The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 430 — Cooking with Carrots
K-Swiss and Carrots are not a combo that I had together for 2025.
Goooood morning, friends! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Hope you had a great week. Shoutout to all the dads out there. Hope you enjoy your Father’s Day this weekend!
HOUSEKEEPING: So, gang. Here’s the news: The Kicks You Wear is joining the Business of Fashion!
I’m excited to take the newsletter to a new platform and continue to grow it. I’ll have more details for you guys at a later date — we’re still ironing some things out. But BoF will be the newsletter’s new platform. I’ll have more resources to work with and will be able to do some deeper reporting on things for y’all. I’m excited about it.
We’ll still be doing the community stuff. Honestly, there will probably be more. Q&As, events, all that. TKWW isn’t going anywhere, either.
Monday’s newsletter will be the last until July. I’m going on vacation, and we’ll start the transition then, too. Again, more details later. But I thank you guys for rocking with me for this long. This newsletter wouldn’t be what it is without you. I’m eternally grateful.
Y’all are the best.
Let’s get to it.
K Swiss enters the chat
The 90s are really back, y’all. We’ve got K-Swiss headlines this week.
What’s happening: K-Swiss is in the midst of a revival of sorts. The brand is tapping Anwar Carrots as the creative director of its new K-Swiss Racquet Club, essentially the brand’s new premium sneaker and apparel line.
He’s here to elevate the brand to the “cool” status it once held in the late 1980s and 90s, before it seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth.
How we got here: The brand has had quite a presence on the other side of the world. When Xtep International purchased the brand in 2019 for $260 million, it opened 60 K-Swiss stores throughout China.
Eventually, in 2024, following a bit of struggle during the pandemic years, it was sold again to Ding Shui Po and still has a presence in the country. But now, it seems, K-Swiss wants a piece of sneaker culture and the North American market again.
That’s what Carrots is here for.
Why that’s smart: Anwar Carrots has clout. His brand has grown exponentially over the last decade-plus. He’s done deals with everyone from Crocs to Walmart in the corporate space while also maintaining a strong presence in the streetwear scene. The Carrots brand is proven in this space and Anwar, himself, carries the same weight as some of the biggest creative names in the culture.
Now, he’s charged with curating K-Swiss’s vibe, designing its products and bringing that presence to the longtime tennis brand.
Can this work? I have to admit, I’m a bit skeptical. K-Swiss has been out of sight and out of mind for so long.
The brand has collaborated with popular names like Engineered Garments, Bricks and Wood, BAPE, and even a rapper like YG, but it doesn’t feel like anything notable has emerged from the crowd.
The thinking here is likely that Carrots and the premium KSRC collection will have a halo effect on the brand. I’m skeptical. I’m not sure K-Swiss’s foundational product is strong enough in 2025 for a halo from someone like Carrots to truly move the needle.
With that said: If you’re going to try something like this, this is how you do it. Carrots is a great name to get. And, honestly, the initial product from the KSRC is dope. Models range from classics to a 2000s mesh runner that fits in with today's sneaker culture. I love that.
Carrots also announced that the brand will be at Paris Fashion Week later this month, showing some of this off. That’s a good opportunity to build some hype before the drop on July 10.
The big picture: While I might be skeptical, I can’t deny that there’s no better time for a classic brand to reemerge than today.
Consumers are looking for variety. People are willing to try whatever as long as the product is good. Carrots is good. That’s a name people trust. And you’ve got to believe he can probably make K-Swiss good, too.
Jordan Brand gets classy
Jordan Brand is stepping out of the box a little bit later this year. The brand is reportedly set to release its own mule loafers at some point in the fall, according to sneaker leaker Elden Monitors.
What you’re seeing is a look at JB’s mule. Everyone tends to lump this in with the whole sneaker loafer trend that New Balance introduced at the end of 2024, but these aren’t quite that.
This isn’t turning, say, a Jordan 4 into a loafer. This black and silver colorway is a legitimate attempt at a more formal footwear build — not something in between.
Some have compared the shoe’s bulky look to the Prada Monolith loafer/
The more I sit with these, the more I like them.
The backdrop: Jordan Brand has experimented with formal footwear before, but hasn’t had much success. The Jordan Two3 line from the early 2000s came and went.
JB took Jay-Z’s “I don’t wear jerseys, I’m 30-plus” line to heart.
The brand targeted 25-35-year-old men who’d grown up watching Jordan and were transitioning into adulthood. They thought those folks wanted more formal wear from Jordan Brand, so they produced a bunch of formal boots, loafers and dress shoes.
As it turns out, the brand’s biggest supporters were still primarily obsessed with MJ’s signature line — not the more formal pieces.
Still, the line developed a bit of a cult following. Check the NikeTalk threads — a select few really cared about these products. You can also still catch a few pieces here and there on eBay.
Fast forward: Today, this feels much more appropriate for where Jordan Brand is with another 20 years under its belt.
The brand’s target consumer isn’t necessarily older — footwear will always primarily be a young person’s arena. But the consumers who were interested in Jordan Brand 20 years ago are probably still the same ones interested today. Variety doesn’t hurt in that respect.
More importantly, though, this loafer mule feels like something far more suitable for this era. Preppy looks are in. Loafers, boots, resoled sneakers with hard bottoms, and straight-up sneaker loafers. That works today far better than it did 20 years ago.
It should also be noted that this loafer is specifically designed for women. This is a distinctive and innovative approach to further expanding the brand’s presence in the women’s category. While it might not be novel, this is the innovation that we’ve all been asking for.
The bottom line: Timing is everything. Sometimes, doing the right thing at the wrong time can feel like a loss. But that previous experience should help Jordan Brand build out whatever formal wear it has coming down the line over these next few years.
I’m looking forward to it.
Prices are chilling
Donald Trump’s tariffs have us all waiting on pins and needles for prices on footwear and clothing to skyrocket. We’ve seen modest jumps so far from some brands, like the increases from Nike, LVMH, Walmart and more.
The expected increases from the tariff hikes haven’t yet materialized. In fact, prices have actually decreased over the last year.
Footwear prices slide 1.6 percent year over year for May, according to Footwear News’ Stephen Garner. That’s the steepest drop in four years.
We’re seeing something similar with apparel. Apparel prices have fallen 0.9 percent year over year and 0.4 percent between April and May, according to Business of Fashion’s Joan Kennedy.
Yes, but: Delayed doesn’t mean denied. It’s coming. Two factors are keeping retailers from bearing the brunt of the tariffs today.
First, many retailers stocked up on goods before the Trump administration’s tariffs took effect, meaning they don’t yet have to raise prices for healthy margins.
Second, some brands have been willing to absorb the extra cost to keep consumers coming in and out. Consumer confidence has been tanking for the last few months. Raising prices certainly wouldn’t help that. While margins may not be as fat as they once were, some brands are opting for the “something is better than nothing at all” approach.
The big picture: This won’t last. We’re more likely to see it hit toward the end of the summer and into the fall, which doesn’t exactly bode well for things like back-to-school shopping or the holiday season.
But, hey. At least you can buy those shoes you’ve had in your cart for the last few weeks now with confidence.
Apple…merch????
See, man. This is why I’m team Android.
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Apple giving y’all merch when they’ve been copying and pasting the iPhone every year for the last decade is beyond me.
Is this just me hating? Yes. Maybe. But also, please don’t let me catch you outside wearing an Apple t-shirt from the year 2025. I’m begging you.
#TheKicksWeWear
First, the homie Mike got us popping with the Kool-Aid Ja 2s. OHHHH YEAAAAAAH.
The homie Jason kept the party going with these sick Vomeros. Man, these shoes are so fun.
The homie Storm came through with ALL the fits and a bunch of AJ1 lows. Love these looks.
The homie Yosh popped out in the General Purpose Shoes with a MEAN lace swap. Love it.
The homie Tej sent us home with the Rookie of the Year AJ1 lows. The highs were incredible but, somehow, I feel like the lows are even better? Maybe I’m tripping. Either way, these are GREAT.
Smoked it, per usual.
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much, gang. I appreciate you reading. Hope you have a fantastic weekend.
Again, thank you guys for everything. This has been an awesome journey with y’all and I hope you’ll keep rocking with me moving forward.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns feel free to hit me at mikedsykes@gmail.com or shoot me a message via Substack here.
Peace and love. Be safe, be easy, be kind. We out. Happy Father’s Day.
-Sykes 💯