The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 401 — Of COURSE, A'ja Wilson's moment is here
The significance of A'ja Wilson's first signature shoe cannot be understated
Goooood morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you taking your time.
HOUSEKEEPING: After this send, The Kicks You Wear will be out until Feb. 24. I’ll be working the Super Bowl and also heading to San Francisco for the NBA All-Star game. Gonna miss you guys, but I’ll drop some threads in here to keep the conversation flowing.
Let’s jump in.
A’ja’s moment has finally arrived
Folks, the moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. A’ja Wilson’s signature shoe has finally been revealed.
What happened: Nike officially unveiled the A’One on Tuesday. You can see it pictured in the photo above.
The backdrop: We’ve been waiting a long time for this. Fans have clamored for this shoe for years — before it was even a thought. Or, well, maybe I should say before we knew it was a thought.
In an era where sneakers leak daily, Wilson somehow kept this under wraps for the last couple of years as it developed. She spoke to our friend, Daniel-Yaw Miller, about that process in an interview with SportsVerse.
Part and parcel of releasing a signature sneaker is the big reveal. To build suspense and avoid leaks of any kind, details of A’ja’s upcoming collection were kept between her and a tight circle of Nike insiders.
“It’s definitely been a lot of secret-keeping. I'm keeping secrets from my own parents. It also makes it hard to work out in open spaces, so I’ve been working out by myself too so I can really spend time putting the shoe through the motions,” Wilson said. “But I think it adds a little more fun to the process.”
My take: I like this shoe. It’s very A’ja. It’s clear how deeply she was involved in the creative process on these.
Nike dropped a sketch showcasing those little details here.
The two images behind the tongue represent A’ja’s parents. The layered look is inspired by the layers in pearls — a sweet tribute to her grandmother. The diamond look on her logo. The star shape on the eyelet. It’s all so fun.
I think that can be overdone at times — the consumer being inundated with messaging that has nothing to do with them can be a negative if it’s not subtle enough. This shoe teeters on the edge, but I think Ben Nethongkome and the design team found a solid balance.
With that said: It’s not a perfect sneaker. I like it, but I do have my critiques about this shoe.
Its look surprised me. It is a bit more subtle than I thought it would be.
We’ve typically seen A’ja wear bulkier sneakers. She’s worn the LeBron line for the last few years (which has slimmed down notably on more recent models). Before that, Wilson was the face of Nike’s Cosmic Unity sneaker line — not necessarily the most sleek models.
This is different. This model has that Kobe-fied shape that we’ve become accustomed to with Nike basketball. It reminds me a lot of the GT Cut 1 in that sense.
I also think they could’ve given these a more premium feel. From a technical standpoint, this is not Nike's best. The midsole is just one layer of Nike Cushlon foam. There’s no Nike Zoom. There’s no Air unit.
I understand this is her first signature shoe and that firsts usually aren’t draped in the latest and greatest tech. But A’ja Wilson is the best of the best. Making the A’One more of a premium sneaker would’ve been an understandable move here.
The big picture: No matter if you love this shoe or you’d never give it a second thought, you have to appreciate the weight this pair carries with it.
Wilson is the first Black woman to launch a signature shoe with Nike since Sheryl Swoopes did it in 1995. She’s the first Black woman to launch a signature shoe with any brand since Candace Parker in 2010.
In general, that’s a significant note to make. But it is especially so when you consider the times we live in when you’ve got the most influential people in the nation pushing resegregation and blaming anyone who could be labeled as “other” for disasters they have nothing to do with.
A signature shoe is nothing of consequence, really. It’s just a sneaker, I guess. But for so many, this moment will mean so much more than that. This is a Black icon finally getting her just due.
It took way, way longer than it needed to. But I think this is something we can all appreciate.
Wholesale is back
During his first earnings call with Nike in December, Elliott Hill promised that Nike would be pulling back on its direct-to-consumer offensive and tapping in with its wholesale partners again.
The time has come: We’re seeing exactly what that looks like now in a significant way through the upcoming Bred Jordan 1 release.
Lois Sakany at Snobette pointed out how the brand seems to be prioritizing its NBHD (Neighborhood) accounts on this one.
Local sneaker boutiques are winning.
“For the upcoming Bred launch, priced at $250, Jordan took to SNKRS to reveal a list of the 23 North American NBHD accounts receiving the shoe. Reflecting a resetting of the table, some of the accounts are veteran NBHD accounts and others are newbies. Timing for the North American launches will take place between February 7th and 14th, depending on the activation and the VIP level of the customer.”
Looking back: I thought it was a curious moment when I saw several boutiques dropping promotion for the Bred AJ1 a few months back with the “unofficial official” story of the shoe, as they call it.
Why this matters: It’s still early and Hill has a lot of work to do to get Nike to where it needs to be. But this is proof that the process is already starting.
Hopefully, we can see things expand from here.
READ MORE: Nike’s Big Little Changes, by Lois Sakany.
The new 2000
New Balance has brought back a number of their Y2K retro models in the last few years. The brand is bringing back one of the D.C.’s favorite models this year — the New Balance 2000.
Well, uh, kind of, anyway.
It’d be more accurate to say they’re halfway bringing it back. The New Balance 2000 Abzorb looks completely different than the OG.
A look: What you see below is the new model.
And here’s a look at the OG.
The differences: There are two distinct changes here that strike you immediately.
The Abzorb cushioning system goes the full length of the shoe. It almost resembles something like the Nike Shox TL.
The upper is also seamless, which is typically not how you’d see a New Balance shoe. Premium materials have always been one of the brand’s staples. Using synthetics on an upper like this is not something we’d typically see.
I do fear that NB may be drifting too far away from the principles that make the brand what it is with this new model.
With that said, I’m always here for trying something new and shaking things up.
LVMH drops in
In the latest “partnerships I never saw coming” news, Tyshawn Jones is now an LVMH athlete.
Jones joined Louis Vuitton as a brand ambassador this week and featured him in the campaign for its latest menswear collection by Pharrell.
Told you so. The collaborative energy between the high fashion world and the sports world continues to percolate with this one.
This one is a little weird, considering how skating has always been considered an underground counterculture. To see it featured in a Louis V ad like this is a bit jarring.
But it makes sense. This is the natural progression you arrive at when streetwear fuses with high fashion the way it has over the last five years, for better or worse.
#TheKicksWeWear
LET’S GET IT!!!!!
First, the homie Error Pierre came through with these ICY LaMelo joints. Puma really did a nice job with these.
The homie Xavier came through with the Vaporfly Next% 2s! Good luck in your race on Sunday, homie. I know you’ll smoke it in these.
The homie Kali popped out in these LOVELY Air Trainers. What a colorway, y’all.
The homie Eddie Factzz pulled up in the GT-2160 and the lace job on these is SO D.C. I love it.
Then the homie Madison took us home in the White Cements. It’s only right! These are so sick, man.
That’s a wrap, gang. Y’all SMOKED this.
Thanks so much for rocking with me, folks. Appreciate you. Hope you have a fantastic weekend. Enjoy the Super Bowl. Go Birds!!!!
If you have any questions, comments or concerns feel free to hit me via email at : @gmail.com or here via Substack.
Until next time. Peace and love. Be safe, be easy, be kind. We out.
-Sykes 💯
I just don't get the New Balance thing. Can you explain?