The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 329 — Did Nike lose its creative edge? 🤔
Edison Chen sure does seem to think so.
Gooooood morning, friends! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you.
I hope you had a fantastic weekend. Rough NFL Sunday, huh? Shoutout to the 49ers fans and the Chiefs fans out there, though. The “Everyone is against us!” thing is real this time. Nobody seems to want to root for either of these teams.f
Let’s get it.
Creative control
Edison Chen just confirmed what I think everybody has been feeling over the last few years: That creative edge at Nike just isn’t there right now.
What he said: In an appearance on the Complex Sneaker Show, The CLOT founder said some incendiary things that I’m sure has some folks in Portland a bit upset today.
The gist was this: He left Nike because he didn’t feel creative anymore.
“One of the reasons why I'm with the Stripes is because…not only to the request, I have to see if I have it in me.
Am I really that guy? It's like we can do 15 colorways of those shoes. Will they sell? Most likely. Is that what I want to do? No. … I need the opportunity to also challenge myself, you know? And that's why I'm with the stripes. Because I don't want to keep reproducing the same thing over and over and over again for the next five years.”
He was asked point blank whether he felt like doing the same thing over and over and over was the expectation at Nike, to which his response was “Yeah, totally.”
The backdrop: Chen’s brand, CLOT, had become well known for being a Nike collaborator. The two sides had been working together since 2006. That’s why it was so shocking to see the announcement that Chen’s brand would be moving over to Adidas.
READ MORE: A brief history between CLOT and Nike
Now that we know more about the reasoning why, it starts to make sense. It’s the sort of thing that we’ve seen bare itself out over these last few years.
Nike’s focus on the same retro silhouettes has become a problem. It’s been all about the Jordan 1 or the Nike Dunk or the Air Max 1. Creatives have largely had to create around those silhouettes.
That’s very clearly become a problem. That stuff isn’t selling the way it used to. It’s no longer moving the needle and shareholders are complaining. Apparently, creatives like Chen are, too.
When you look at CLOT and Chen’s most recent collabs with Nike, those are the same silhouettes he’s been limited to. They’ve used the same materials and the same twists on the projects. There’s a sameness to them. The same can be said surrounding other Nike collaborations as well.
Be smart: Is this all that there is to it? Probably not. If Nike wanted to keep Chen around, I’m certain it could’ve. It’s Nike, at the end of the day. Even on the brand’s worst day it’s still the very best in the market.
Also, we have to remember, what Nike does works.
It’s still the best brand in the business with a market cap no other footwear brand can touch.
If playing the hits over and over again got the brand there, it’s not going to stop that movement just because Edison Chen wants to do something different.
In the end it seems like it was just time for both parties to move on. They have. Chen is now free to get as creative as he wants (or as Adidas will allow him to?) with the Three Stripes. He’s already started.
Meanwhile, that Nike machine will just keep churning until the next CLOT comes along. I’m sure someone else is eager to take that spot.
Proceeding with caution
I told you all in my early predictions for the footwear market in 2024 that I thought we’d see a bit of a reversal in consumer spending. The footwear brands don’t seem to share my feelings.
What’s happening: Puma forecasted its sales for the year would fall below analyst expectations, according to Reuters. The company said it’s expecting “mid-single-digit” growth in sales this year, which is about where it was in 2023.
The drivers: There are two overarching forces at play here, according to the brand.
Puma believes the wars in Ukraine as well as the conflict between Israel and Palestine will impact consumer spending.
It’s also saying that the 54 percent devaluation in the Argentine peso in December will have a massive impact on that number.
The big picture: Puma isn’t alone in its caution. Remember, Nike just cut its own sales forecast by 1 percent and also announced a $2 billion savings plan over the next few years for the brand. JD Sports slashed its sales forecast in January, too, citing cooling customer demand as the reason.
Inflation might be cooling and the U.S. job market is holding steady, but the state of the global economy is certainly something that’s at play here, too.
Considering all the problems and conflict going on around the world right now? It’s not surprising that sneakers might be people’s last worry.
Nike is still laying the gavel down
Can somebody please tell these burgeoning sneaker designers to stop touching Nike’s designs? It’s not going to work out well in the end.
What’s the news: Nike is coming at yet another small brand with legal action for allegedly infringing on trademarks for the Air Jordan 1 High.
The details: The latest brand in Nike’s legal crosshairs is Global Heartbreak, founded and operated by designer Naadier Riles.
In Nike’s complaint filed at the US District Court of New Jersey, the brand claims Riles intentionally copied the Air Jordan 1s design.
Nike also claims Riles admitted to stealing the designs from the Jordan 1 High to gain “brand recognition” at least twice.
The Swoosh says it reached out to Global Heartbreak with a cease-and-desist letter in December and an opportunity to “walk away” from the dispute but production didn’t stop.
A look: Here’s the product in question lined up next to the Jordan 1.
Yup. That looks just like a Jordan 1. And mass-producing something like this is always going to catch Nike’s eye.
The brass tacks: Nike is protecting its IP as aggressively as we’ve ever seen. It doesn’t matter who the target is — it could be StockX or Cool Kiy or John Geiger or whoever else. If it sees something even a little funny, Nike is all over it.
Double-edge: On one hand, you can’t blame Nike. But on the other? This does feel kind of like a slippery slope.
I worry that we may get to a point where simple customizers who do one-offs might get clipped for something if it gains enough steam.
We haven’t seen that yet. Mass-production has been the key in each of these situations. But could that change someday? I’m unsure.
In the meantime, folks should probably just stop giving the brand fodder.
Wanna get mad today?
Here’s a look at the GT Jump 2 in a special Air Total Foamposite Max colorway for the NBA All-Star game. Yes, they’re as bad as you think.
Yikes: This is the type of thing that makes no one happy. Like the Book 1, this is another instance of Nike slapping something old onto something new and thinking people would get excited about it.
The OGs will hate this simply because it’s not the Total Foamposite Max.
The youngins won’t care about this because, well, what even is the Total Foamposite Max? They want something new to call their own. Not this old junk.
Worst of both worlds. Sheesh.
What’s droppin’, bruh?
Nike Air Force 1 Low “Year of the Dragon” — Thursday, February 1
New Balance MiUSA 990v4 Grey/Black — Thursday, February 1
Nike Dunk Low SP “Brazil” — Friday, February 2
Nike Air Jordan 3 “Craft” — Saturday, February 3
Nike Air Exploraid “Ash Green” — Saturday, February 3
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for taking the time with me today. Appreciate you. Have a fantastic week.
Let’s chat again on Friday. Until then, fam! Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. We out!
-Sykes 💯
More Puma and more Adidas. Less "Evil Empire". But I'm not a sneakerhead by any means. Good to see the masses getting tired of the same old stuff getting churned out in different colorways and demanding better. To someone who is a novice and doesn't even qualify as a "casual", I've been bored by the stuff on SNKRS for quite some time.
I will say, as a sneakerhead who's been around forever, I don't despise the foam flavored GT Jump 2's. Average idea with average execution. The one I could do without are the GT Hustle 2 Uptempo's, those just look bad in my opinion!