The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 287 — A guide for wearing your canceled sneakers 💰
Because it's not your fault that your favorite influencer decided to be a jackass
Gooooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Happy Mothers Day, again! Shoutout to all the mom’s, man.
I especially want to give a shoutout to my mom, Rhobyn. She’s one of the strongest people I know. We recently just lost her mom — my grandma — and, yes, it hurts. A lot. But you know who the family’s rock has been? You guessed it. My mom. There’s nobody better. Love you, ma! Happy Mother’s Day.
Let’s jump in.
Kanye and them are cancelled — but you aren’t
I’ve had so many people hit me up about what they should do with their Yeezys over the last few months. It’s a reasonable question.
The situation: That’s the position Kanye West has put people in with his actions. It’s not just Kanye — it’s Tom Sachs, too. Travis Scott after the Astroworld debacle. Jeremy Scott after the Adidas Forum with shackles. There are so many more.
This kind of thing keeps happening. It's the gamble brands make with influencers. They are bound to fail us.
And when that happens, consumers have to make decisions.
We live in a time where morality and ethics are at the forefront of many consumers’ purchasing decisions.
If influencer X does terrible thing Y, then consumer Z may not want to support that person anymore.
You don’t need me to tell you that that is OK. It’s the power that you have as a consumer and you are absolutely right to use it. The way to get back at Kanye West for being antisemitic and anti-Black is to hit him in his pockets.
I’m also here to tell you that it’s completely fine for you to wear the sneakers that you’ve already purchased from dude. Same goes for Tom Sachs. Or whoever else may be in question here.
Sure, you may feel like you’re supporting a terrible person by simply wearing the product created by that person or with that person’s name. And if you feel that way, the solution is simple — don’t wear it! I get you. That’s generally how I carry things.
But here’s the thing: Wearing the Yeezy that you’ve already purchased doesn’t make you a bad person.
You’ve already spent your hard earned money on that product. It’s in the creator’s pocket already. There’s nothing that you can do about that.
You putting this stuff on is not necessarily an endorsement of that creator. Individually, it does not necessarily have to speak to your views or sensibilities as a person.
Think of it like this — it’s a totally different situation, but when you see those wild sports fans burning the jerseys, do you say “that’s a good use of $150.” Nah. you call it what it is — totally ridiculous.
So let's just say you decide to trash all of your Yeezy. What are you really getting out of it? It's not stopping Ye from earning that 15% royalty that he already earned off of your previous purchase.
It’s a sunk cost. Might as well get it off while you can.
Not to mention the environmental concerns that come with simply throwing sneakers away.
There are other things you can do if you don’t want to wear them.
If you don’t want to sell them, you can always donate pairs. And, at the very least, someone who may need a pair of shoes will actually get them. That’s way better than sneakers just wasting away in some dump.
On the other hand: Now, if you continue to purchase the product, that’s different. That is support. You are still feeding money directly into that person’s pockets. And, if you choose to do that, fine. That’s your choice. Obviously, I wouldn't recommend it. Especially when the person is hateful and problematic.
But you don’t need to make yourself pay because an influencer decided to be an awful person. The responsibility isn’t soley on you here — it’s on the brand that continuously works with a problematic creator. You don’t make that decision.
So, yeah, if you’d like to continue to wear your General Purpose Shoes, then wear them! By all means. That’s OK. It’s still all love over here.
Return of the Mac (Attack)
There’s a lot of main character energy around the Mac Attack coming for the summer of 2023 and it’s been very exciting to see.
This is something that’s been in the works for a while. We knew these were coming back when we saw LeBron James wearing a pair back in 2021.
The background: For those of you who don’t know, the Mac Attack is the signature sneaker of tennis legend John McEnroe. It’s one of the best signature shoes ever with the way it represented McEnroe as a person. When it dropped in 1984 — ahead of the Jordan 1, by the way — it bucked so many trends in tennis shoes. They called McEnroe the “rebel with a cause” for a reason.
The original colorway was this grey and black color that completely subverted the trend of the all-white tennis shoe that was so popular during the time.
It was also a mid-cut sneaker, which also wasn’t necessarily the norm for tennis shoes back then.
Fast forward: We’re going to see this sneaker in so many so many places this year.
There’s a Travis Scott retro version of this sneaker reportedly coming for 2023. While they’re kind of blah, this is a sign that there’s energy going into the shoe.
Social Status is also doing a more colorful take of the sneaker themselves for the summer.
On top of that, we’re reportedly getting OG colorways of these joints too.
Why I love this: The Jordan 1 and Nike Dunk love has doomed so many other models from that 1980s time period into obscurity. It’s nice to see the Mac Attack getting some of that here as a model that has lacked that attention for a long time. It also seems to be one that will be pretty easy for people to get.
Do the Tech Challenge 1 next, y’all.
Please be better, Ja Morant
Ja Morant is back in headlines — once again — for all the wrong reasons. Dude was caught on Instagram Live brandishing a gun. Again.
He's been suspended by the Grizzlies from all team activities in the meantime.
The backdrop: This is the second time in a 3 month period where Morant has been seen with a firearm on IG Live. Typically, that wouldn’t be a problem. But there’s lots of context here that makes this different.
Morant was suspended by the NBA for conduct detrimental to the league in March after dancing around with a gun in a nightclub in Denver. It was also seen on Instagram Live.
He was also investigated by Colorado police regarding it, though no charges were filed.
All of this follows reported incidents of violence following Morant around, including an incident where he allegedly got into an altercation with a teen.
The truth about it: Look, if Ja Morant wants to own guns, that’s fine. He lives in a state where it’s legal to both own a firearm and carry it out in the open with no license. What he's doing isn't a crime.
But, like, is Ja OK? I’m not even worried about the gun — it’s his physical and mental safety that I’m really concerned about. Carrying a gun is one thing. But flashing a gun around like that signals something entirely different.
That’s an open invitation for someone to come and try Morant. And, no matter how that ends, it almost certainly will not end well. And that’s not what we want to see. This all shows me that, yeah, this guy doesn't seem to be thinking sstraight. That's scary.
The big picture: This is something to keep an eye on. Particularly after Morant was said to have worked on himself. Seeing him essentially doing the same thing that got him dinged in the first place is not a good sign for his supporters — particularly Nike.
The Grizzlies have already taken action. Nike probably isn't going to drop Morant, but we may certainly end up seeing less of him moving into the future. That's not great considering his role as the brand's sole Gen Z athlete.
We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out. I just hope Morant remains safe throughout all of it.
Shitting on the Jordan 1
Exuse my language here, y'all. But this feels appropriate.
Artificial intelligence is definitely coming for my job in, like, 3 years. But let me tell y’all something — if I can get a Jordan 1 toilet out of it? I might be alright with that.
LOOK AT THIS, Y’ALL.
Come on now. Put that on the SNKRS app, Nike. Don’t be cowards.
What’s droppin, bruh?
Dime x Adidas Superstar ADV — Monday, May 15
Nike Air Max 95 “Next Nature” Green — Wednesday, May 17
Air Jordan 5 “Craft” — Wednesday, May 17
Air Jordan 3 “Lucky Green” — Thursday, May 18
Air Jordan 1 x Across the Spiderverse “Next Chapter” — Saturday, May 20
Thank you so much for rocking with me today, family! I appreciate you. Y’all are the absolute best. I hope you have a fantastic week ahead of you.
Catch me on Friday! Until then, peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯