time with big-name collabs that haven’t worked.
It’s also led to the brand neglecting its own GR catalog, which is the only thing it has left when all the stars eventually choose to do something else.
But now…Gulden senses that. That seems to be what the brand is focused on changing. At least that’s what it sounds like, anyway.
Remember: Actions speak louder than words. We still have to see it happen. Adidas has to take the right steps over the next few years.
That means we should see a lot more creativity when it comes to its non-collaborative efforts and a lot more focus when it comes to the collabs the brand does have. We’ve seen it here and there over the last few months.
Now, the task is to scale that out and make it work. The ball is in your court, Gulden. Make it happen.
What in the world, Foot Locker?
So I know we saw all of the sneaker blogs and media outlets writing about Foot Locker’s new “Heart of Sneakers” platform that the brand is launching coinciding with its holiday program. But I have a critical question.
The question: Does anybody know what it is? Because — I can’t lie — I’m confused.
Here’s what the brand describes it as.
“The Heart of Sneakers is an ongoing platform that will weave into all of the brand's campaigns, online and in-store experiences, community-rooted events, and more moving forward.”
But…what does that mean? What does the platform even do? How will Foot Locker integrate it into its day-to-day operations as well as its bigger campaigns? We don’t have any information on that.
Watch: Foot Locker is already featuring it in commercials. Here’s the brand’s latest spot with Puma and LaMelo Ball featuring Foot Locker’s “Stripers” aka its employees in the ref uniforms.
Again, nothing is being explained to us here. It’s just vibes. It’d be great to have some more concrete information here.
The big picture: This is going to be a crucial part of the company’s Lace Up plan that brand CEO Mary Dillion told us would be centered around Foot Locker integrating itself back into the community. The core function of this plan, I think, is going to be Foot Locker trying to reinsert itself in the community with events and special releases.
My best guess: If I had to guess about what that looks like, I’d say it’s probably going to be something like this:
There will probably be sneakers and products released between Foot Locker and its partners specifically branded as “Heart of Sneakers” releases.
I’d also bet there’s some Foot Locker merch that’s coming along with this here.
There also seems to be an emphasis on community events — particularly with basketball. I think that could be cool.
That’s all I’ve got, though. Again, not a lot. But I don’t want to make too many assumptions about something I don’t know much about.
My biggest hope is that this amounts to being something more than corporate gobbledygook. Please, Foot Locker. Be better than that.
Our first official look at the Reimagined Bred 4
Official images of the Reimagined Air Jordan 4 coming at the top of 2024 have surfaced via JD Sports UK and, well, they still look a bit underwhelming to me.
Someone said they looked like cake and I couldn’t think of a more fitting description.
A look: This is a look at a grade-school size here.
I want to talk myself into these so badly. They’re Bred 4s! This is one of the shoes I’ve always wanted to own. I’m struggling with these, though, man.
What are our thoughts, folks? Do these do it for you? Or would you pass? Let’s fire up a poll.
Joe FreshGoods’ non-pastel shift is fun
The JFG shift to a darker color palette from the pastels we grew used to him working with on sneakers over the years has been pretty fun.
That continues with a new pair of 990v4s that are on the way. Here’s a look.
This is a collection, once again, inspired by hip-hop. The promo image pulls from a 1999 XXL Murder Inc. cover featuring Jay Z, DMX and Ja Rule.
Make note: Look closely at the sneakers on the image to the left. That’s a contrasting pair to the ones JFG shared in the image above. The overlays and midsole are white. The pair from Joe’s IG story has black overlays. The collection is two pairs.
I can’t wait until the rest of this is unveiled. The inspiration here is so fun. That 90s hip-hop era rules. It’s cool to see JFG paying homage in this way.
What’s droppin’, bruh?
Tightbooth x Nike SB Dunk Low — Tuesday, November 14
SneakerPolitics x Adidas “Consortium Cup” Samba — Wednesday, November 15
Nike LeBron 2 “Beast” — Thursday, November 16
DTLR x New Balance 9060 “Fire Sign” — Friday, November 17
A Ma Maniére x Air Jordan 5 “Dawn” — Friday, November 17
Thank you so much for rocking with the Kicks You Wear. I appreciate you. Hope you’ve got an amazing week ahead of you.
Let’s chat again on Monday. Until then, peace and love. Be safe. Be easy. Be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯