The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 363 — Nike's vault is open 🔓
The brand is bringing back legitimate grails. We're happy about it. But are we sure it's a good thing?
Goooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you!
I had a fantastic weekend. I hope you did the same. Ready for July 4th? I can’t believe that’s this week.
In my cart 🛒: Nothing in the cart this week! There is an eBay sneaker sale going on right now, though, so I might shop around and see what’s out there.
On my radar 👀: The Nike Air Sunder Max’s release date is July 11. I’m definitely grabbing a pair. Almost got some this weekend on an early drop but the cart sold out on me. Sigh.
HOUSEKEEPING: KYW will be out this Friday and next Monday but will return on July 12. I’ll also be taking some time later in the month for July and early August. More scheduling details to come.
Let’s jump in.
The Killa Beez are back…but why???
Nike rarely digs deep into its archives to bring back the grail-iest of grails. Sure, we get retro Jordan releases, and sometimes, the brand brings back old GR silhouettes from time to time. But when it comes to the brand’s actual grail pairs? Those are generally untouchable.
That’s why it was so shocking to see the Wu-Tang Dunks pop up on Nike’s Instagram feed on Sunday.
What happened: Nike Sportswear sent out a post of a reel with the Wu-Tang Dunk nearly completely covered by bees, only just exposing the Wu-Tang logo.
The Wu-Tang Twitter account also followed up with a tweet of the same reel, seemingly confirming what we were all being led to believe.
Nike’s Wu-Tang Dunks are getting a wider release, folks.
The backdrop: This isn't a re-release. These Dunks came about as basically a promotional gamble.
The shoes were originally a one-off 1999 redesign of the Nike Dunk High “Be True” colorway for Iowa.
Foot Locker reportedly overbought the pairs and the colorway became oversaturated. Former Nike employee Drew Greer added the Wu-Tang logo to spice it up, told Complex in 2017.
The shoe served as a reference to the Wu-Tang Killa Beez 1998 compilation “The Swarm.” Greer says 100 pairs were made. There was no public release.
These joints turned into a legitimate grail that most of us would probably never own.
Until now, I guess.
Between the lines: The Wu Tang Dunk is one of the most requested Dunks I’ve ever seen. People have done so many customizations to create facsimiles. Even Method Man has called for a retro. It’s not that surprising that Nike would bring these back.
But, man. Doesn’t this feel like a bit…perverse?
Maybe that’s a little dramatic. But, as a sneakerhead, when you get into this thing, you realize that this space isn’t built for you to have access to everything. Every sneaker isn’t for you. That’s OK! Some are just meant to be appreciated from afar. That’s the fun of it all.
But when a brand like Nike decides to take something this special and turn it into its next bottom-line cushion, it feels like your favorite NFL legend pawning off his Super Bowl ring for a bit of extra change to pay off gambling debts. This is nasty work.
The timing: Nike had to have been working on this for years. But let’s be real. This release was announced on a Sunday morning with no major Wu Tang Clan benchmark or anniversary in sight. It’s hard not to think this is unconnected to Thursday’s disastrous earnings call. It feels like Nike is just buttering us up and hoping we forget how stale things are.
To me, this points to the bigger problem the brand has.
The big picture: Part of Nike's dominance over all these years has been its enormous vault filled with classics that have maintained a sort of mystique and yearning around their products for the consumer.
Retros like this one chip away at that. They turn true “grails” into run-of-the-mill collaborations, making everything feel a little less cool and special. While that feels good at the moment, it also does nothing but temporarily ameliorate the brand’s woes.
I don’t mind Nike doing this in a vacuum, but we don’t live in a vacuum. Nike keeps doing this. The Undefeated Air Jordan 4 is also returning. It’s not stopping.
The question is how far does this go? Do we get to a point where we see something like the Paris Dunks make a return? Could we see the Freddy Kruegers? The Heinekens? What’s next?
I’m not sure I actually want to know the answer to that.
An actual good idea from Nike
Not everything that emerged from the company’s earnings call was bad news. The brand actually seemed to have a solid idea for moving forward.
What’s happening: CFO Matthew Friend discussed the possibility of the brand rolling out a new global sneaker line for under $100. He described it as Nike “attacking opportunities across price points.”
Why this is big: How many pairs have you purchased for nearly $200 these days? That’s happening more and more frequently. Price points have gotten out of hand.
Jordan 1s retail for $180 these days. Ten years ago in 2014, the price of your average Jordan 1 was around $140, according to this retrospective from Complex.
Nike Dunks, which used to retail for $90 to $100, are now up to $125 for the most basic models.
Even Air Sunder Max coming out in a couple weeks has a retail price of $180. That’s double what it was back in 1999.
Be smart: Obviously, economic conditions are different now than 25 years ago. Everything costs a bit more. But high price points turn consumers away — especially when your competition sells better quality products at lower prices.
Nike's overture to give consumers a sneaker that they can buy at a reasonable price point is certainly something that could help Nike in the long run. But there are conditions it will need to meet.
Nike has to put more energy into this sneaker. It can’t just be something that comes and goes — it needs to become a staple.
It’ll also need to be of solid quality. It can’t feel like it was thrown together.
If Nike can meet those conditions with whatever this line looks like, then it may have some success.
In the meantime…Maybe make the Air Force 1 $90 again? Just saying.
Kevin Plank’s come-up doesn’t feel great
Kevin Plank's return to Under Armour as CEO already felt uncomfortable. Now, after getting a bit more information on what his new deal looks like, it feels even worse.
The skinny: Plank got a 55 percent pay bump, according to the latest from Footwear News’ Jean Palmieri.
In his previous role as executive chairman and brand chief, Plank made $3 million during the brand’s 2023 fiscal year.
With his move back into the CEO role, his package reportedly included a $500,000 salary, a $127,220 bonus and $4 million in stock rewards
That’s a lot of money for a brand to pay a guy who had Under Armour in a lot of trouble when he last assumed the role.
The backstory: When Plank left Under Armour in 2019, the brand was plagued by problems created under his supervision.
Under Armour reported it operated at a loss in 2017
The brand was also investigated for misleading investors about its revenue growth with incorrectly reported numbers.
He also reportedly fostered a toxic workplace culture he fostered at the brand that included strip club trips on the company dime, sexual misconduct from male executives at the brand and a whole lot more that everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten about.
That guy returned to a 55 percent raise for doing nothing. The optics aren’t great.
Y’all really bullied Action Bronson
Y’all got Action Bronson feeling insecure about his feet. Him telling us he doesn’t have a model foot made me chuckle last week.
Like, dang, y’all. Were the comments THAT bad?!?
“My foot is not the best model foot for shoe.” POOR ACTION BRONSON. I’m not even feeling these but y’all got me thinking about a pity purchase.
What’s droppin’, bruh?
Nike KD 4 “Nerf” — Monday, July 1
Nike Air Max DN SE — Wednesday, July 3
Up There x Asics Gel Terrain — Saturday, July 6
Nike ACG Rufus “Sequoia” — Wednesday, July 10
Union LA x Nike Field General (SNKRS drop) — Wednesday, July 10
Nike Air Sunder Max — Thursday, July 11
WNBA x Air Jordan 3 “Tex” — Saturday, July 13
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for rocking with me. I appreciate you.
I’ll see you guys next week. Try not to miss me too much. I’ll be checking in with you all through the Substack app! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at mikedsykes@gmail.com. You can also send me messages here on Substack.
Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. We out.
-Sykes 💯
On the one hand, the Undefeated 4s are a pair that could get me out of sneaker retirement and (try to) cop a new pair. On the other hand, yeah, Nike bringing out unique grails feels desperate. I'd rather they just lower prices of pairs to pre-Covid prices ($160 for 1s, etc.) instead of trotting out rare stuff. Expecting Nike to drop prices to bring in more consumers feels like a naive ask, but so did asking them to bring back Wu-Tang Dunks.