The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 366 — Nike's line in the sand 👀
The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 366 — Nike's line in the sand 👀
Nike's new lawsuit against the Sneaker Surgeon could change sneaker customization forever
Gooooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for locking in with me today. Appreciate you giving me the time.
HOUSEKEEPING: Following this Friday’s send on July 26, KYW will be out until August 12. I am taking a little vacation and doing some work around the Olympics. I’ll miss you guys! We can still do #TKWW. I’ll also still be posting in the chat and you’re all more than welcome to as well.
This Friday is also Mailbag Friday! Drop your questions into the inbox here, email me, message me on Substack, text me. Let’s get this mailbag popping, folks!
In my cart 🛒 : The Gel-NYC 2055 looks great. It’s just a matter of me picking what color I want. I CAN’T PICK. HELP.
On my radar 👀: Literally any widescale release for the Nigel Sylvester AJ4 RM. I struck out on every single raffle I entered into. Who knew these shoes would be this hard to cop?
Alright, folks. Let’s dive in.
The Surgeon crossed the line
I told y’all this day would come and now it’s finally here. Nike’s battle against sneaker customizers has reached another level.
The news: After partnering with Dominic Ciambrone — aka the Surgeon — on many one-off projects over the years, Nike is suing the sneaker customizer for $60 million in damages, according to Sneaker Legal.
Nike’s suit against the Surgeon comes just weeks after Goyard filed a lawsuit against him
The why: Nike claims that Ciambrone has been using its trademarks without the brand’s authorization. Sound familiar? This is the same thing it said about Kool Kiy, John Geiger, Warren Lotas, Omi in a Hellcat , Bape and all the others before him.
The suit says Ciambrone’s work is “misleading consumers” into thinking all of his customizations are authorized Nike collabs.
It brought up Ciambrone’s “Shoe Surgeon Academy” where he teaches people how to customize different sneakers — most of which are Nike products.
Nike wants to shut all of that down with this lawsuit.
The backdrop: For years, Nike has either tapped Ciambrone to make custom one-of-one pieces for its athletes or, at the very least, allowed its athletes to commission him to create one of his custom pieces for them. It’s never seemingly been a problem.
Nike acknowledged that. It sent a statement to Complex saying it “valued” its relationship with Ciambrone and his work with the brand’s partners.
What changed: Ciambrone blew up. He wasn’t an upstart working for heavy-hitting clients anymore. He’d become a business. He widened his net.
That’s when he crossed Nike’s line.
It’s become increasingly clear that Nike typically isn’t going to come after customizers for one-of-one projects made for specific clients. When those customizers mass produce a product or a service, Nike comes to clamp down. That’s the common thread.
On one hand: I get it. Nike is correct. Its products are directly responsible for Ciambrone’s and others’ successes.
Some Nike product is almost always the canvas of the most notable Surgeon customizations.
Without Nike’s existence and previous cooperation, I’m not sure his business would have blossomed to this degree.
On the other hand: What on Earth is Nike doing with this? This feels so silly.
His best customizations have always put Nike products in the spotlight for some of their coolest athletes. The PJ Tucker Diamond joints. The LeBron 38k 20s. Those shoes went viral. Nike only benefitted from it.
But Nike doesn’t seem to believe that. At least not anymore. Instead, the brand seems to believe he’s sullying the brand’s image.
My prediction: In the end, this thing probably settles. I think the past relationship between these two entities is enough to get it done.
Two things happen:
The Surgeon Academy will shut down, and Nike is trying to prevent future creatives from reshaping its products with elevated materials.
Ciambrone will probably continue his customizations with more guidelines and parameters attached to them.
The big picture: I don’t think that’s a good thing. Stifling creativity is not the move, but that’s what Nike seems to be today.
Best of luck to all the customizers out there. Be careful not to cross that line.
Bella Hadid vs. Adidas
Whenever you think things are going smoothly at Adidas, the train finds its way off the rails.
What’s happening: Supermodel Bella Hadid is reportedly suing Adidas after the company removed her as one of the faces of its new SL72 campaign, according to TMZ.
The SL72 is a retro runner worn during the 1972 Olympic Games. Adidas recreated the model to add to its retro catalog, which is performing so well these days.
Hadid was included alongside A$AP Nast, Melissa Bon, Jules Koundé and Sabrina Lan.
The campaign doesn’t even technically reference the Olympics at all. Instead, it positions the shoe as the next Samba.
Its history will always be connected to those games, though. And the thing about those games is that they’re completely overshadowed by tragedy.
Background: The 1972 Olympics are infamously known for the Black September attack on the Israeli Olympic team.
The details: The Palestinian Black September group broke into the Olympic Village, killed two Israeli athletes and took nine more of them hostage. All nine hostages were also killed in a failed rescue attempt.
The group demanded the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners in Israel as well as two West German left-wing rebels being jailed in Germany.
Clearly, someone at Adidas either wasn’t aware of this history when the brand connected Bella Hadid to the product or they just…didn’t care.
Why it matters: Hadid is Palestinian and has voiced her support for Palestine amid the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians — most of whom have nothing to do with the conflict at hand. That number increases every day, by the way.
Hadid is well within her right to support her people. No one can — nor should they want to — take that away from her. But given the history of this shoe and the ongoing conflict, her inclusion here was going to be an issue.
The brand didn’t recognize that. It failed to properly research the history of its new model and bent to the inevitable public pressure. Now it faces a lawsuit from Hadid, who says the brand has shown a lack of “public accountability” for the decision to make her one of the campaign’s faces.
My take: This feels more like an egregious oversight to me than some sort of malicious plot from the brand.
But, as a brand, Adidas needs to know its history and tread carefully when wading in these waters. It didn’t. Now, the damage is done. What a massive L.
Kevin Durant is mad
Nike’s new Olympic ad is crazy good. The brand tapped Willem Dafoe — aka the Green Golbin — for the voiceover. It’s called “Winning isn’t for everyone.”
Take a look:
It’s perfect. Well, uh, perfect to almost everybody except Kevin Durant.
He took exception to being entirely left out of the ad. Durant voiced his displeasure across social He ranted at Nike on his Instagram story. Then his agent and business partner, Rich Kleiman, posted a picture of Durant wearing Kith’s upcoming Team USA collab, saying, “It is so nice to be seen.”
I can’t blame Durant. He’s arguably Team USA’s greatest player. He’s the organization’s all-time leading scorer and will become the all-time leader in gold medals for USA Basketball if the team wins gold again this year. This is his time. It’s his moment. Yet, here he is, being overlooked by the brand he’s remained so loyal to over the years.
That’s tough. Tough enough to sever the relationship? Certainly not. But you can be sure that egos will need to be massaged after this one.
Angel Reese signature shoe confirmed
As soon as she signed on the dotted line, Angel Reese became Reebok’s most famous active athlete. With her Rookie of the Year worthy run in the WNBA, she’s proven her mettle even more.
And it sounds like she’ll be rewarded for that. Reese says a signature shoe with Reebok is coming.
The question of an Angel Reese signature Reebok model has always felt like a “when” and not an “if” to me. Those things will move in the same way a Caitlin Clark signature shoe eventually will for Nike.
She’s currently rocking the Reebok Solution on court and has teased her signature apparel collection off it. Reebok is leaning in with her, as it should.
Can’t wait to see how this unfolds.
What’s droppin’, bruh?
Jacquemus x Nike Air Max 86 — Tuesday, July 23
Nike PS8 “Olympic” — Wednesday, July 24
New Balance 1906A “Refined Future” — Wednesday, July 24
Asics x Above The Clouds GT-2160 — Saturday, July 27
Air Jordan 4 “Wet Cement” — Saturday, July 27
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you! Have a fantastic week.
Remember! It’s Mailbag week! Submit those questions here via this link or shoot me an email at mikedsykes@gmail.com. You can also message me here on Substack.
Until next time, gang! Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. We out.
-Sykes 💯