Why Adidas Is Forcing the Return of the Superstar Upon Us
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. Cheers to a great weekend coming up! Hope y’all are staying warm out there. Winter is almost done, gang. We’re almost there.We’re inching closer and closer to Formula 1 season, folks — the first practice runs begin on March 5. As a newer F1 viewer, I still haven’t picked a team yet. I’m honestly unsure if I will. We’ll see. If y’all have any recommendations, send them my way. Quick hits:Hockey fans, rejoice. Nike is producing more Team USA hockey jerseys in the coming weeks, following increased demand after the gold medal game against Canada. Things at Puma still aren’t great, and CEO Arthur Hoeldt said he expects more losses on the company’s latest earnings call. But he also pointed to the brand’s partnership with Hyrox as a potential foundational piece in its comeback. A’ja Wilson’s A’Two signature shoe is apparently getting a pre-release in Berlin on March 8 while she’s on her Nike tour across Europe. What a pleasant surprise.Alright. Let’s get into it.The Superstar’s Redux It feels like every time you turn around, there’s another brand trying to turn back the clock to 2016. This time, Adidas is the culprit. What’s happening: The brand is generating significant momentum around the Adidas Superstar — its classic basketball silhouette that has evolved into a lifestyle staple since its 1969 inception. We’ve seen a lot of this sneaker and its branding in the last week. Adidas Originals released a full campaign featuring stars like Samuel L. Jackson, Kendall Jenner, former Supreme skater Tyshawn Jones and more.The ad centres around a “search” for the Superstar, alluding to the fact that the shoe has been out of the zeitgeist for a while now but is making its return. Even beyond this final spot, throughout the last few weeks, Adidas has featured breakouts from this campaign. That included a solo ad featuring Jenner and another co-starring Jones and Jackson.There’s more: If we push the timeline out over the last few months, we’ve seen several Superstar collaborations come to light. In February alone, Hellstar, Sp5der and Willy Chavarria all released separate collaborations using the Superstar as a canvas. CLOT has a unique iteration of the Superstar coming this spring. It’s a more formal take on the shoe. Adidas has launched athlete collabs on the shoe, too. San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy had a Superstar Player Exclusive model release around the Super Bowl. NBA star Anthony Edwards has his own PE coming as well. The why: As the apex of the Samba continues to fall further away in the rearview mirror, Adidas seems to have identified the Superstar as a franchise that could potentially carry the torch from here. That’s ironic considering that the Superstar was footwear’s bestselling shoe a decade ago before fading out and, eventually, making way for the sleeker Samba. Now, the brand seems to be pushing for the inverse to happen. The timing: Despite this big push, I’m not wholly convinced that it’ll work. The Superstar is a basketball shoe, and while contemporary hoop shoes have had a bit of a comeback, sales are still not the strongest in the category overall, whether for performance or lifestyle. Plus, the Samba movement happened organically. Adidas didn’t push it until it realised there was real motion. The Superstar doesn’t have the same circumstances.The other side: With that said, the Superstar is a classic model that will never fully disappear. Think of it the same way you would the Air Force 1 for Nike. That counts for something. This is one of those buttons Adidas can push at any time. After being a full decade removed from the Superstar’s peak, there’s a solid chance there will be interest. We’re living in a nostalgia-fuelled economy these days and 2016 continues to trend. The Superstar defined that year in a way no other shoe did.Plus, even if this doesn’t work, it isn’t the end of the world for Adidas. It’ll be an expensive failure considering the names included in this campaign, sure. But the Samba is still strong enough as a franchise to hold down the fort while the company figures out what its next foundational piece is.The bottom line: The Superstar redux is here. The consumer will determine if it sticks around again or if Adidas needs to go back to the drawing board. F1’s Fashion Face is HereA familiar face is joining Formula 1 racing as a global ambassador just about a week before the season begins with the Australian Grand Prix. What’s new: F1 announced Damson Idris as its newest global ambassador on Wednesday. A sports league tapping a movie star as an ambassador is a bit unconventional, but there’s an obvious connection there. Idris played Joshua Pearce in F1 The Movie alongside Brad Pitt, a big box-office hit that grossed $630 million globally and served as a major marketing tool for Formula 1 itself.Formula 1 cited Idris’ “cultural and creative influence” as the reason it tapped him for this ambassadorship. As part of the partnership, Idris will appear at several races and be featured in Formula 1 content and promotions. Why this matters: This is usually the sort of partnership we see luxury and apparel brands take on — not necessarily sports leagues. It reminds me of the partnership between On and Zendaya, where she isn’t necessarily an athlete but serves as the brand’s best endorser. Formula 1 has the same goal as Idris here. The league will have him serve as an off-track face for its brand as one of Hollywood’s rising stars. Fashion will be a big part of that moment, as Idris continues to carve out his niche in the industry. Idris worked with Tommy Hilfiger as a global ambassador and was a major part of the brand’s marketing campaign for the F1 movie. He also owns his own luxury jewellery house, Didris, which crafts fine jewellery. It’s hard to imagine a world where Formula 1, itself, isn’t tapping Idris for its campaigns with Louis Vuitton and other surrounding brands. Nike Hires a Sustainability ChiefAfter quite a bit of a wait, Nike has finally hired a new chief sustainability officer. The news: The brand has hired Cimarron Nix as its new sustainability head. Nix steps into the role nearly six months after the previous sustainability chief, Jaycee Pribulsky, left in September. Nix will begin in her role on March 15. Her background: Nix has worked in various roles at Nike over the last decade. She joined Nike in 2017 as its director of labour and sustainable manufacturing and sourcing. Most recently, she worked as the company’s vice president of global apparel and accessories manufacturing in Singapore. Before joining Nike, she held roles at Hewlett-Packard focused on supply chain and labour safety. Between the lines: Nix steps into a fairly complex role at Nike. The company was once considered an industry leader in climate action and responsible supply chain practices, but has hit a wall in recent years as the brand has cut down on its sustainability staff and stopped publicly reporting on its progress on key sustainability initiatives. Pribulsky’s departure after less than two years in the role did nothing to restore confidence in Nike’s sustainability practices. The big picture: Nike’s sustainability practices have been a major question mark during the Elliott Hill era. For all the progress it’s made in other key facets of the business, sustainability has felt neglected in a major way. It should be noted that the Trump administration has pressured companies not to speak out on sustainability and diversity initiatives. His newly reshaped EEOC is actively targeting Nike on DEI. Part of Nike’s pullback has to be attributed to this state of affairs. It’s unclear what Nix’s team will look like or whether Nike will return to publicly releasing more of the information it used to, but at the very least, placing someone in this role feels like a small step forward. AC Milan’s Fourth Shirt Reveal(Puma) Puma hasn’t had a lot of moments over the last few years, but one that the brand has successfully created in sports is the reveal of AC Milan’s fourth kit. The background: Over the last few seasons, AC Milan and Puma have brought in outside partners to put a fashionable stamp on the legendary football club’s alternate fourth kit. Last year, for example, the team worked with Off-White on its fourth kit. The year prior, it tapped the streetwear brand Pleasures. This has become a tradition for the team since its initial collaboration with Nemen in 2022. This year, just in time for fashion week, Puma and AC Milan revealed that their newest fourth kit was made in partnership with Slam Jam, the Italian streetwear giant. The new look was revealed on Wednesday. Slam Jam went for a classic look with this one. The colours are simple — the two versions of the kit are red and silver with black trim. The shirt includes that classic collar look that gives you those OG vibes. The kit collection includes a tracksuit, shorts, socks and other accessories, too. The vibe: While these kits are distinct, they’re relatively minimal. At least when compared to the Off-White version of the kit last year, which included a green gradient to match the club’s alternate colours. These carry more of that classic Milan feel with them. I’m a fan. These are fire. Let’s hope Milan can match the energy on the pitch. #TheKicksWeWearThis is the community section of the newsletter where you (Yes, you!!!!) send me your best fits and kicks from the week. Feel free to send submissions to michael.sykes@businessoffashion.com or shoot me a message via social channels @MikeDSykesY’all know what time it is! Let’s get into it. First, the homie JD went crazy with this collage. It’s insane how much heat this dude has. The homie T Bax came through with the caocao flavours on the Air Max 95 SB joints. What a pair. Best colourway by far, if you ask me. Then the homie Heel took us home with an absolute classic. Huarache 2k5s?!?!? That’s a crazy pull, man. What a pair. Good stuff, y’all! Thanks for sharing.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 💯
