The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 323 — Get used to Jae Tips 💐
Saucony is a hyped brand now, I guess? That's cool!
Goooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you.
Shoutout to everyone who sent yerboi codes for Blue Sky! Good looking. Seems like I solid place to start building a community…if I could just figure out how to use it LOL. This is going to be fun. If you have any tips or Blue Sky recommendations, please let me know!
HOUSEKEEPING: KYW will only be dropping in on Fridays in December. We’ve got a full holiday content schedule plus I’ve got some travel coming up next month ahead of the holidays.
With that out of the way, let’s jump in.
Saucony having a SOTY candidate is awesome
If you’d told me at the top of 2023 that Saucony would have not just one — but three — sneaker of the year candidates? I’d probably have believed you, but I’d certainly be confused.
It’s always been one of my favorite brands to consume, but I would never have predicted the success the brand has found this year.
What happened: Jae Tips changed the trajectory. The rapper-turned-sneaker designer has thrust Saucony into the biggest conversations about sneakers in 2023 with three hits between the most recent take on the Grid Shadow 2 and the Grid Azura 2000 from May.
The global release for the Grid Shadow 2 came and went on Black Friday and you’d have thought people missed out on a pair of Travis Scott joints with the way the reaction went.
The site was hard to navigate and pairs went quickly, leading to lots of frustration all around.
But…It’s hard for me to blame Jae Tips or Saucony here. It was hard to anticipate. This has literally never happened for a Saucony shoe before. How often have you seen a Saucony release headline a ComplexCon? Or even a SneakerCon? This is a different sort of deal that neither the brand nor Jae Tips himself is used to.
This is a result of a collaborator creating a quality product, building a rapport with a community, creating something cool and marketing the hell out of it with a brand.
How’d we get here: Let’s start from the beginning.
Folks were aware of Jae Tips from his bespoke 1 of 1 Air Force 1 that we saw in 2019. He built a following behind it.
The Grid Azura 2000 “Remember Those Who Fronted” drop was proof of concept. It showed people to sort of product Jae Tips was bringing to the table/
It also showed Saucony how hard people will go for what Jae Tips creates. Folks lined up outside for it. He was able to do multiple pop-ups for it. The shoe was limited enough to gain hype but accessible enough for real people to buy it. It was perfect.
The major key: Jae Tips seems like a genuinely awesome guy that folks want to root for. That makes the rest of this a lot easier.
He’s constantly interacting with fans via social media and giving pairs away. It’s really cool stuff.
Looking forward: This is only the beginning. The two sides are just two collabs in, but there’s already another on the way. The results will likely be the same for the next drop. The next step will be scale.
Get ready, folks. It’s Saucony’s turn to ride the wave.
Salehe Bembury (literally) transformed Crocs
Salehe Bembury turned Crocs into a hype machine with his Pollex Clogs.
It started as a simple collaboration at the tail end of 2021. Now, Pollex has morphed into its own thing.
Since then, Bembury has launched multiple Pollex clog colorways along with slides to match. He’s also the creative director of his Pollex Pod collection.
What’s next: Salehe and Crocs are taking things even further now with…an actual sneaker. Y’all know this caught my attention.
Bembury posted a sneak peek of his new Pollex sneakers with Crocs on Instagram.
This follows another snippet from Salehe back in September of this same model.
From here, we can start to piece things together. It has that signature Salehe thumbprint outsole. Clearly, the chunky trail vibes are there, too. Gorpcore is a Bembury staple at this point, so that’s not surprising. I don’t know if it’s a must-cop for me, but it’s definitely interesting.
The backdrop: Crocs has dabbled in sneakers but never like this.
Crocs has the Echo Storm, which is basically a clog with a sock in it. It also has the LiteRide which…ain’t nobody wearing that.
These Salehe joints are legitimate, genuine sneakers. They’re built to look cool.
The question: This is a major product shift for Crocs as a brand — even if it is part of its Pollex arm. I’d like to see how deep the brand leans into this.
Different isn’t a bad thing. As a brand like Crocs continues to grow folks are going to look for that curveball. Pollex was already a good start to that overall. This sneaker adds another layer to it.
Bring the 2000s all the way back, Jordan Brand
Jordan Brand is reportedly bringing back the Spizike for 2024. Official images of the shoe have hit the internet in an Oilers-like colorway.
The backdrop: For those of you who might be new to this, the Spizike is a Jordan Brand shoe that dropped back in 2006. It was one of the more popular fusion sneakers the brand launched.
It was an amalgamation of every sneaker Spike Lee’s Mars Blackmon persona was involved with.
It pieced together parts from the Jordan 3, 4, 5, 6 and 20 to make this absolute classic.
That got me thinking: If Jordan Brand and Nike are bringing these back then there’s so much more that could be on the table here. So I thought of a few more things that maybe Nike and Jordan Brand might revisit at some point in the near future.
Sneaker packs: MAN. This was a time. Those Countdown Jordan packs would leave you broke, but they’d be awesome. In 2008 for the 23rd anniversary of the Jordan line, the brand released sneakers that added up to 23 — for example, there was a AJ13 and an AJ10 pack. I’d love to see packs return. Maybe one or two, just for fun.
Air Jordan x Air Force fusions: The Nike and Jordan collabs didn’t always hit hard, but sometimes they did. Back in the day there used to be Air Jordan and Air Force fusion sneakers that would be mostly hit or miss. The best pair, in my opinion, was the Jordan 12 Air Force Fusion. Masterpiece.
Jordan .5 shoes: The brand would create an in-between model for some of the shoes on the Jordan line. It was extremely hit-or-miss, but it was fun. Sometimes they were trash like the Jordan 2.5. But that 9.5? Man. Those were awesome.
Nike Boots: Now, Nike Boots never actually left. They’re still on sale now. But there were so many cool variations and colors back in the day that you don’t see anymore. I still need me a pair of Foamposite Nike Boots. Nike, bring those back man.
What’s old always becomes new at some point. Remember that, folks.
Sneakerhead math 101
This is the funniest thing I’ve seen on the internet in days. Why? BECAUSE I FEEL IT.
Holy Ground Shop in Cali dropped this video on Instagram and it’s making the rounds. It’s a skit, obviously. But the dude trades in $800 worth of sneakers to the shop, but instead of just taking the cash he takes a $900 credit…and immediately spends it on a $1,000 pair of Travis 1s.
L M A O.
I’m not going to lie to y’all, man. The math is mathing to me! Would I do this? Nah, not for those. But…let’s say those were Joe FreshGoods 992s. Oh, yeah. Done deal.
I’m an idiot.
They should teach this course in college. Except it’s not actually a math course — it’s psychology. Sneakers have broken our minds, folks.
What’s droppin’, bruh?
April Skateboards x Nike SB Dunk Low — Monday, November 27
Nike Air Max 1 “Keep Rippin, Stop Slippin” — Tuesday, November 28
Fenty x Puma Creeper Phatty — Thursday, November 30
Patta x New Balance 991v2 — Friday, December 1
Nike Doernbecher Collection — Saturday, December 2
Thank you so much for rocking with me, family. Appreciate y’all. Hope you have a fantastic week ahead of you.
Let’s chat again on Friday. Until then, peace and love. Be easy. Be safe. Be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯