The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 330 — Can't kick that old habit 💸
Adidas just can't kick Yeezy aside
Gooooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you.
Happy Black History month, y’all! We made it. I hope your week has been good. Mine was chaotic. It’s about to be worse with the Super Bowl coming and the NBA trade deadline popping up next week. C’est la vie. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
Let’s rock.
Can’t let Yeezy go
It took a full month before Adidas Yeezy became a major storyline in sneakers again for 2024. I won’t lie — I’m actually surprised it took this long.
What’s happening: Earlier this week Adidas released an early look at its full-year results ahead of its March 13 earnings call, likely to somewhat soften the blow from a tough fiscal year and a weak 2024 projection.
The brass tacks:
The company did have an operating profit of around 268 million euros after projecting a 100 million euro loss. But that number is still down from around a 668 million euro profit in 2022.
And, like its rivals in Puma and Nike, Adidas is also projecting a weak sales year for 2024 with a projected 500 million euro profit.
But…The big — but not especially surprising — thing we learned from this is that Adidas is not writing off its remaining Yeezy inventory as some previously anticipated. Instead, the company is going to sell it at cost.
Remember: Back toward the tail end of 2023 Adidas made the choice not to hold any remaining Yeezy drops for the year after having two drops in May and August of 2023. Those amounted to around 750 million euros in sales.
Suddenly, in November with another anticipated launch coming for Q4 2023, the brand decided to cut the Yeezy line off without any real explanation other than CEO Bjorn Gulden saying the brand did it for “many reasons.”
That led to speculation.
Some thought Adidas halted the drop because of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Others like Snobette’s Lois Sakany were more cynical, believing it was about spreading the profit from the sales around.
The thinking was that Adidas had already recovered enough from the Yeezy drops in 2023 and wanted to spread some of that wealth in 2024.
Spot on: Sakany’s point turned out to be correct. Adidas spread its wealth around for the next fiscal year. It’s not the best look as far as ethics, sure. But I think ethics went out the window with this Yeezy thing a long time ago.
Digging deeper: I reached out to the company to see what the plan was for Yeezy in 2024. Per its latest guidance, the drops will continue soon. But for how long? And, once the well runs dry, will Adidas look to refill it? I asked those questions.
My answers:
First, I was told by a spokesperson at the brand that the update in the latest press release was the only current update on Yeezy strategy the brand had and that there’d be no further comment until the company’s official earnings call.
I was also pointed to an August statement from Gulden during Adidas’ Q2 earnings call. He said continuing to use Kanye West’s Yeezy designs is “not part of our strategy” moving forward even though Adidas could technically do just that.
I was told that has not changed. There won’t be any future Yeezy after what’s been cooked up already runs out.
We’ll see if that decision holds up moving forward. As of now, though, Adidas is comfortable moving forward with Yeezy into 2024.
The brands are out on BHM
It’s Black History Month and, maybe I’m missing something, but it doesn’t seem like any sneaker brands are being forward about celebrating it.
A look around:
I visited the websites of every major sneaker brand I could think of. Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Puma, Saucony, Under Armour. Only Under Armour had a BHM collection on its front page.
Adidas hasn’t had one since 2021’s Ultraboost DNA.
Apologies if I’m missing anything or missing anybody’s project. But that’s also part of the problem. If these things exist, then why are they not being pushed? Especially during Black History Month.
To be clear: We don’t need brands to celebrate Black culture. To be completely honest, if they’re not going to do it right then I’d much rather them not do it at all.
But it would be nice to see Black history celebrated by the brands that play in this space that Black culture created.
Don’t get me wrong: There are good, positive Black stories celebrated by these brands at times. I appreciate them. I think we all do.
But Black History Month was created for a reason. This is a time to stop and learn. Celebrate. Remember. So what if we do it every month? We should make sure to absolutely do it this month.
It’s such a shame that none of these sneaker brands seem interested in doing so.
The next wave of Air Max is here
We’ve got our next step in the Air Max line. The Air Max DN is being released on Air Max Day in March this year. It looks funky.
Take a peek:
The skinny: The DN stands for “dynamic. The heel has four different air tubes in the heel to give the wearer’s movement a bit more “fluid,” according to Nike.
My thoughts: It looks like Nike is bringing the Air Max Plus into the future with this joint. These shoes remind me so much of those.
The air unit in the heel is unique alone, but the shape of that midfoot shank looks like it comes right from the plus.
The upper also gives me a bit of an Air Max 97 vibe with how circular it is.
I like these joints. What about you? Are you rocking with the new Air Max DN?
You’ve gotta see the Year of the Dragon AF1
I’m not normally one to go for over-the-top shoes. I’m also not the biggest fan of the Air Force 1 as far as wearing them goes.
But, dog. These Year of the Dragon forces? Yeah, these are it.
What these are: This is a special, China-exclusive pair of forces to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
The gold embroidery of the phoenix and the dragon. The silky-smooth materials. The amazing pattern blend. This shoe is just beautiful. This is the kind of attention to detail I’d absolutely love to see on a Black History Month shoe. It’s art, honestly.
These drop in China exclusively and will retail for $365, so I’ll never get them. But, man. Just knowing these exist is pretty cool.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS. LET’S GET IT.
The homie Waterloo popped out in the High 85 Dunks in this trippy Rugrats colorway. I can’t call them anything else now.
The homie Young Choi popped out in the Korea Air Max 95s and these joints are SICK. Man. What a colorway.
The homie Sam came through with the Civilist Dunks and that heat map gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME. I want these so badly.
My dog Jed came through with my SOTY 2022 in the Heavy Air Max 1 from Concepts. What an amazing sneaker yo.
Then the homie Andrew Leist took us home with the Camcorder Dunks. WHAT A SICK PAIR. I might have to snag these, man.
Y’ALL SMOKED THAT.
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading today. I appreciate you. Have a fantastic weekend.
Let’s chat again on Monday. Until next time. Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. We out.
-Sykes 💯
Those Air Max DN's are giving me Air Max 2001 vibes with the tubed air in the back. Those shoes were so comfortable!
Adidas is gonna "sneak" Kanye back into the fold like nothing happened, smh.