The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 374 — Making Fear of God work 🙏
FOG and Adidas still seem to be in a weird place
Good morning, folks! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you giving me a few minutes. Hope you had a fantastic week so far.
Appreciate you all taking the survey on Monday! There’s still time to give me a bit of feedback here for the newsletter if you haven’t already. I’d love your input.
Thanks in advance! OK. Let’s jump in.
A bad sign for FOG and Adidas
Jerry Lorenzo told us this summer that things between Fear of God and Adidas were fine amid rumors that his contract might end this year.
The contract might not expire, but things still don’t appear to be in great shape.
If you’re an avid Adidas customer, there’s a chance you may have gotten access to a 50 percent off FOG sale from the company like the homie KO from ATATF did.
I don’t think this is breaking news, but a random 50 percent off sale — even to a small subset of people — is usually not a sign that things are going great.
Let me be clear: This isn’t me complaining. I love sales as much as the next person! I hope that if you got the offer, you were able to take full advantage of it.
This is just an observation. Fear of God still seems to be struggling to click with the people. Adidas is trying to give it away.
The backdrop: That’s not a surprise. It’s been like this since the first FOG x Adidas collection dropped.
People immediately complained about how expensive the brand was upon its release just under a year ago.
FOG had a real opportunity to shake things up with Adidas. It was an athletic brand that was presented with a standard of quality that we hadn’t seen in sportswear in a long, long time. From the sneakers to the apparel, the look was unique. The materials were plush. It should’ve raised the bar for everyday sportswear.
Instead, the brand shut people out with pricing. Here’s what I wrote about it when it dropped last December:
“That’s why it’s so ridiculous that these prices are where they are. In this economy? Lorenzo is shutting people out before the doors even open. The quality of the product doesn’t even matter anymore. People just aren’t feeling this.”
That still remains the case today. People are priced out. The only difference is they no longer seem interested in jumping on the bandwagon in the first place. That’s why we see the sale we do here.
So what now? What can Adidas and Fear of God do to repair its relationship with the consumer?
Well, I think this sale is actually a pretty good start.
Cutting prices on the product makes too much sense to me. I don’t think this should be a sale — it should be permanent, even if it’s just to a select number of loyal Adidas consumers. The product is good. If you cut prices, you might get people to try it. When they try it and like it, they’ll be back for more. Margins won’t be as gaudy, but they probably weren’t great in the first place.
It needs to be more visible. You don’t see a ton of Fear of God on Adidas. If you search it on the company’s website, for example, no product comes up. Instead, you have to scan a barcode that…also takes you to nothing.
To me, that’s an issue. I know FOG wants to keep an exclusive air about it, but I think people actually seeing it around would do the brand a lot of good.
Plus, when was the last time you saw an FOG commercial? Yeah, I can’t remember either.
It also needs to connect more with Adidas. This goes hand in hand with visibility, but when will we see, say, Anthony Edwards in FOG? Why don’t we get a FOG spin on the AE 1? I think some connectivity is missing there that could help the brand.
The big picture: Things with FOG and Adidas are at a tipping point, but the run isn’t over. There’s another collection coming up at the end of this year and we’ll see where things go from there. It’s still possible that this partnership will be just fine down the line.
But I think at least adjusting pricing a bit and becoming a more visible operation would do both parties some justice.
Nike’s shareholders say no to worker’s rights
Nike’s shareholders voted to reject a proposal that would’ve opened the door for the company to join in legally binding agreements with supply chain workers overseas working in harsh and unfair conditions, according to the latest from Reuters.
This is a big deal: It was an opportunity for Nike to ensure better working environments for supply chain workers overseas working in countries where worker rights aren’t protected.
Instead, it seems, this has turned into a wasted opportunity.
The backdrop: Domini Impact Investments — one of Nike’s investors — pushed the proposal forward.
The investment group says companies like Nike "often fail to identify and remedy persistent rights abuses such as wage theft, inadequate health and safety or gender-based violence,” according to Reuters.
It’s not the first time this has been proposed. It was also brought up at the shareholder meeting last year but was voted down then.
What Nike says: The company encouraged its shareholders to vote against the proposal and called it “unnecessary,” according to Footwear News.
The company sent out a statement:
“The company has established robust processes and practices to help identify, assess, and remediate human rights and labor issues throughout its operations and supply chain,” it said. “The company expects each of its suppliers to share in its commitment to respecting the rights of workers and advancing their welfare, with particular care for people with unique vulnerabilities such as women, migrants and temporary workers. To that end, the company requires each of its suppliers to comply with the minimum standards set forth in the company’s supplier code of conduct and code leadership standards when producing company products.”
Translation: Basically, Nike feels the standards it holds the suppliers it works with are already enough. Any worker-driven social responsibility obligation wouldn’t make a difference.
But…: There’s a group of investors who seem to believe the company has a problem with treating its essential supply chain workers equitably.
Domini and dozens of other investors have been pushing Nike to pay back millions of dollars to thousands of Southeast Asian supply chain workers who are legally owed wages and severance for the last four years.
Nike has denied those allegations, per Reuters, but shareholders have been chastizing the company about this for years.
The big picture: Nike has presented itself as one of the most transparent companies in the footwear industry — and, to its credit, it has been through things like its impact reports. But that’s not necessarily a high bar to clear considering there’s not much transparency around the industry at all.
Though this proposal may have been voted down again, the public pressure isn’t going anywhere. If the pressure continues to pile up, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where Nike doesn’t eventually act.
OK. This logo is kind of sick
Look. I know I said I didn’t think a De’Aaron Fox signature shoe was a good move for the Curry Brand. I stand by that. I don’t think this is a good idea.
With that said: This logo is dope, y’all.
What you’re seeing: It’s a fox! In the shape of a D! That’s pretty awesome. It’s creative. It’s one of the best logos I’ve seen in years and that’s extremely rare for an Under Armour product.
Will it help move units? I’m unsure about that. But it certainly doesn’t hurt. I’m more interested in these things than I was yesterday.
Does that mean I’m sold on them? Nope. Not at this point. But I’m willing to see what they’ve got cooking.
Black Air Force 1 energy
In today’s “Kendrick Lamar is a Menace” news, the rapper used Black Air Force 1 beaters off of eBay as the cover art for his latest single, “Watch the Party Die.”
What a sicko. I love it.
#TheKicksWeWear
LET’S GET IT!!!!!!
First, my guy Big Craw came through with the WYWS Air Jordan 3s from A Ma Maniére. The more I see these, the better they get.
My dog Rob came through with the Silver Bullet 97s. This has got to be up there as one of my favorite Air Max pairs. Classics.
The homie Storm came through with ALL her heat — once again. She’s got the fits for days, man.
The homie Nick finally joined in the Dad Shoe Brigade. Welcome, my guy! The Initiator is a great starter pair.
The homie Amy came through with the New Balance 1000s in this AMAZING colorway and, yup, these are on the list now.
Then my guy Sam sent us home with the CHUNKY DUNKYS. And an incredible fit. Love this whole get up man.
Y’all crush it every week, fam. I can barely keep up!!!
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for rocking with me today. Appreciate your time. Have a fantastic weekend.
Let’s do this again on Monday. Until then. Peace and love. Be safe, be easy, be kind. We out.
-Sykes 💯
I'm confused. You're using Jeremy Lorenzo and Fear of God interchangeably as though they're the same person. Never heard of either until today. 90% of the time when people use "fear of God" they're talking about an intervention to scare them into acting a certain way.