The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 338 — The end of TikTok? 🤔
GOODBYE REPTOK.
Goooood morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you taking your time!
How’s your week been? I hope it’s going well. We’ve had sunny skies + great weather in the DMV for the first time in a month of Sundays and I’m so excited. I’m grilling today, y’all!
Let’s dive in.
It might be over for sneaker TikTok
To be more specific, TikTok, in general, might be on its last legs in the United States.
The news: The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill with bipartisan support giving TikTok an ultimatum.
Its choices are this: Beijing-based ByteDance has to sell the app or face being banned by the U.S. government and losing a 170 million user base. The bill passed the House with a 352-65 vote on Wednesday and is now making its way to the U.S. Senate.
The chances of the bill passing the Senate are a bit shaky than the House's, with some already vowing to block the measure. But it’s still certainly possible.
Why this matters: Content creators and business people across industries will be impacted if this app is banned. The sneaker industry is one of them. Over the last few years, TikTok has completely reshaped how the footwear world looks and operates in ways both good and bad:
This app is where all the sneaker influencers live these days. TikTok's usage has ballooned beyond pretty much everything besides Facebook and Instagram.
It’s become a creative avenue for many people to share how they wear their shoes, what they wear and why. I think that’s an overall good thing.
But you’ve got predatory resellers operating their business now, for better or worse.
Plus the replica sneaker market has found a way to blossom on TikTok, with users promoting counterfeit pairs and unauthorized models.
Whether or not this happens remains to be seen. I find the conversation around it fascinating considering how deep this app has permeated the zeitgeist.
I can see both sides here but, overall, I think a TikTok ban is probably a bad sign. Mostly because the reasoning behind this bill seems flimsy at best to me.
On one hand: Sure, ByteDance could be sending U.S. user information to the Chinese government. That’s not good. And it’s not surprising the U.S. government is reacting this way. We did just go through the whole spy balloon thing.
On the other: Hey, man. Facebook exists. So do Twitter. And foreign entities put their thumbs on the scales via those platforms every single day. This is not the only social platform in which misinformation has been spread. TikTok is only different because of where the app was founded and who controls it.
We’ll see how this turns out. I just hope all the aspiring influencers out there have braced for impact.
Plank’s back
Kevin Plank is apparently back in the saddle as the company's CEO. The company announced on Wednesday that Plank will take over as CEO in April.
He’s replacing Stephanie Linnartz, who took over the role officially in early 2023. Linnartz followed Patrik Frisk, who stepped down in June 2022.
Linnartz reportedly reached a separation agreement with the company to pocket the former Marriot exec a cool $2.6 million in cash. She’s not leaving empty-handed here.
My question on this move is simple: Why? This is sort of coming out of nowhere. My natural assumption is that the company just wasn’t growing fast enough for its board to be satisfied.
Zoom out: Linnartz did good things while in the CEO seat for Under Armour. She diversified the company’s C-Suite, created the brand’s rewards program and more. But Under Armour’s share price is exactly where it was a year ago. Revenue is down. Key growth figures have not changed. So maybe the board felt a change was needed.
Here’s my thing: I don’t know if Plank is the right guy for the job.
Sure, he’s the company’s founder and its CEO. And he was at the helm during some of its best times. But let’s not forget the state in which he left Under Armour.
Sales were down in 2019 and stocks plummeted. The brand couldn’t recapture the magic it once had that early 2015-16 period behind Steph Curry.
UA was also marred in controversy. Under Armour’s shady accounting under Plank led to SEC charges. The brand struggled to get out of massive college sports deals he agreed to but couldn’t afford. Plus, there’s the whole strip club thing no one talks about anymore.
Now, Plank returns to a company that seems far more stable than the one he left. Let’s hope he can keep it that way.
More confusion on the “Reimagined” line
Remember a couple of weeks ago when we talked about how all of the OG retro Jordan models seemed to be falling into the “Reimagined” category? Well, apparently, that won’t be the case with the Black Cement 3s coming later this year.
The news: Sneaker leakers told us in February this classic was making a comeback later during the holiday season as a pair in Jordan Brand’s “Reimagined” line.
Now, according to zSneakerheads, that’s not the case. According to the account’s latest post, this shoe won’t be included.
Let’s be real: To a lot of people, this isn’t going to matter. The just want this sneaker. But, to me, this presents a greater information problem.
This shoe being part of the “Reimagined” line would lead us to assume there may be material changes coming to it like some other shoes in the line have.
It also makes it a bit more unclear what is and isn’t included as “Reimagined.”
The big picture: This is why sneaker leaks are the worst. They make things unclear. While it might drum up hype for a shoe, it can also create confusion and unrealistic expectations about what a sneaker might be. That’s never a good thing.
While I know it’s hard to ignore leaks, sometimes we’re better off doing exactly that. I think this might be one of those cases.
The best Book 1 yet?
Listen. I know some of you have been hating on the Book 1 pretty heavily. I don’t like some of the colorways out there, either.
But I think it’s safe to say these snakeskin joints are pretty sick:
The skinny: This pair is apparently inspired by his love for hiking. What does that have to do with the four different shades of snakeskin on these? No idea. But this is cool.
They run $150, which is more than a typical pair. I guess that’s what you get when you have these different materials and patterns.
I’m glad we’re seeing this creativity on these joints now and fewer OG Jordan colorways. It makes a big difference.
#TheKicksWeWear
First, the homie Retro Boogie came through with the Kobe vibes on deck. These are incredible, man.
Then, the homie Jed Wells popped out in the Wotherspoon joints. I know it’s easy to hate on Sean right now. But these are IT.
The homie Jessica popped out with these LOVELY 9060s. These are sick, y’all.
Then my guy J Block came through with the Union AJKO. What a creative sneaker, man. f
The homie CJ came through laced up in the AJ4. This shoe literally always looks great.
Then the homie Floyd took us home in the LOBSTAHS. Y’all see the laces? Man. Come on.
Y’ALL SMOKED THAT! SHEEEEESH.
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading today! I appreciate you taking the time. Y’all are the best.
Thanks again for taking the KYW survey! In case you missed it, you can check that out here:
Let’s chat again on Monday, y’all. Until then. Peace and love! Be safe, be easy, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯
Man wearing orange lobsters to the gym is 😬 but if u want to rock em like that you do you
Oh my I forgot about the strip club thing with Plank. I do remember the accounting thing and the botched UCLA deal. Yeesh.