The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 63 — Is it Oochie Wally or is it One Mic?
Stop complaining about restocks.
Good morning, folks! Happy Monday! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you for giving me a bit of your time to kick the week off.
Big shouts to all my graduates out there! We don’t need no ceremony to recognize your greatness. Your moment is here, fam. Keep going! We’re proud of you.
Don’t forget, y’all. We’re on the road to 1,000. Tell your friends to tell their friends to subscribe to the Kicks You Wear and win a pair of shoes!
With that out the way, let’s dive in.
Restocks are a good thing
(Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash)
We’ve seen a ton of restocks of some pretty impressive shoes over the last few months since we’ve all been stuck in the house. You know the ones — the DMP 6’s, the Fire Red 5’s, the Royal Toe 1’s, and the list goes on and on. Even outside of Jordan.
The coronavirus shutting down sneaker stores across the globe created a pretty unreal set of circumstances for everyone.
Because foot traffic in store is doesn’t exist anymore, every brand had to figure out new ways to try and capitalize on this e-commerce thing overnight.
Things that were supposed to fly off shelves in store, all of a sudden, weren’t. All that excess is going online, hence, the restocks.
It’s a double-edged sword, obviously, but the consumer is ultimately getting a bunch of chances to cop some dope pairs.
However, with those restocks have come a ton of complaints about these shoes keep dropping over and over and over again online. People are hitting every brand and affiliate account to let them know that the shoes they’re dropping are “old” or that they’d rather get something else.
These complaints are a form of gatekeeping. People don’t like the fact that these releases are wider than anticipated and that the shoe might not be as exclusive as they’d like.
They’re complaining for one of two reasons.
Reason 1: They wanted to sell the shoe on the secondary market, which is totally fine! We’ve all done this. But when you do that you must know it comes with risk. That risk entails restocks tanking your shoe’s value.
Reason 2: They just wanted to have the shoe to say they were able to buy something no one else could, which…there’s no good explanation there. It’s just silly.
When you break both of those down, you realize that it’s not even about the shoe anymore. It’s about denying someone else the opportunity to have the shoe for some personal gain — either cash or clout. And that’s pretty wack.
Just think about how we all got into this thing. There’s always that one shoe that hooked us. For me, it was the 2007 Aqua 8 drop. For some other kid out there, it’s going to be the Fire Red 5. Who are we to rob them of that? Just so someone can say they bought a shoe no one else could? Please.
Exclusivity in sneakers is dope, but only when it’s authentic. It used to be about finessing your way into a truly rare drop and having a cool story that goes with it. Now it’s all manufactured.
The silliest part of it all is that the people complaining about the restocks are largely the same people who ask for restocks when they miss on a shoe the first go round. Now, we’re getting it and it’s become a problem.
It’s good that we have this moment. If you truly love the game, you should embrace it. We needed this. Maybe now we can have some perspective and a real appreciation for what exclusive actually is.
Nike’s fourth quarter numbers are coming
(Photo by who?du!nelson on Unsplash)
We’ve seen doom and gloom reported by pretty much every sneaker company since coronavirus took over North America.
Under Armour reported its sales could fall by as much as 60% in the next quarter.
Adidas’ profits fell by 93% and saw a 19% dip in sales in its first quarter.
Now, we’ve got eyes on Nike. When we last got a good look at the Swoosh the company’s during the company’s third quarter earnings call, things were on the up and up. Revenue increased by 5% year to year and they were beginning to open stores again in China where coronavirus had already begun to take a toll.
But literally just a few days later they began to close stores in the United States on March 27 because of the coronavirus spread. Since then they’ve had to rely on digital business to hold numbers steady. But, like its peers, though, Nike is expected to take a hit, CNBC reports.
Nike said that because of the store closures, product shipments to its wholesale partners have stalled, resulting in “significantly lower wholesale revenue and higher inventory.”
As the industry’s leader, Nike has a much wider reach and stronger e-commerce arm than most of its counterparts. But they’re still not even close to operating at full capacity on a brick and mortar level. That matters.
Nearly 80% of its stores in greater China are open and they’ve started reopening stores in more than 15 countries including the U.S.
However, only about 5% of stores in North America are open so far with some working at reduced hours. That’s Nike’s most important market.
Their fourth quarter call is at the end of June, so we’ll have to wait until then to see what the picture looks like.
We don’t know what their dip will look like, but it’s absolutely coming.
Sneakers for women by women
For so many years in the sneaker industry, the voices of female sneakerheads have gone unheard and unrecognized. That time is over now. Mostly because women are kicking in the door.
Case in point: Common Ace. This is a new sneaker marketplace launched by illustrator Sophia Chang and Romy Samuel of KITH fame. The site’s launch was on Friday.
Common Ace was created strictly for women by women to help more women find sneaker content and product perfect for them. No more digging through webpage after webpage and doing size math trying to find the right size men’s sneaker. Those days are done.
The site is curated with sneaker silhouettes from brands all over the internet and put on the site through affiliate links.
The links include everything from high fashion Balenciaga joints to simple Chuck Taylors. The range is the best part.
This is such a dope look. Common Ace becomes a key entry point for women diving into the sneaker industry. It also acts as a fulcrum for the ladies who have been here and continue to hold it down. Watching the site and its base grow will be a treat.
Lapstone & Hammer with the W
Listen, doing the bot thing is fine. It’s just part of the game at this point. Everyone has a solid understanding on that now.
But you probably shouldn’t broadcast that you’re doing it. Just, you know, cop your thing and get out of there. Definitely don’t do what this guy did with Lapstone & Hammer’s LeBron VII “Media Day” drop.
LOL buddy patted himself on the back right out of a pair of shoes. You absolutely hate to see it. They sniffed dude out with the quickness. They were at least kind enough to send my guy an invoice though.
Fam, how do you snitch on YOURSELF with these things? This is like robbing a bank, returning to the scene of the crime and letting them KNOW you did it. Like, bruh. Come on.
Shouts to Lapstone for the laugh. And shoutout to the dude for taking his L on the chin. Seems like a solid guy.
What’s droppin’, bruh
Air Jordan 4 “Metallic” series — Wednesday, May 20
Nike Dunk Low SP “Brazil” — Thursday, May 21
New Balance R_C1300 — Saturday, May 23
Nike SB Dunk “Chunky Dunky” (Skateshop only) — Saturday, May 23
Yeezy 700 “MNVN” — Saturday, May 23
That’s a wrap for Monday! Thank y’all so much for rocking with me this morning. I really appreciate you!
I’ll holla at you on Friday. Have a spectacular week! Let’s make it a great one. Be safe out here.
As always, peace and love. Be easy. Be well. Be kind.
Signing off.
—Sykes 💯