The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 439 — Adidas' new muse
Bad Bunny is the new Kanye. I mean that in the nicest, best way possible.
Good morning, friends! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. Appreciate you for giving me some of your time.
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Alright, let’s jump in.
Bad Bunny is the face of Adidas
Bad Bunny has cemented himself as Adidas’ new star collaborator on the level of a Pharrell Williams or a Kanye West (before he lost all sense of reality).
Yes, I know: That’s quite a take. Those are very high bars to clear. But, after seeing how the brand positioned Bad Bunny in his homeland of Puerto Rico over the weekend, it feels like the right take.
What happened: Bad Bunny brought Adidas and Mercedes to Puerto Rico this weekend to give the island its first taste of Formula 1 racing. We detailed that a bit in Friday’s newsletter, which you can check out here. But the weekend wasn’t just a F1 showcase. Adidas opened a Bad Bunny sneaker archive to the media, showcasing over 150 pairs of sneakers the two sides have collaborated on since joining in March 2021.
Not only did the archive show us what Bad Bunny has done with Adidas, but it also gave us a tease on what’s yet to come.
The big reveal was that Bad Bunny’s upcoming BadBo — his signature shoe. The model was placed behind faded glass to block complete visibility of it.
It showed off other non-signature models we haven’t seen, like the AdiRacer high and low, plus a Mercedes Benz x Adidas x Bad Bunny triple collab sneaker.
Adidas also flexed a bit with unreleased samples of some models we’ve seen already, whetting the appetite of sneakerheads everywhere.
This weekend made it clear that Adidas has big future plans for its collaborative partnership with the international popstar. The two sides have already built up one of the more impressive collaborative combinations we’ve seen in the last few years, and there seems to be lots more to come.
Why this matters: If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t have predicted this three or four years ago. I thought the era of collabs with superstar celebrities was dead — especially for Adidas.
Kanye West and Yeezy dirtied the waters for everyone. The dissolution of his partnership with Adidas and the fall of Yeezy as a brand put the risks that come with these deals on full display.
Yes, the partnerships might be fruitful. But you’re always just a bad year or two away from everything just falling apart when you depend heavily on one creative to provide a halo for the rest of your brand.
With that risk in mind, I thought it’d be a while before we saw Adidas — or anyone else, really — dive in deep with a celebrity influencer of this ilk. Just three years after Adidas cut ties with Yeezy, here we are.
Be smart: With that Yeezy partnership in mind, it feels like Adidas’ partnership with Bad Bunny is a much safer route for Adidas to take on the macro-influencer front. While it’s clear that Adidas is leaning heavily into Bad Bunny moving forward, his deal is something more akin to what Travis Scott has been doing with Nike than Adidas’ Yeezy business.
We’re seeing Bad Bunny colorways and a Bad Bunny signature shoe, but there’s not a Bad Bunny brand under the Adidas umbrella.
Even if there were, I doubt the brand would readily give up as much of its power to Bad Bunny as it did to Kanye West and Yeezy.
Even if the train falls off the track here at some point, Adidas is far more insulated here than it was with Yeezy. It doesn’t depend on Bad Bunny’s business to drive its profit. Instead, his presence is only a complement to everything else the brand is offering.
The bottom line: It seems I may have been a bit premature on the obituary when it comes to the reign of these macro celebrity influencers. It’s not just Bad Bunny. It’s Travis Scott, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, and more.
Despite the ups and downs, celebrity still holds weight in this industry. That hasn’t changed and it seems it won’t anytime soon.
Reunited and it feels so good
It’s August and Liverpool is officially a Three Stripes club for the third time in its history.
August 1 marked the official start date of the 10-year kit deal between Adidas and Liverpool. The brand played its final match in its Nike kits on July 30.
The backdrop: Usually, we wouldn’t see the club transition from Nike to Adidas. In an ideal world, when Liverpool’s season ended in May, its Nike deal would’ve ended, too. But a weird bit of timing gave us a glimpse into the kit swap.
Liverpool’s agreement with Nike would’ve ended in May, but because the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the 2019-20 start of the EPL season, the agreement was delayed by three years.
That delay had Liverpool playing its first few friendlies on its Japanese tour this summer in its Nike kits as its five-year deal came to a close.
Ben Latty, the club’s chief commercial officer, said they’d always planned on honoring their agreement with Nike in full, per The Athletic. The deal would never be cut short.
Thus, you end up with this weird scenario where the club is wearing one set of uniforms one game and another the next.
Honestly, it was fun to see. It added a bit more intrigue to what would’ve been a mundane double-header against Athletic Club on Monday.
The bottom line: This added bit of intrigue, along with the nostalgia hit of seeing that classic look on the Reds, seems to have fans buying in pretty hard right now.
Maybe this is something teams should do more often.
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Slawn vs. Kaws
The artists are fighting, guys. Well, kind of.
Olaolu Akeredolu-Ale, or the artist most of you know as Slawn, seems to have gotten on the wrong side of Brian Donnelly, who you probably know as Kaws.
What happened: Slawn posted pictures of sculpted figurines on Instagram that, on the surface, seemed to be a KAWS collaboration.
There were two statues included. One was a Kaws figurine and a Slawn figurine hugging each other. The other was a half-Kaws, half-Slawn figurine in the classic Kaws “flayed” style.
The caption on the post read “SLAWN x KAWS, AN ODE TO ONE OF THE GREATEST, THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING KAWS, AMEN.”
Yes, but: As it turns out, Kaws had nothing to do with this. In the comments of the post, Donnelly said, “I have nothing to do with this. This is misleading!” He also followed up with an Instagram story post reiterating the same thing. It’s kicked up a bit of a firestorm online with people debating whether this is straight up theft or if Slawn is truly paying homage to a creator he respects.
My take: I won’t lie — initially, I thought this was pretty weird in my initial read of the situation. There’s no question that this is creative theft.
Slawn lifted Kaws’ signature figurine without permission and added it to his work.
Even if you argue it was done respectfully and tastefully, it was still unauthorized.
Despite this being dressed as a collab, it was never that. It’s just Slawn hijacking the Kaws signature companion to make a little art.
Which is why this honestly doesn’t upset me. Because this is art! Artists steal from each other all the time. Even Kaws’ works are derivative of classic Americana icons like The Simpsons and Mickey Mouse. That’s what has always made it appealing.
Isn’t that just a version of what Slawn is doing here? Yes, it’s a bit of a troll. No, Kaws probably shouldn’t be comfortable with it. But this is how it goes. Plus, he’s not selling the figurines. He’s only giving away free t-shirts. There’s no commercial benefit from this. I can’t be mad at that.
If this display sucked, I’d be more upset. But, honestly, these are pretty good! Maybe they should actually collaborate on something once things cool off.
Marc Jacobs cooked
Didn’t have Marc Jacobs dropping one of the best sneakers of 2025 on my bingo card, but here we are.
What’s happening: The designer released his new “72” running sneaker and, honestly, it’s one of the best sneakers I’ve seen all summer.
What makes this good: Details, details, details. It’s the Marc Jacobs on the outsole. There’s also that M overlay being placed over that backward swoop, that kind of looks like a J. And that perfectly spaced mesh underneath it all? Sheesh, man. He cooked.
Even the denim pair is at least interesting. The suede pair gives me Miu Miu ballerina vibes. These all feel like they’re right on time with today’s sneaker trends. That’s not typical of a Marc Jacobs shoe.
Somebody tell LVMH they might wanna chill before they sell if Marc Jacobs is going to do ‘em like this. Man.
What’s droppin’, bruh?
Nike Ja 3 “Light Show” — Tuesday, August 5
Nike Shox Ride 2 “Mossy Denim” — Wednesday, August 6
The Whitaker Group x New Balance 990v4 “Willful Bias” — Thursday, August 7
Nike A’One “No. 1 Draft Pick” — Friday, August 8
Vans Old Skool 36 “Souvenir” — Friday, August 8
Air Jordan 4 “Worn Blue” — Saturday, August 9
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading today. I hope you enjoyed today’s send.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to hit me via email at mikedsykes@gmail.com or shoot me a message via Substack here.
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Peace and love. Be safe, be easy, be kind. We out.
-Sykes 💯