The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 328 — The pandemic bubble is bursting 💥
eBay is the latest company to layoff a chunk of its workforce.
Gooooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear! Thank you so much for rocking with me this morning. I appreciate you. Hope you’ve had a great week.
It’s been a long one for your boy! A productive one, of course. But a long one. I’ll tell you what, though — I’m ready for the weekend.
Let’s dive in.
Layoffs are everywhere
Executives across industries spent money like it grew on trees during the pandemic. Now employees are being made to pay the price.
What’s happening: Today, the spotlight is on eBay.
Earlier this week eBay announced it was laying off 1,000 employees from its workforce which equals 9 percent of the company, per The Verge.
eBay sent out a memo to employees this week signaling the company’s intention to make cuts and scale back on the number of contracts in its workforce.
The why: Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but CEO Jamie Iannone wrote that the company is making these cuts to remain “more nimble” and to better position itself for “sustainable growth.” That’s even after reporting a profit of $1.3 billion with revenue up by 5 percent in 2023.
Deja Vu: That “nimble” excuse is the same excuse you’ve heard spouted across the tech industry, in particular, over the last two years.
When we were all trapped inside our homes during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies across industries — especially those in tech — saw the e-commerce bubble balloon. We only consumed things online because that’s all we had available to us.
To scratch that burgeoning e-commerce itch, most of those companies decided to hire more folks. They created departments dedicated specifically to e-commerce.
Don’t forget: There was also the metaverse and NFT boom that had companies dumping money into virtual assets hand over fist.
Fast forward to today and, wouldn’t you know it? We’re all back outside. That digital spending money isn’t coming in at the same rate it used to. So, now, brands are purging employees to keep those bottom lines healthy.
The resulting layoffs have amounted to hundreds of thousands of people losing jobs over the last couple of years. Here’s more from Bloomberg’s Justin Fox.
The current 2022-2023 tech layoff total as tallied by Layoffs.fyi, which includes companies in retail, finance, health care and crypto, is 219,132, of which 59,448 have been announced this year. Meanwhile, US employers overall added 4.5 million jobs in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with no real sign of a slowdown in the December jobs numbers.
Zoom out: That’s just the beginning. As we drift further and further away from the pandemic e-commerce boom, more companies will face this same challenge. More rank-and-file employees will become casualties.
It was eBay that made the decision this week. Nike made the same decision before the end of 2023. I can guarantee you these companies won’t be the last to do so.
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Kith rewards are coming
Starting today, Kith is opening up a new robust rewards program for its customers that a lot of people are excited about.
How it works: Shopping at Kith just turned into a game. You accumulate points from purchases you make. Those points get you different levels of reward access.
There are three distinct levels: Molecule (level 1), Elevation (level 2) and Vitality (level 3).
Each reward tier comes with different tier-based apparel and goods. For example, if you’re at the Molecule level where everyone starts, you won’t get access to a collection that is dropped for Vitality-only folks. The higher-tiered consumers will still have access to collections available to previous levels.
The positives: The good thing is that past purchases are included, so you don’t have to start accumulating points at 0 if you’ve shopped at Kith before. The threshold for purchases included goes back 12 years and there’s no regression in the system. Points are permanent.
The negatives: The downside is the pricing. Each non-Kith dollar (something spent on a non-Kith product) is worth one point. Kith dollars spent are worth two points. The threshold to get to the Vitality tear is 10,000 points. You do the math. That takes a while for most people.
RELATED: Here’s a full breakdown on how the system works from Ronnie Fieg himself.
My thoughts: As someone who doesn’t regularly shop at Kith, this probably isn’t for me. Outside of sneakers, the clothes and apparel are just out of my price range. Kith is closer to a luxury brand than a streetwear company at this point.
But the good does seem to outweigh the bad here. And while this might not be for me, I do think there’s a lot here that will be useful for Kith fanatics. The Vitality tier, in particular, gets access to some awesome things.
In general, I’m glad to see this. Reward systems with clear rules and directions are good. I wish more boutiques had them. Transparency on things like early access and new product drops always wins with me.
About this Kobe x Nike SB rumor…
There’s a rumor about a potential Kobe Brand x Nike SB collaboration floating around the internet.
That’s all it takes for news to be considered news in the sneaker community at this point. Folks saw this graphic popping up everywhere on Twitter and just kind of ran with it. It’s kind of silly.
So will it happen? I don’t even think it’s worth speculating about at this point, to be honest. There’s no substance here.
It’s just a graphic of two brand logos together. That’s pretty easily photoshoppable.
There’s also been no announcements from Vanessa Bryant or Nike on the matter officially or otherwise.
Think back: If this were to happen, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary. Nike SB and Kobe do have a bit of a history. Eric Koston did have a Kobe collaboration back in 2011. Kobe was also pretty tight with Paul Rodriguez and Koston. There’s a relationship there.
But…That doesn’t mean this is or isn’t a thing. The important message here is to stop letting baseless internet rumors run wild — especially when they come from unsourced accounts.
Somebody stop Snoop, please
I understand that Snoop Dogg has never seen a brand deal that he hasn’t liked. I mean, the guy tried to sell us a smokeless firepit that nobody seems to like.
But my guy. Come on. Skechers? Basketball sneakers?
What’s happening: Snoop is trying to sell us a pair of signature Skechers shoes.
What’s that? That, folks, is the Snoop Dogg SKX Resagrip from Skechers. Specifically, this colorway is called the “Boss Treatment.”
The shoes dropped on Thursday and are available for purchase online.
There are two colorways — the orange one you see above you and another pair in white and silver.
If I can be honest here, they don’t look terrible! I’m not a fan of Skechers but this isn’t a bad shoe.
The real problem with these joints is that they’re $160. There’s already no world that exists in which I’m buying Skechers. We’ve already established that. But for $160? I’d rather walk barefoot down a flight of stairs made of sea urchins.
Isn’t the entire point of Skechers to be an alternative to expensive sneakers from its more popular rival brands? How does this fit into that ethos?
Sorry, Snoop. This ain’t gonna cut it, OG.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS!!!!
Y’all! We got our first Blue Sky Social posts for TKWW!!! The homie JW got us popping with his baby’s sneaker collection. There are some HEATERS here, y’all!
The homie Erin came through with the Cloudtrax boots from On and these joints are FLY.
Then the homie Storm came through, stunting per usual with all her fits and such. She always does it up, man.
The homie Killakow popped out with the Bagel Dunks and this is SUCH an underrated sneaker. We should see these outside more.
The homie Jally popped out with this incredible colorway of the AJ 36. These are nice.
The homie Harrison popped out with a nice, cool blue colorway of the Cortez. These are super slick, man.
Then the homie Dandin closed us out with the CLASSIC Penny 2s. My boy stays smoking it, man. SHEESH.
Y’ALL DID THAT.
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for rocking with me today. I greatly appreciate you. Hope you enjoyed today’s newsletter! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns don’t be afraid to reply to this email or leave them in the comment section!
Let’s chat again on Monday. Until next time, folks. Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes💯
BAGEL DUNKS!!