Good morning, friends! Welcome back to The Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for reading today. I appreciate you giving me a bit of your time. Hope your weekend was awesome. Mine was pretty good!
I ran a personal 5k through my neighbourhood for the first time since last summer. Really trying to get back into the swing of things after not running for a bit because of this bitter cold and all the ice on the ground. Nice to see I’ve still got it.
Quick hits:
Alright. Speaking of running, we’ve got a guest today, y’all! Really enjoyed this conversation. I hope you do, too!
Thom Browne Talks Sports
Thom Browne was an athlete before he ever launched his eponymous fashion house. If I’m being honest, he was a pretty good one.
New York Road Runners has a profile for someone named Thomas Browne who ran the New York City marathon in 1989 with a 7:16 average mile time. I asked Browne if that was him, to which he casually replied, “Probably, yeah.” He can’t quite remember perfectly.
“I ran, like, five or six of them. I forget,” Browne said. “My fastest marathon was 2 [hours] 52 [minutes].”
If you happen to catch the designer running through the paved roads of Central Park, he’ll probably be doing it in a pair of Asics. The brand has been Browne’s go-to for his runs for years.
This week, that fandom turned into a partnership between the two sides when Thom Browne launched its first-ever sportswear collaboration with Asics on the Gel-Kayano 14.
The pair first hit the scene in early February when Browne’s models debuted it during an activation alongside GQ at the Super Bowl. It comes in three colourways — white, black and Browne’s signature, grey. The black and grey pairs launched everywhere on March 2, while the white pair was released exclusively at The Corner Shop at Selfridges in London. The pairs will run you $450 each.
Browne joined me for a conversation on the collaboration, its price point, his passion for the intersection of sports and more. You can read it below.
Enjoy!
This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity
Sykes: How did this collab with Asics come to be? How long was this in the works?
Browne: It was a couple of years. I don’t really do that many collaborations. I only really do them when it’s something true to me. I love Asics. I run in Asics. I love so much about Japanese companies and how they do everything. It was easy to decide to do because of my personal connection and the corporate culture. They’re all just really honourable in everything they do. Everything was just so well-done.
Sykes: How’d you decide on the Gel-Kayano 14 as the model?
Browne: I think with good collaborations, you see the best of each company. And I feel like that was, for me, their iconic shoe. In these three iterations — the grey, the black and the white versions — you see the best of what I do: The tailoring details that I’ve been putting into my collection for the last 25 years. So I think the combination of the two iconic approaches was exactly where I wanted to go.
Sykes: The Kayano 14 is one of Asics’ more iconic sneakers, but there are some differences between these and a regular run of the Kayano 14 with elevated materials. Are there any specific details you’d call out on the models that you’d call people’s attention to?
Browne: The first one that started was the grey one. I hope people recognise it as signature to my approaching the shoe. But then even to, like you’re saying, the fabrications, the suede that was used, the nylons that were used, they were upgraded to the type of materials that I would use in my collections as well. The piping is very reminiscent to what I use in my tailoring. There are a lot of those details. And then, of course, the red, white and blue tab on the back of it.
Sykes: I’ve seen a lot of people talking about the $450 price point on the shoes over the last month since we got the first glimpse of them at the GQ Bowl. That’s an elevated price for a Kayano-14, but maybe not necessarily a Thom Browne footwear piece. How’d you all land in that space? What makes it worth it for the buyer?
Browne: I feel like it was fairly priced. I didn’t have that much to say in regards to the price, but I think in regards to the two of us coming together, between the work that went into it, the materials and also, too, it’s a limited edition shoe and a special collaboration. I think it’s fairly priced within the world of designer collaborations with shoes.
Sykes: Thom Browne is fashion, it’s style, it’s aesthetic. But do you want people to perform in these as well? Do you expect people to run in these?
Browne: They do market this shoe as more of a walking shoe. It’s not specifically a running shoe, but it is a functional shoe. The last thing I wanted to do was work with one of the best functional athletic sportswear companies in the world, and not make it functional.
Sykes: This is Thom Browne’s first sportswear collaboration. What sort of power does a collaboration like this have? What sort of opportunity do you see?
Browne: I think it introduces a lot of new people to what I do. Because I think people don’t realise one of my biggest inspirations — if not, the biggest inspiration — is sports and athletes. I was an athlete myself at a certain level. And when you see people at professional levels, there’s nothing more inspiring to me, because I know the work that goes into it.
It was interesting to me because [Asics] is so authentically real and, also, they reach a wider audience. I think sometimes people see the couture shows they do, or the conceptual ideas they put in front of people, and they don’t realise there is actually a lot more there. And I think this is a good way of introducing those people to me and what I do.
Sykes: You’ve been involved in sports for quite some time and have dressed some of the best athletes we’ve ever seen. As someone with an appreciation and respect for the space, what do you think of others coming into the intersection of sports and fashion? What do you make of the space overall?
Browne: I think it’s great, as long as it’s real. For me, it’s not really a marketing thing. It’s just something that’s so true to how I approach what I do and my inspirations. Sometimes, I think it’s really boring when you see it’s just for the sake of marketing purposes or the idea of making people more fashionable. I don’t know. I just feel like that’s not interesting to me.
It’s great that these professional teams and professional athletes are realising the influence they have on younger kids, because they do have so much influence on how these kids perceive culture in general. The reason why I feel one of the most important moments for me was with LeBron [James] and the Cavaliers [in 2018] was that I wanted to show young kids that here are these superstars that can afford anything, they can wear anything. But they chose to wear the same thing and represent a tight, unified team. That was so important for young kids to see. It was more than the individual. It was the group of them together that was really the strength.
I think that’s great, as long as it’s real. I’m not so interested if it’s just a forced marketing push.
Sykes: What do you see the future of the space looking like? What does it look like for you?
Browne: For me, I’m really excited about this collaboration. I’m not looking to do any others, so, for me, this is good for now. If something interesting and real comes about, I’ll entertain it. But I’m still always being influenced by sports. We’ll see what happens in the future.
Jordan Brand’s Interesting Opportunity
NASCAR racing isn’t the sport you typically think of when you think about Air Jordan, but maybe we should start. Or, at the very least, Jordan Brand should try to make us start.
What’s happening: Michael Jordan’s NASCAR team, 23XI, made history this weekend when Tyler Reddick, the team’s racer, won on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas.
- Reddick became the first racer in NASCAR’s 77-year history to win the first three races of a season.
- Prior to winning at CotA over the weekend, Reddick also won the Daytona 500 and Atlanta’s Autotrader 400 races.
My take: I couldn’t stop thinking about what a moment this could’ve been for Jordan Brand after seeing Reddick make this history. It’s one of the few NASCAR moments that have broken through the zeitgeist outside of the sport’s main audience in the last few years.
The problem is that there’s really nothing there. Despite Jordan’s love for NASCAR, there aren’t any Jordan Brand collections or sneakers built around the sport. Of course, you get the Jordan Brand logos on the cars. But that feels like the brand barely scratching the surface at this point.
There are more bites to take out of the apple here.
Here’s why: One of the biggest problems Jordan Brand has faced through the years is continuing to build a brand around a retired basketball player who doesn’t really hover around the game anymore.
- Michael Jordan is just a legend to most people. He’s never present at NBA games or events these days — especially since he sold the Charlotte Hornets.
- Even when he does show, he’s not enthusiastic about things. Just look at how bland this pre-taped NBA on NBC interview is.
MJ doesn’t bring that drab vibe anywhere near NASCAR. We saw more passion from Jordan in this 90-second interview about Reddick on FOX than we’ve seen from him in decades on anything NBA related. This points to a clear opportunity for Jordan Brand.
Don’t get it twisted: NASCAR isn’t the easiest sport to build a fashion foundation around. It’s dabbled here and there with spot collaborations, like its latest with Anti-Social Social Club. But those collabs come few and far between. Plus, it’s not like Jordan is racing himself — Reddick is the guy here.
Yes, but: With Jordan’s passion and Reddick leaning into the legend of Michael Jordan the way he is (this 3-peat photo re-creation is insanely good), this feels like a layup — or whatever the NASCAR equivalent to a layup would be.
There’s something here. Jordan Brand should find out what that something is.
What Are Those?!?!?
Nike made waves online over the weekend when the rapper, Yeat, debuted a new pair of Air Max sneakers in his latest music video.
What you’re seeing: I’m not the biggest Yeat fan, so I’d never tell you to watch the video itself. But I do think you need to see these shoes, y’all.
- These are apparently called the Nike Air Liquid Max. The sole is made of some new Air Max technology Nike developed that will release this year.
- No clue what the function of these things are, but they look like a pair of Nike Air Max DN8s that got sick and needed to take some time off from work.
I’m not the biggest fan of these shoes, but I’ll wait to hear more about them before totally deciding how I feel. They just look…strange. The music video didn’t do them too many favours, if I’m being honest.
The big picture: Remember all those years we were asking for innovation? Sometimes, it doesn’t look the prettiest. But, hey. At least we’re seeing the envelope being pushed a bit here.
What’s Droppin’, Bruh?
This is a dedicated section detailing upcoming sneaker releases for the week, and sometimes other interesting drops I think you might care about.
Thanks for reading, gang!
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, reach out to me via email at michael.sykes@businessoffashion.com or shoot me a message @MikeDSykes via socials.
Peace and love. Be safe, be easy, be kind. We out.
-Sykes 💯
