The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 44 — Shit just hit the fan
Be safe out here, family.
Good morning, family! It’s a really weird time in the world right now, but I’m so glad that you all still found the time to give me a few minutes of your Friday. I’m eternally grateful.
Today’s shoutout goes to the big homie Adrian Crawford, who dropped his first piece with Finish Line’s blog! Y’all know I’m endorsing any and every piece of content that includes the Waffle Dunks. Give it a read and congratulate our guy on his new gig.
Alright, with that out the way, let’s dive in to the news of the day.
The Coronavirus is real
(Photo by visuals on Unsplash)
This is nuts, y’all. The world is a madhouse right now and it’s at each and every one of our doorsteps. The Coronavirus is upon us. We’re in the midst of a global pandemic.
Never in a million years did I think I’d type something like that, but here we are. It’s insane. It’s impacting every single part of our lives.
The institutions that we’ve known and loved for most of our lives are showing us just how serious this is. Think about everything we’ve seen in the last 24 hours.
The NBA season is suspended for at least 30 days after Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. The NHL suspended their season, too.
The NCAA tournament is straight up canceled. No postponement. No later dates. Just canceled. In an instant.
Baseball season? That’s pushed back, too. Spring training is canceled and the season opener is pushed back a couple weeks.
New York is shutting down Broadway and all gatherings of more than 500 people are banned until further notice. Even Disney World is closed.
This is impacting every industry across the globe right now including the sneaker and fashion sectors.
Remember all the things we said could potentially happen to the industry a couple of weeks ago? They’re happening.
We said there were going to be product delays coming our way soon because of the lack of productivity. Boom. Here are those delays.
We also said there was going to be a ton of money lost from a lack of spending in closed stores overseas. That’s happening, too. Adidas is projecting a $1 billion revenue shortfall because of this.
This is all just the beginning. It’s all just now starting to come to a head. Experts say the virus’ peak may come in May or June. We’re not even close to being out of the woods yet.
This isn’t me saying “I told you so.” It’s awful that these things are happening. On top of being shorted on our sports entertainment and maybe missing out on some shoes, people are actually dying. No one wants this. There are folks going through hell fighting this thing. That’s the most important piece of this and what we absolutely cannot forget.
We have to take this thing seriously. It’s not necessarily about this disease impacting you directly. We’re mostly young. We’ll survive if we get it. But it’s not about us. It’s about our community.
Play your part in making sure we beat this. Stay at home if you can. Wash up. Stay clean. Disinfect. If you care for someone elderly, be extra extra extra careful. If you’ve got a weak immune system or know someone who does, do the same.
It’s on us to beat this thing. We’re not prepared for this as a country — it’s hard to figure out if there’s really a good way to prepare for something like this. But just being as safe as possible leads to a more stable infrastructure for our health care system which leads to a quicker resolution.
Most importantly, be safe out here for your own sake. Sure, you might not die. But who the fuck wants to cough up a lung? Not me. I’m guessing you don’t either.
Love y’all, man. Stay up. We’ll get out of this together.
Nike’s Adapt tech comes to life(style)
(Photo by who?du!nelson on Unsplash)
Earlier this week we talked about Nike not being able to make too many advancements in terms of making something that’s innovated but also cool. This next thing is a pretty good attempt at it.
Nike’s Adapt technology is finally in a lifestyle shoe. The Adapt LE 01 is the latest shoe that uses auto-lacing technology and it looks pretty wearable.
As you can tell from the tongue, this is a member of the Air Max family. It has it’s own air bubble and almost looks like a futuristic version of the Air Max 90.
This shoe is pretty important. Nike’s Adapt technology could end up being the most important technological advancement of the last decade in sneakers. The problem is that it’s never been looked at as cool and, as we know, that's really how these shoes connect.
Nike’s HyperAdapt was solid but was definitely more for show back in 2016 when it dropped. It was our introduction to the possibility of auto-lacing as an everyday thing.
The Adapt BB 1.0 and 2.0 are slick, but they’re strictly performance shoes. That’s not a shoe you’d wear out casually — though they are significant in the context of the various performance lanes auto lacing can be applied to.
The Air Mag is considered cool but mostly because it’s a movie prop. Otherwise? It’s meh. Don’t debate me on this. You know it’s true.
This Air Max joint would be auto-lacing’s first foray into a lifestyle space. If this works this, we'll see a lot more shoes like this in the near future. They’ll a check in that performance box and the lifestyle box for the first time. The Adapt BB and theAdapt LE will be the building blocks for the future of Nike.
It’s not a guarantee that these will work, however. Some folks — like me — just absolutely love shoe laces. Some folks hate tying their shoes. The price point will also be way too high for some folks, which matters a lot.
No clue how much these will be but if the Adapt BB ($350) and the Adapt BB 2.0 ($400) are any indication? Good Lord these finna be expensive.
How to get the Dior Jordan 1’s
I absolutely hate this shoe, but I also know this communtiy. And a lot of y’all really want this shoe.
So, like the responsible journalist I am, I’m going to give you the info you need to attempt to cop a $2,000 shoe. Sheesh that hurt to type. Y’all are really rich rich, huh?
Anyway, Dior is having a lottery for the Jordan 1 for both the high and low top joints. Access to the lotteries hasn’t been opened by Jordan and Dior yet, but here’s what it’s going to look like courtesy of SNKR_TWITR.
Here’s what you need to know:
The lottery for the high top joints is opening on March 23 and 24. The results will start to come in on the 26th. Entrants might also gain access to a Dior Pop Up shop where they can get the shoes.
The lottery for the low tops is opening at an undetermined date at the end of May or beginning of June.
When more information is released, I’ll let y’all know. Otherwise, best of luck. Hope you cop them and come up on a new car or something actually reasonable after you resell them.
Luka Doncic’s AJ4s are amazing
Custom shoes are always kind of hit or miss for me. Sometimes they do a bit too much. Other times they’re a bit too bland.
And then other other times they’re just absolutely perfect. That’s what Luka Doncic’s Jordan 4 joints are. Absolutely perfect. Just as we should expect from the Shoe Surgeon.
Most times with customs you see folks just slapping cartoon characters or different figures on their kicks in a bunch of flamboyant and extra loud fonts and styles. These? Nah, the genius behind them is in the details.
And the video behind the creation of them is so satisfying.
Salute to Luka, fam. Happy birthday. This is a great gift, if I do say so myself.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’all know the vibes. Even in the midst of a pandemic we still putting out fire. The Kicks We Wear, comin at you.
My homie Randy P kicked us off with the Human Race NMD and, boy, are they lovely.
The homie Alexis popped out on us mad comfortable in the Birkenstocks and some fire socks. You absolutely love to see it.
The homie Jyhanne popped out with some classic Air Max 90s. Infrared never gets old, man.
Then we got lots of Jordan love starting with the homie Bryan Crawford who hit the office with the Obsidian UNC Jordan 1’s.
The homie Charles came through with the Bloodline Jordan 1’s and, you know what? This shoe don’t get enough love.
Then the homie Troy hit us with the Cardinal 7’s — classic shit, y’all.
Our guy Justin brought out the Bred 4’s in the crib. This my kind of energy.
Luis sent us packing with the Black Cement AJ3s AND some Vancouver Grizzlies shorts. Good Lord.
Then the homie Brody sent us home on some super duper positive vibes with the Sean Wotherspoon specials. Man, these are still so good. I could never do ‘em justice.
Y’all killed this, man. I really got to step my shit up. Wait til this summer. I’ma catch you slipping one of these days. Watch.
Y’all sent a lot of heat this week, so everybody didn’t make it in. But I promise you, if I didn’t get you you will get got!
That’s it for this week, family! Thank you so much for spending a bit of time with your boy. I hope you have an awesome weekend! We’ll do this all again on Monday.
Don't forget to tell a friend to tell another friend to subscribe to The Kicks You Wear! Also, let me know if yall wanna play video games together. I'm on the PS4 as @mikenasty_13.
As always, peace and love. Be easy. Be well. Be kind.
Signing off.
—Sykes 💯