Nike Just Turned Costco Into a Hypebeast Playground
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 you had a stellar weekend. Folks. We’ve arrived. It’s fashion’s biggest sports week ever, per our executive editor Brian Baskin. At least until the next one anyway. Ha! The Olympics begin on Friday and the Super Bowl starts on Sunday. Then, to follow all of that up, the NBA All-Star game is in the middle of New York Fashion Week. Sounds like my kind of party. Quick hits: Alright. Let’s dive in. Nike in the Strangest PlacesWe’ve seen a lot of wacky collaborations through the years, but I never thought the day would come that we’d be talking about Nike and Costco together. Alas, the day has arrived. What’s happening: The long-awaited Nike Dunk Low SB “Costco” has officially been released to the public in the most unorthodox — but, maybe, appropriate? — way. A limited run of monochromatic Kirkland-labeled shoes was released at select Costco locations nationwide. The pairs, priced at $134.99 at retail, were all set up on block pallets like they were cases of water or packs of paper towels. My take: Personally, I have to admit that this is not a sneaker that I necessarily believe in. I thought they were pretty boring when they leaked online over the summer. The shoes almost felt like a funny customisation. It’s a grey Nike SB Dunk! That’s uninteresting and definitely not the traditional Nike SB move. Maybe if you connect the shoes to the infamous Costco Gap, they’d be a bit more riveting. But there’s no real story attached to these — at least not one that is very apparent and clear. Yes, but: There’s no arguing that these Dunks have worked well for Nike. It’s created a viral moment that has broken through the zeitgeist in a way that we haven’t seen in years. The headlines on these aren’t limited to your typical stops like BoF and our peers. National news outlets that don’t care about sneakers, like USA Today, NBC News and more, are talking about the frenzy these shoes caused. There were literal lines at Costco locations with people trying to get in the store to grab a pair of these. By the numbers: The excitement for this pair is reflected in its aftermarket sales, as indicated by StockX data. The platform shared its numbers following Friday’s in-store release and they’re staggering. The average sale price for a pair of Costco Dunks is $377, which is a premium of 180 percent. There have 700 sales of the Costco Dunks as of noon ET on Monday. A size 7 pair of shoes sold for as much as $5,000 on the platform. Simply put, these boring, grey shoes, inspired by a big-box grocery store, are a hit. The why: Nike’s release strategy here is at the heart of all this fervour. It’s a brilliant play that appeals to both sneakerheads who “if you know, you know” and everyday consumers interested in buying the next cool thing. Nike’s biggest collectors were already in the loop on these. They were going to grab pairs regardless of how they were released. The everyday Costco customer who had no idea this was coming and serendipitously picked up a pair because they were in the store at the right time will now also feel in the moment. The rest of those Costco customers who weren’t in on the moment are now talking about how there’s a pair of Nike shoes inspired by their grocery store and maybe wondering if they’ll ever have a chance to get a pair themselves. What’s generating even more buzz for these aside from the strange circumstances are the fact that these shoes aren’t releasing online. You can only pick up a pair at a Costco location. That creates an air of exclusivity around the shoe while also including the common customer Nike is trying to attract more of these days. We also can’t underestimate people’s love for Costco here, either. 81.4 million people have paid store memberships worldwide. Some of them would surely buy a standalone Costco shoe, let alone a Nike one. The swoosh is a cherry on top. The big picture: This shoe isn’t going to change Nike’s bottom line or fix all the brand’s current ailments. It’s too limited a release to be that sort of foundational piece. But it does start a conversation around Nike that we haven’t seen since it released the Chunky Dunky back in 2020. That’s a big win for a brand that needs as many as it can get.Selling InnovationThe Air Milano inflatable jacket that moderates temperature is a major part of Nike’s Olympic strategy. (Nike) The 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics are set to begin on Friday and the brands are out to impress you.Driving the conversation: Innovation has been a key focus for the sportswear industry over the past few years. Nike, Adidas and a number of other sportswear brands are pulling showing off their latest and greatest to try and capture your attention. The why: This isn’t just innovation. It’s also marketing. This isn’t to say brands don’t aim to make high-performance products for their athletes — they certainly do. But they also want you, as the viewer, to be dazzled by their performance. Be smart: You may not see some of these products ever reach the marketplace. After all, they’re being built for the best of the best athletes in the world. That’s a 0.001 percent group that most of us don’t have the luxury of belonging to. But it’s a valuable moment when you see that shiny, cool Adidas jacket warming up one of their skiers or a pair of Nike Mind 001 clogs worn by a Nike athlete during their downtime. They hope you’ll see that and opt to buy something similar — even if it isn’t the exact offering you’re seeing on TV. The bottom line: Brands can’t directly market to you during the Games, thanks to the International Olympic Committee’s rules against it. But don’t think for a second they’re not trying to sell you something. Hoka Is Cooking AgainFolks, it seems like everyone jumped the gun on concerns about Hoka. What’s new: The footwear brand is back to impressive growth again. Deckers’ latest results for its third quarter, ending on Dec. 31, 2025, show that Hoka is — and never really stopped being — an anchor for the brand despite concerns from analysts, investors and everyone in between (including myself!). Hoka’s net sales increased by 18.5 percent to $628.9 million for the third quarter. The company’s net sales are now expected to fall between $5.4 billion and $5.425 billion for the year. Why that matters: The brand’s growth slowed significantly from the boom it saw at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. That, coupled with the fact that the brand didn’t seem to connect with consumers on a cultural level, raised concerns about whether the momentum that it once had could ever return. These latest results seem to indicate it has. The big picture: Not only did it have some positive momentum last quarter, but there are also some very interesting things coming down the pipeline that folks seem excited about. Alright, alright. I’ve learned my lesson. Next time, instead of worrying, I’ll just let the brand cook and see how it goes. Bad Bunny’s Signature MomentSpeaking of big events this weekend, the Super Bowl is on Sunday, folks. And, as far as fashion goes, Bad Bunny might be the headlining act of the evening. Everyone is wondering what the Grammy-winning pop star will wear for his big halftime show. One thing we can probably count on, though, is that he’ll be wearing his new signature Adidas shoe, the Bad Bo. That’s not exactly confirmed at this point, but it doesn’t feel like much of a secret either. Adidas shock-dropped 1,994 pairs of the Bad Bo on Monday, which is a reference to the star’s birthday.They sold through after about an hour of time, which was a bit surprising considering how limited the run of available pairs was. Be smart: This drop felt like a teaser of something more to come. I think it’s fair to expect that the next step will be Bad Bunny wearing these shoes on the Super Bowl stage. That would be the smartest play for both sides. Kendrick Lamar wore the Nike Diamond Turf Air Max 96 last year and, according to data from StockX, aftermarket sales jumped by 413 percent following his performance. That’s the sort of bump the Bad Bo might be able to get on Sunday. I can’t see Adidas passing that up. 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 💯
