The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 297 — Everybody wants in 💰
Why retailers are reportedly back in the Yeezy business
Gooooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me this morning. I appreciate you.
I hope you’ve had a fantastic week and have an amazing weekend ahead of you. Can you believe July is almost over? Next week is mailbag week! I’ll have the link set up soon.
Let’s jump in.
A piece of the pie
So I’m sure most of you have heard by now, but there are multiple sources out there indicating that select Yeezys will be returning to retailer shelves soon.
The skinny: This tweet from the Yeezy Mafia Twitter account, in particular, has been making the rounds on the internet. The shoes are reportedly making a return in August.
Let’s be honest: These rumors might be coming out of nowhere, but just like the first time with Adidas, where there’s smoke there’s usually fire. If true, none of this is particularly surprising. Especially after Adidas, itself, chose to move forward with Yeezy sales earlier this summer.
It was only a matter of time before other retailers got in on that action, too, morality aside. Think about it.
These companies face the same decision Adidas did. Yeezy has been a staple for years. They’ve purchased this inventory from Adidas. If they don’t sell it, it’s an operating loss. And likely a very big one at that, generally speaking.
We’re getting closer to the 4th quarter of most fiscal years and everyone wants that rosy outlook. Yeezy can unlock that for so many retailers. Especially one like Foot Locker where sales have plummeted.
To be clear: The rationale behind these moves doesn’t change. What Kanye West did is still gross. Most of us would still much rather not see him make a dime off of the industry’s richest royalty here. But these companies don’t really care about that and they make the decisions.
If people are going to buy Yeezy, they’re going to sell it. That’s how it’s going to be.
My questions: If Yeezy does return to retail shelves next month, there will be a lot of questions that come along with that return.
Obviously, these retailers work independently of Adidas. But will any profit here be shared with charities aimed toward lifting the communities Kanye has harmed? That’s a choice that these retailers will likely have to make.
For Adidas, these wholesale deals have already been made. So did that money already go to West? If not, is the company still committed to its donations?
I reached out to Adidas for confirmation on this info and asked those very questions. As of Friday morning, I haven’t received a response. I’ve also reached out to a few retailers, including Foot Locker where many of these rumors are circulating around.
The Foot Locker mention is especially interesting considering that the brand said it wouldn’t be participating in any future Yeezy releases in October.
It feels like Yeezy never actually left. That’s going to make a lot of consumers out there extremely uncomfortable. We need some answers here to clear all of this up.
The Kanye West cautionary tale
Speaking of Kanye West, this dude has completely destroyed the bag for other celebrities of his ilk.
The situation: Adidas is reportedly in the midst of a legal battle with West over a “mishandled” $75 million that came from a $100 million marketing budget the company paid out to West annually, Bloomberg reports.
By mishandling, what Adidas really means to say is he took that money and totally spent it on whatever he wanted. Which, yeah. Sounds like something Kanye might do.
What happened: This secret battle between Ye and the company wasn’t supposed to be revealed, but a reporter walked into the courtroom where the two parties were discussing the case in front of a judge. For whatever reason, despite being warned, they kept going. Now details are out.
Adidas claims it paid the $75 million into two separate Yeezy bank accounts for marketing purposes.
West then siphoned that money into a separate account and spent it how he pleased.
According to Insider, West spent $50 million of his Yeezy marketing budget on his traveling Sunday Service choir back in 2020.
Yikes: This is completely disastrous from a brand perspective. Sure, Adidas could win this case and get its money back. But, man. They really gave West a $100 million marketing budget? Annually?
The company spends nearly $3 billion annually on marketing, so $100 million is really just a drop in the bucket comparatively.
But to just give that out annually to one person and trust them to spend it correctly? That’s nuts, man.
The big picture: Adidas ain’t ever doing this again. You can be sure of that. And after seeing this situation? Every other brand out there would be smart to avoid this pitfall, too.
You can give someone the world. But you don’t always have to throw the moon and the stars in the deal, too.
How long is too long to wait for a sneaker?
Folks, as you know, I am a huge proponent of pre-orders. I’m totally OK with them — especially when it comes to sneakers. I think they have a usefulness when it comes to not only purchasing hyped sneakers, but also making sure there’s enough to go around for everyone.
But there’s a line: And I think Teddy Santis crossed that line with his latest New Balance 860v2 collab.
Santis’ Aime Leon Dore brand released three pairs of 860v2s last week, except for they didn’t really release.
The sneakers were part of ALD’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection. And if you spent $150 to purchase them, you’d be guaranteed a pair…for February of 2024.
Spend $150 today for a sneaker that will ship an entire 9 months from now. Absolutely not, y’all. I’m sorry.
We’ve seen this before: Santis did this with the ALD 1300 that dropped back in 2021. Folks could preorder the sneakers the year before and they were set to drop nearly a year from when those preorders were placed. They took forever to ship. Some folks never even received their orders. It was a whole mess.
Preorders are fine. They’re good. But this isn’t a hyped-up Dunk. It’s not a limited Jordan collaboration. It’s an 860v2. An amazing one, yes. But still, an 860v2.
I’m good on these.
This KITH x X-Men collab thooooo
I’m not saying that the KITH and X-Men Gel-Lyte III collab is the best collab of the year, but I’m not not saying it, either. These are fire. Let my guy Telly tell it.
Need a release date. ASAPtually.
Speaking of KITH: There might be a store coming to Canada soon. Footwear News’ Peter Verry is on the case.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW THE VIBES. LET’S GET IT.
First, the homie SB Skate got us poppin with the Supreme Bakins. Classic stuff here, man.
Y’all already know how Storm give it up. She’s rocking the Teyana AJ1s with the Aces gear. Fly. Super fly.
The homie Kali Rhe popped out with the Court Purple AJ1. But I ain’t gonna lie. The shirt is what got me. SHEESH, man.
My dog Dandin got a closet full of classics, man. The boy pulled out the Foamposite Air Force 2. This is WILD, y’all.
The homie Janelle came through with these incredibly smooth Dunks. WOW these are gorgeous.
And then the homie Captive Paradise sent us home with the Travis Dunks. Man. These joints are COLD.
Y’ALL SMOKED IT. Good stuff. As always.
Appreciate y’all for rocking with me, family! Thank you so much for your time. Have a fantastic weekend.
Let’s chat again on Monday. Until next time, peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯
Adidas has to be run by the dumbest / most naïve executives ever. Reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns goes to Cuba