The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 422 — Living up to the hype
The A'One is lighting the sneaker streets on fire
Goooood morning, friends! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. Appreciate you. Hope you had a fantastic week and have a great weekend ahead of you.
Quick shoutout to the good folks at On, who were kind enough to send me their latest Cloudmonster 2 collaboration with Pleasures and The Loop. These are my new daily runners. I posted a sub-8:30 mile in these joints for the first time in a long time. Gotta do a race or two in these joints over the summer. I’ll keep you posted.
HOUSEKEEPING: The newsletter will be out on Monday. It’s Mother’s Day weekend and the agenda is packed. Hope you guys have a good one.
Creating the moment
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a Nike basketball sneaker sit in the spotlight like A’ja Wilson’s new A’One signature shoe has done. However, with the way the brand has played its hand, the A’One doesn’t feel like just a shoe — it feels like an event.
The timeline: The A’One was the topic of conversation this week.
The shoes were first released on the SNKRS app and Nike app on Tuesday. They sold out in minutes.
They re-released on Thursday at select retailers, including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Foot Locker, Champs Sports, and more. Again, they sold out.
The energy behind these sneakers isn’t what you’d typically see for a non-Kobe performance basketball shoe. I got so many texts from people reaching out to remark on how surprised they were by the quick sell-throughs and asking how they could get their hands on pairs.
Between the lines: Everyone wants to talk about how these shoes sold out in five minutes, but that’s not the real story. At least, not to me.
Of course, these shoes sold out. Nike wanted them to. This initial release was a limited one meant to whet our appetites for more coming down the pipeline with the A’One. New colorways, new activations, and more.
Instead of thinking about how these shoes sold out, I’d say you should be thinking about how much effort Nike put into making sure things happened this way. This is a drastic shift for the brand.
Be smart: Nike wants you to feel like having A’ja Wilson’s signature shoe is the same as having a limited Jordan sneaker or a Nike collaboration, so they’ve treated it as such. The short supply and low inventory create that FOMO feeling we’d typically associate with high heat sneakers. Signature athlete shoes don’t typically fall into that category.
But it doesn’t stop there. The release is the final step. Everything Nike has done leading up to this sneaker’s release has built it up as not just a release that you need to have, but a moment that you feel connected to and need to be a part of.
Everything from the logo reveal last summer to the pre-heat hype tour this spring, the brand has peeled back the layers of this sneaker little by little to connect people with it as time has passed.
Wilson has also chipped in on deepening that connection, talking fans through marketing easter eggs and explaining design choices in the shoes and apparel. We usually see designers and collaborators doing this — not signature athletes.
The anticipation also helps. It’s the first signature shoe for the best player in the world. Some would argue that it took way too long for this to happen (I certainly would!). Regardless of how long it took us to get here, we’re finally here. The people who want these shoes are passionate about them. They’re willing to spend and do whatever to get them. That’s precisely the result Nike wanted with these.
The big picture: The fact that Nike went through as much as it did to make sure this all worked shows us two very important things.
One: Nike isn’t resting on its laurels anymore. The brand knows that, with inline products, it can’t just roll things out and expect them to work just because the product has a swoosh on it. The glory days are a thing of the past. More work has to be done to connect people to the product. Nike was willing to do that here.
Two: The brand believes in women’s basketball. This rollout has been unlike any other. A lot of that is due to how passionate Wilson is about this product. Nike seems to believe in it, too. The brand sees the opportunity before it and is doing what it can to seize it.
Both of those things are good for the future.
Skechers sold for HOW MUCH?
You couldn’t get me to pay a single dollar to rock a pair of sneakers, but someone was willing to pay billions to purchase the entire company.
Go figure.
What happened: 3G Capital purchased Skechers for $9.42 billion.
The firm paid about $63 per share in cash for the acquisition, about a 28 percent premium on the purchase.
Once official, the company will be taken private and cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Brand CEO Robert Greenberg, President Michael Greenberg and COO David Weinberg will continue to lead the company after the deal is closed.
Sticker shock: Seeing this deal caught me off guard. Skechers being purchased for more than $9 billion in this economy (lol) feels like an enormous risk for 3G. Alternatively, it feels like a golden parachute for Skechers’ leadership.
Trump’s tariffs are an enormous headwind for the footwear industry, Skechers included. 3G is walking right into that.
The brand pulled its investor guidance just a few weeks ago, with leaders warning about the potential impact the tariffs may have on its standing in the industry.
If there was ever a time to get out of the footwear business, it’s right now.
Yes, but: Skechers had nearly $9 billion in revenue in 2024. Say what you want about the brand — this is one of the most profitable non-Nike operations in footwear.
Not only does it sell well, but its profile is growing. It’s netted deals with celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Doja Cat. It’s investing into sports with stars like Julius Randle, Joel Embiid and Kiki Iriafen. Skechers is morphing into a modern-day footwear brand — not just the one that steals designs from competitors to put them in Payless.
My worry: Skechers has always been one of the more affordable footwear brands. While I’ve had issues with it, it also plays a necessary role in the overall industry ecosystem.
However, 3G didn’t make this purchase for altruistic reasons. The company is here to make money. I wonder if the affordable ethos Skechers has always carried will last in this environment?
I have my doubts.
Reebok peels back the curtain
Reebok has a long way to go before it can be considered one of the premier basketball brands in the industry again, like it was in the 90s. But it’s doing the work to get there.
We’ll get a front row seat to see at least some of that work.
What you’re watching: This is the official trailer for”Power Moves” — a Netflix series starring Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, and Reebok.
The series gives us a behind-the-scenes look at Shaq and AI as they try to rebuild the brand’s cultural cache as president and vice president of Reebok Basketball.
We get to see what it’s like for a brand to recruit a signature athlete, how a new sneaker is developed and what goes into running things behind the scenes.
And, of course, we’ll get a look at the work Reebok is doing with Angel Reese. What a treat.
This is smart: One of the most effective ways to get people on your side as a brand is to peel back the curtain and show them how things work. We love watching the creative process behind how the things we consume are built. We saw how that worked with Nike’s A’One release. The same could potentially work here for Reebok.
I’ll be seated for this.
This what y’all on now?
I keep seeing videos of people wearing soccer cleats as actual shoes. I know we’re on that thin-sole terrace vibe these days, but this can’t be it.
(via Fashion Meets Football)
Nope. That’s all I have to say. Nope.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS! LET’S GET IT!
First, the homie Nick got us started with a lil Knicks love. GO NY GO NY GO.
The homie Dandin popped up in the UNDFTD Jordan 37s. What. A. Pair.
The homie WCM came through with the CSEF Dunks. These joints are SO CRAZY. The details, man.
My dog Max came through in his custom wedding Chucks. These are sick. What a sneaker.
And then the homie Josh took us home with these custom Crocs. I TOLD YALL I LOVE A CUSTOM JOB…even if they’re clogs.
Y’all smoked that, man. Good stuff.
That’s a wrap! Thanks so much for reading. Appreciate you. Hope you have a fantastic weekend. Again, happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there. We love you and appreciate you.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to hit me at mikedsykes@gmail.com or shoot me a message here via Substack.
Peace and love. Be safe, be easy, be kind. We out.
-Sykes 💯