The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 359 — Nike is suing EVERYBODY 😳
Nike's big crackdown on counterfeiters has finally come
Gooooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate y’all.
Happy Father’s Day out there to all the fathers seeing this! Love y’all! Thanks for being awesome dads, man. Hope you had a blast this weekend.
In my cart: The Salomon x Nordstrom XT-6 is LOVELY. Feels like a solid summer shoe to me. Ice cream vibes are strong with this one.
On my radar: The official images for the Nike Air SNDR Max popped up last week and have a release window for Fall 2024, which feels far away. I’ve got a feeling we’ll get a drop soon, though. Eyes peeled, people.
Let’s get into it.
Nike ain’t playing
For those of you who’ve always wondered why Nike doesn’t go at counterfeiters with the same force they go at other creatives, you can stop wondering now.
What happened: Nike and Converse just filed an extremely comprehensive and detailed lawsuit against more than 100 counterfeit sneaker sellers, per Sneaker Legal.
The details: This one gets deep. Nike has been working on this since 2023.
The brand employed private investigators to purchase products from the counterfeiters named in the filing to confirm their wares were fake.
The private investigators made dozens of purchases, including variations of Travis Scott Nikes, Off-White joints, Kobe sneakers and more.
The investigators then linked the sellers to all the websites and social accounts they used to move their counterfeit inventory. The lawsuit lists them all individually.
What Nike wants: Nike is coming for everything. The company set out to destroy these counterfeiters’ businesses.
Nike has three demands: Stop selling the goods, destroy them and pay Nike three times the sum of all profits from counterfeit products. The brand even included an estimate of the damages, which it says equals more than $28 million.
Zoom out: This is Nike’s most wide-scale attempt to crack down on counterfeiters, but, as the homies at Sole Retriever have pointed out, it isn't its first. The brand took legal action against some sneaker influencers in the replica world before, leading to a factory raid in which over 200,000 sneakers were seized. The scope of what happens here could wind up being even larger.
It shouldn’t be surprising that we’re here. Every legal action Nike has taken against folks like Warren Lotas, Kool Kiy, John Geiger and even BAPE has led us to this moment. The legal precedents the brand has been working to set have given it some rock-solid ground to stand on here. And, if that wasn’t enough, the thorough way Nike has identified all these counterfeiters should add more strength to its case.
Why this matters: This is a huge deal. Over the years, the counterfeit market has existed without pause. That’s largely because there’s always been a clear delineation between real and fake. That’s changed so much over the years.
Counterfeit models now resemble the real thing the same way fake handbags and watches do. That’s why the market is reportedly worth $450 billion globally.
READ MORE: It wasn’t always this way. Matt Welty over at Complex wrote recently about the phenomenon.
Nike cracking down like this could deal a huge blow to the marketplace if it’s successful.
Considering this lawsuit's massive size, we probably won’t have a resolution for a while. But this will shape the sneaker industry moving forward.
Go Deeper into the business of the industry with Sneaker Game
From Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s Boardroom, Sneaker Game is a newsletter by industry authority Nick DePaula that’s packed with exclusive sneaker news you can’t find anywhere else. Each week, Nick pulls back the curtain on the biggest deals, highlights the most exciting drops, and analyzes industry-shaping trends.
Nina Chanel Abney and the art of the drop
Nina Chanel Abney’s Air Jordan 3 will be widely considered one of the best sneakers of the year in 2024, and rightfully so — it’s stunning. A work of art, if you will.
Unfortunately, the sneaker’s coinciding release didn’t match it. The artist’s raffle can only be described as a mess. It felt like 2021 again and not in a good way.
She hosted the initial drop on her web store, Get Super Cool. It was supposed to be a timed raffle — open for an hour to all who would enter.
The problem was no one could enter. For most of that hour, people received error messages when entering. Too many people tried to enter simultaneously (including the botzzz!). The site couldn’t handle the traffic.
It’s fine. You win some, you lose some. Every shoe isn’t meant for everybody. Plus, if you didn’t hit, you’ll get a second chance on the global drop (including SNKRS) this week.
Between the lines: After the drop, Abney said she was going back to the way things used to be with her next sneaker. She’d have us lining up outside to go get them. A lot of people reacted with frustration to that. I get it — the drop stunk and that’s not what you want to hear after an awful drop. But, to me, she just being facetious there. I don’t take that seriously.
I feel like we have to cut her some slack here.
This isn’t her first sneaker, obviously. But people weren’t going nuts over her Air Jordan 2 like they were with this AJ3.
Considering the hype behind this one, she didn’t seem to know how to handle it. These were the results. It is what it is.
The big picture: I hope she comes back with a better way to do this. There are plenty of them out there! This could’ve been done with EQL, for example, or she could’ve partnered with Shopify on it.
I don’t know the exact answer, but what I do know is this: Things didn’t have to go this way. This should’ve been better. Hopefully, it’s a lesson learned.
Under Armour is in on flag football
Under Armour continues its rebrand by making a big push in the Olympic space, but not for the upcoming 2024 games.
The news: The brand inked a new deal with USA Football to make UA the national team’s official outfitter for the 2028 Summer Olympics when the sport officially debuts.
Yes, flag football is a thing. The sport was announced as one of the newest additions to the games at the end of last year.
The timing: This scenario couldn’t be more perfect for Under Armour.
The 2028 Summer Games will be in Los Angeles, marking the first time the Olympics have been in the United States since Salt Lake City in 2002. Lots of eyes will be on everything.
Flag football is a new sport and will generate a ton of curiosity — especially if some of the NFL’s stars play as they’ve said they could.
In the meantime Under Armour has already planted its flag in the ground for Flag Football outside of the games. The brand signed top player Diana Flores to a deal in August and has been hosting camps nationwide for the sport.
This is one of the more encouraging moves I think we’ve seen Under Armour make in the last few years. Sure, 2028 is a long way away. But when the grand stage of the Olympic Games gets here, Under Armour will have already locked down a spot.
Good on you, UA.
Gotta catch ‘em all
I’ve never wanted a concept to be more real in my entire life than these Pokémon 2002r joints right here.
What you’re looking at: These Protection Pack 2002r concepts are modeled after three first-generation Pokémon: Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise. The creator dropped these mock-ups a while ago but they’re making their rounds on the internet now and, boy, I feel like I need all three.
I don’t know who I need to talk to at New Balance and the Pokémon Company to make this happen, but I need to get them on the phone right now.
Tryna become a Pokémon Master ASAP.
What’s droppin’, bruh?
Nike Dunk Low “Philly” (SNKRS app) — Tuesday, June 18
Nina Chanel Abney x Air Jordan 3 — Thursday, June 20
RTFKT x Nike Dunk Genisis “Void” — Friday, June 21
HUF x Nike Air Max 1 (SNKRS app) — Saturday, June 22
Bad Bunny x Adidas Gazelle Indoor “San Juan” — Sunday, June 23
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for giving me a bit of your time on this Monday morning. I appreciate you!
Have a fantastic week. Until next time. Peace and love! Be easy, be safe, be kind. We out.
-Sykes 💯
I’ve had a few pairs of “reps” over the years - sometimes it’s a shoe style that’s prohibitively expensive on resale or something that’s significantly cheaper than retail. I would say that of the fake Js I bought 80% of them were as good or in some cases better quality than what Jordan Brand actually sold.
Nike and JB have huge, documented quality issues and while I don’t care if they shut the counterfeiters down, they can’t expect us to keep paying for a premium item with glue marks, wonky shapes or upside logos.