October 4, 2024 • 17 mins
Nike is making significant changes in leadership and strategy, aiming to reshape its image and reconnect with sneaker culture. Host Matt Frates discusses the recent appointment of new CEO Elliot Hill and the return of influential figures like Frank Cook and Tom Sachs, highlighting their potential impact on the brand's creative direction.
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(00:00):
Some familiar faces arereturning to Nike.
What does it mean?
We're going to dive into that.
This time on fire footwear.
(00:26):
Welcome back to fire footwear, everybody.
As always, this is your host,Matt frates.
I hope that this finds you well.
I want to thank you again forcoming back to this podcast.
It means a lot to me.
I want to remind everybodythat I was on the in kicks.
We trust podcast.
K I X.
We trust podcast.
They were great guys.
Trevor and Kevin were amazing.
We had a great nearly two hour conversation.
(00:47):
You can find that wherever itis that you find your podcast.
But as always, I want to makesure that you support the people
whosupport me.
So go and hit follow on them.
Go and find them on Instagram.
Follow their account.
Because I think it's veryimportant within the sneaker community
that we hold ourselves up, that we
support each other, because I think
that's how the culture continues
to grow.
So last week, I did an episodeabout Nike CEO change, and I tried
tofocus on the positives and negatives
orthe highs and lows that John Donahoe's
tenure at Nike saw.
(01:17):
And I think that I missed theboat a little bit on thinking about
this in the proper context.
I mean, at the time, we knewthat the CEO change was happening,
but wereally hadn't seen any signs of life
out of what the new direction was
going to be.
The thing I think I was rightabout, though, is that I think most
people out there don't really care
who the CEO of a company is.
I think that sneaker culturemight be a little bit different because,
and I think also social media helps
change that a little bit.
(01:42):
We know more than we ever did.
There's so much moreinformation that's out there that
weknow who the CEO is.
We know when they've changedthings over.
But the thing is, is sinceI've been in sneaker culture, I think
this is the second or third CEO that
Nike has had.
The last episode, I tried totalk about a lot of the positive
thingsthat took place for Nike in the time
that John Donahoe was at the helm.
(02:04):
I think it was a lot of positive.
I mean, you could argue thatNike was at the highest of highs
during that time period.
Certainly resale prices wouldhave you thinking that.
But I ask you now, is what isNike hoping to accomplish now that
they're moving on to their CEO?
Well, the first thing I thinkyou've noticed is that they're looking
to change the perception that they
are an uncool brand.
(02:24):
John Donahoe, for everythingthat he brought to the table was
a CEO.
And I mean that in, he woresuits, he looked professional.
He didn't seem like he fitinto the culture.
Now, I also said that Nike isnot just about sneaker culture, but
you get the idea.
He didn't seem like one of us,if that makes sense.
And so they switch over to aguy in Elliot Hill who has a ton
ofpedigree with the company.
(02:48):
30 plus years with Nike,starting out as an intern, holding
somemajor positions.
And I think the perceptionthat they're trying to give us, the
consumer, is that this guy eats,
sleeps and breathes Nike.
This guy is one of us.
He thinks about the brand.
He thinks about how the brandcan be better for its consumer.
And I think that's a reallyimportant distinction to make because
Ibelieve that it's the, the future
ofwhat Nike is trying to do.
(03:14):
Fast forward to this week.
I think you're seeing somegrowing signs that Nike is on the
path to treading a new path for themselves.
First thing, the return ofFrank Cook to the design world with
Nike.
If you don't know anythingabout Frank Cook, I think you need
to look him up.
Frank Cook is helpful orresponsible in so many of some of
the greatest colorways and greatest
releases that we've seen over the
last decade or so.
(03:41):
The shattered backboards.
While he maybe didn't have adirect impact on that, he was a part
of that.
The Air Jordan four.
Raptors in 2018.
The Justin Timberlake man ofthe Woods Jordan three.
The soulfly Jordan one in 2018.
The Air Jordan four.
Cactus Jack in 2018, theHouston Oilers colorway.
That's a now iconic shoe.
(04:01):
The list goes on and on.
And I think what Nike istrying to accomplish by doing this
is trying to add some familiarity
to thebrand and familiarity not just for
their athletic apparel seekers.
I'm talking about familiarityfor people who are really embedded
anddeep into the culture.
One of the things that today'sworld provides us that I think wouldn't
have existed 20 years ago is now.
(04:25):
A lot of people may belearning who Frank Cook is for the
very first time.
There's nothing wrong withthat, by the way.
You know that one of thereasons that I started this podcast,
andone of the things that I try to accomplish
on this pod is that I give you a
different perspective or I cause
youto learn something or remember something
that maybe you hadn't remembered
or maybenever knew.
(04:48):
And for many, many people, Ithink Frank Cook's impact is not
something they're deeply familiar
with.
It's something that you shouldbe deeply familiar with because I
think Nike is telling us specifically
sneaker culture with this move.
We hear you.
We want to do somethingdifferent for you.
We want to give you what youhave been used to up until this point.
(05:09):
That's an importantdistinction to make because I believe
that Nike is doing the right thing
bytrying to give us something that
feels familiar.
Now, it doesn't necessarilymean that the execution of that is
going to work out, but I think this,
coupled with the new CEO and the
look and the feel that Nike wants
thenew CEO to give us, this is an important
step forward.
(05:32):
The other thing that the newCEO has already done is announce
thatthey're going to be pulling back
production on general releases.
You'd think to yourself, who cares?
Why do I care if generalreleases aren't as available?
But the entire point of thisis to drive up the idea of scarcity.
And what does that do?
It drives up the idea of hype.
(05:53):
And what does that do?
It drives up resale prices.
Everybody should be havingPTSD and triggering moments right
nowto 2020 through 2021, maybe even
2022.
This is what happened.
One thing that Nike did ismade things available and that availability
caused hype to come down.
And they're looking at a lotof product that is sitting on shelves,
maybe virtual shelves, but a lot
ofproduct that is sitting somewhere
thatthey're having to send to the Nike
outlet.
(06:21):
That's not what Nike wants.
That doesn't give off the ideaof cool.
So now you've got Frank Cookback in the mix, who could very possibly
give us some of those iconic colorways
and iconic designs that we're used
to seeing.
And now they're going toproduce less of them and they're
goingto produce less of the regular general
releases.
And that means people aregoing to get more hyped, people are
going to want more.
(06:44):
The only thing that I'm notsure about is whether the prices
aregoing to come down.
I don't think that they are.
But the prices could be theonly thing that holds this combination
backfrom Nike really making an impact.
Now move to another piece ofnews that has been confirmed.
And this was confirmed onlylike a day or two before I recorded
thisepisode, the return of Tom Sachs.
(07:05):
If you recall, I think it wasin April of 23.
Somewhere in that time period,the news came out that Tom Sachs
was,I guess you could use the word, problematic
within his artwork space.
A lot of accusations came outabout certain things.
One of the most damning ones Ibelieve was being naked on Zoom calls
not really the greatest protocol
from aprofessional standpoint, but I think
people have understood that Tom Sachs
is what I would consider a delicate
genius.
(07:33):
He's an artist.
He's not somebody, in my opinion.
If you think about high mindedcreatives, do they really lack the
social interaction, the social skills
that a lot of the regular people
likeus might have?
I would venture a guess thatnobody listening to this podcast
wouldever get on a YouTube channel or
aZoom call or anything naked.
We just wouldn't.
(07:54):
There's also a ton of otherstuff that came out.
The bottom line with Tom Sachscomes down to Nike is making this
move to make money.
Many people, rightfully so,are going into the morality of the
situation.
Should they bring Tom Sachs back?
Is he too problematic?
The thing is, is I am not hereto help you make that moral dilemma
any easier.
(08:16):
What it comes down to for manypeople is, can you separate the art
from the artist?
Full transparency.
I don't really know a wholelot about Tom Sachs.
When I hear about what it wasalleged that he did, I thought, that's
just not a boss that I want to work
for.
Is that somebody who candesign sneakers and sell sneakers?
You're damn right he can.
And he's already proven that.
(08:37):
The Mars yard, the Mars yard2.0, probably two of the most iconic
sneaker releases almost of all time.
Some people would say thatthey haven't really aged well, but
you want to talk about something
thattells a story.
You want to talk aboutsomething that has intention behind
it?
That certainly does.
The last time that we saw TomSachs was the general purpose shoe.
(08:58):
And that shoe lookedcompletely plain, but it was something
sonew, because the idea, the story
wasthat it was anti hype, that you would
wear it, you would crease it, you'd
take it out.
It was something meant to beworn, which, as we all know, in sneaker
culture, isn't exactly a mainstay
withinthe culture.
I'm learning now that more andmore people wear their shoes.
(09:19):
More and more people don'tcare about the creasing and all that
stuff.
But the whole point of thatrelease was to be anti hype beast.
And so now you bring back TomSachs, but that's not enough.
Now you announce it's going tobe a Mard 3.0.
And that has had a lot of hypepercolating out on social media,
andrightfully so.
A lot of people are asking thequestion as to whether this is something
that they've had in the works.
(09:43):
And I would venture a guess,I'm sure somebody like sock Jake
probably knows more, but I would
saythat most likely the Marsyard 3.0
was something that had been in the
works prior to all of the extracurriculars
thatTom Sachs had on his plate.
Because obviously these thingstake time to manufacture, they take
time to design.
Somebody like him, I wouldassume, doesn't just spit out a sneaker
design and call it a day.
(10:08):
I would assume that he has a process.
I would assume that it's avery specific process and that he's
very particular about how he goes
about his work.
But when all that happened,Nike had to pull back.
Because in today's society,when something problematic like that
happens, you do need to pull back.
I wouldn't say he was canceledper se because I'm not sure that
he's somebody outside of that very
exclusive art community that anybody
really cares about, that anybody
reallyhas on their radar.
(10:35):
Sneakerheads have him on theirradar and now he's back on their
radar.
So the Marsyard 3.0 will release.
I think it will be hot.
I think it will be hit.
And based off of some thingswe've already talked about, my guess
is that it's going to be limited.
Nike again, trying to drive uphype, trying to drive the perception
thatthey are cool.
Now there's another thing Iwant to talk about.
The last thing I want to talkabout that is purely speculative
at this point.
(10:59):
However, there are things thatare not speculative about the entirety
of the situation.
And I'm talking about JamesWhitner and the Whitner group.
James Whitner and the Whitnergroup are obviously over a lot of
some of the most famous boutiques
insneaker and street wear.
And obviously the AMA manyercollaboration with Jordan Brand has
been nothing short of a major success.
(11:19):
The while you were sleepingcampaign that just happened recently,
they're starting to release those.
I just copped the Jordan four.
I was very excited about that.
Ama Manir really is in a placewhere I feel like they can do no
wrong.
And I did an episode and avideo on the fact that maybe they're
Nike's new flagship collaborator.
All this stuff that'shappening with James Whitner, what
we do know is that I think it was
like $1.2 billion that he had to
give back.
(11:44):
There was a federalinvestigation and a lot of it was
around the idea of backdooring.
I would venture a guess thatmost people when they heard about
this, didn't understand the nuances
ofit, didn't understand the money laundering
part of it.
I think what many people inthe culture heard was the b word.
The term backdooring.
Backdooring has a negativeconnotation within the culture.
(12:06):
And what is backdooring forthose who don't know, it's, I have
ashoe, I have a ton of them, and I'm
going to give them to people I have
a relationship with through the back
door, essentially.
And before all of these shoesactually release, it's something
that Ihave to imagine has been happening
withinthe culture forever.
It's just something that happens.
It's like somebody cutting in line.
How are you going to stop themat a release if they cut in line?
(12:29):
Who's going to tell them?
A lot of times that couldcause a fight.
Backdooring has happened.
It will continue to happen aslong as sneakers are a hot commodity.
And James Whitner now, in myopinion, is almost like the poster
child for backdooring.
And the speculation now isthat Adidas and James Whitner and
the Whitner group are going to be
collaborating on what seems like
nota one off collection, but a very
large collection of Adidas now in
full transparency.
(12:55):
This has happened before, andthe Whitner group has done a new
balance collaboration, actually fairly
recently.
So this is not somethingthat's like way out of left field.
But it does venture a questionof what does it mean for the partnership
between Ama manir and Jordan brand.
I would like to think thatit's pretty solid because they just
came out with this massive collection.
(13:15):
But that collection was beforethe fallout.
And now that we see thefallout, maybe Nike is thinking we
need to distance ourselves from anything
that gives us a negative connotation.
Because remember, at thebeginning of this episode, I talked
about the fact that Nike, with that
CEO change, is looking to make it
seem as if they are hearing us, the
consumer.
(13:36):
And backdooring is notsomething that we in the sneaker
community like to hear at all.
No matter whether it's real,no matter whether it's something
we haveno control over.
If there's a shoe that youwant and you find out that these
companies, you find out that these
stores are giving them away before
you've even had the chance to get
them, that's going to leave a bad
taste in sneakerheads mouths.
(13:56):
It just is.
And so I don't know if this istrue or not.
I don't know what this meansfor the overall partnership, but
perhaps per, just perhaps, Nike is
trying to say we want something different
for us.
And we need to get away frompeople like James Whitner for a while.
And maybe that's what this entails.
But I think that overall, whenyou look at these moves, Nike is
trying to change their perception.
(14:19):
They are trying to changetheir outward image.
They want to seem cool again.
They want to seem hype again.
And they're doing everythingthat they can so far, two weeks into
this new regime to make us, the sneaker
community, feel like they are going
to do something for us that they
haven't done in a while.
And before we get to the end,let's get to our release of the week.
(14:53):
Release of the week, where Ilike to highlight a shoe that catches
my eye.
It's not always hype.
It's just something that Iwant you to know about.
And this week, this shoe is abasketball shoe.
It is the third iteration ofthe Jason Tatum Jordan brand shoe.
It is the welcome to thegarden colorway.
I believe they're going to bedoing a pack.
There's going to be a Jordanone low and the Jordan Tatum three.
(15:14):
The silhouette overall, theway that it looks, straight flames,
inmy opinion, it gives me nineties
vibes.
I do really like it.
And to me, it kind of lookslike something that you might actually
be able to pull off casually, not
just on the basketball court.
It's going to run you $125.
This particular colorwayreleases on October 10, and I think
it's fire something to look into
ifyou don't have a tatum or if you're
somebody who's not sure about tatums.
(15:37):
I think this could be it.
The first iteration of theJason Tatum shoe I thought was great.
The second was okay.
The third one I really, really like.
So if you want to tatum, youlike this colorway or you're just
interested in the Jordan one and
this is your way to get it.
October 10, $125.
That is your way to go.
What do you think about allthis news that Nike is making, and
what do you think it means for the
direction of the future for this
company, at least in the short term?
(16:02):
Let me know.
Get in touch with me onInstagram at Firefootwearpod is the
handle to do that, I'd love to add
new people to the group chat.
I've been meeting new peopleevery day and it's been so much fun.
I would love to hear yourthoughts and opinions on this, but
I'd also like to share sneaker stories.
And do not forget, area code202-643-9170 is the number for the
fire footwear voicemail.
(16:26):
I'd love again to hear yourstories, play them, react to them
onthe show.
It means a lot to get thatconnection and that's one really,
really good way to do that.
You can, of course, find me onTikTok if you want to watch videos.
Fire footwear sneakers talk on YouTube.
It's not a regurgitation ofwhat happens here.
I'm trying to do some new anddifferent things on there.
So if you go find me onYouTube, please make sure to hit
follow.
(16:47):
Please make sure to hit likeand all that good stuff.
We just passed 1400subscribers, so a big thank you to
all of you.
This has been such a funjourney and I can't wait to do more
for you.
I hope this finds everybodywell, fam, I hope this finds everybody
safe and I will talk to you next
time.
This is fire footwear.
(17:20):
The opinions and viewpointsexpressed on fire footwear are those
of Matt fraits and his guest, and
not necessarily those of the Matti
Ice Media network.
Fire footwear is exclusivelyowned by Matt Fraitzen and is brought
to you by the Matti Ice Media network.
Some familiar faces arereturning to Nike.
What does it mean?
We're going to dive into that.
This time on fire footwear.
(00:26):
Welcome back to fire footwear, everybody.
As always, this is your host,Matt frates.
I hope that this finds you well.
I want to thank you again forcoming back to this podcast.
It means a lot to me.
I want to remind everybodythat I was on the in kicks.
We trust podcast.
K I X.
We trust podcast.
They were great guys.
Trevor and Kevin were amazing.
We had a great nearly two hour conversation.
(00:47):
You can find that wherever itis that you find your podcast.
But as always, I want to makesure that you support the people
whosupport me.
So go and hit follow on them.
Go and find them on Instagram.
Follow their account.
Because I think it's veryimportant within the sneaker community
that we hold ourselves up, that we
support each other, because I think
that's how the culture continues
to grow.
So last week, I did an episodeabout Nike CEO change, and I tried
tofocus on the positives and negatives
orthe highs and lows that John Donahoe's
tenure at Nike saw.
(01:17):
And I think that I missed theboat a little bit on thinking about
this in the proper context.
I mean, at the time, we knewthat the CEO change was happening,
but wereally hadn't seen any signs of life
out of what the new direction was
going to be.
The thing I think I was rightabout, though, is that I think most
people out there don't really care
who the CEO of a company is.
I think that sneaker culturemight be a little bit different because,
and I think also social media helps
change that a little bit.
(01:42):
We know more than we ever did.
There's so much moreinformation that's out there that
weknow who the CEO is.
We know when they've changedthings over.
But the thing is, is sinceI've been in sneaker culture, I think
this is the second or third CEO that
Nike has had.
The last episode, I tried totalk about a lot of the positive
thingsthat took place for Nike in the time
that John Donahoe was at the helm.
(02:04):
I think it was a lot of positive.
I mean, you could argue thatNike was at the highest of highs
during that time period.
Certainly resale prices wouldhave you thinking that.
But I ask you now, is what isNike hoping to accomplish now that
they're moving on to their CEO?
Well, the first thing I thinkyou've noticed is that they're looking
to change the perception that they
are an uncool brand.
(02:24):
John Donahoe, for everythingthat he brought to the table was
a CEO.
And I mean that in, he woresuits, he looked professional.
He didn't seem like he fitinto the culture.
Now, I also said that Nike isnot just about sneaker culture, but
you get the idea.
He didn't seem like one of us,if that makes sense.
And so they switch over to aguy in Elliot Hill who has a ton
ofpedigree with the company.
(02:48):
30 plus years with Nike,starting out as an intern, holding
somemajor positions.
And I think the perceptionthat they're trying to give us, the
consumer, is that this guy eats,
sleeps and breathes Nike.
This guy is one of us.
He thinks about the brand.
He thinks about how the brandcan be better for its consumer.
And I think that's a reallyimportant distinction to make because
Ibelieve that it's the, the future
ofwhat Nike is trying to do.
(03:14):
Fast forward to this week.
I think you're seeing somegrowing signs that Nike is on the
path to treading a new path for themselves.
First thing, the return ofFrank Cook to the design world with
Nike.
If you don't know anythingabout Frank Cook, I think you need
to look him up.
Frank Cook is helpful orresponsible in so many of some of
the greatest colorways and greatest
releases that we've seen over the
last decade or so.
(03:41):
The shattered backboards.
While he maybe didn't have adirect impact on that, he was a part
of that.
The Air Jordan four.
Raptors in 2018.
The Justin Timberlake man ofthe Woods Jordan three.
The soulfly Jordan one in 2018.
The Air Jordan four.
Cactus Jack in 2018, theHouston Oilers colorway.
That's a now iconic shoe.
(04:01):
The list goes on and on.
And I think what Nike istrying to accomplish by doing this
is trying to add some familiarity
to thebrand and familiarity not just for
their athletic apparel seekers.
I'm talking about familiarityfor people who are really embedded
anddeep into the culture.
One of the things that today'sworld provides us that I think wouldn't
have existed 20 years ago is now.
(04:25):
A lot of people may belearning who Frank Cook is for the
very first time.
There's nothing wrong withthat, by the way.
You know that one of thereasons that I started this podcast,
andone of the things that I try to accomplish
on this pod is that I give you a
different perspective or I cause
youto learn something or remember something
that maybe you hadn't remembered
or maybenever knew.
(04:48):
And for many, many people, Ithink Frank Cook's impact is not
something they're deeply familiar
with.
It's something that you shouldbe deeply familiar with because I
think Nike is telling us specifically
sneaker culture with this move.
We hear you.
We want to do somethingdifferent for you.
We want to give you what youhave been used to up until this point.
(05:09):
That's an importantdistinction to make because I believe
that Nike is doing the right thing
bytrying to give us something that
feels familiar.
Now, it doesn't necessarilymean that the execution of that is
going to work out, but I think this,
coupled with the new CEO and the
look and the feel that Nike wants
thenew CEO to give us, this is an important
step forward.
(05:32):
The other thing that the newCEO has already done is announce
thatthey're going to be pulling back
production on general releases.
You'd think to yourself, who cares?
Why do I care if generalreleases aren't as available?
But the entire point of thisis to drive up the idea of scarcity.
And what does that do?
It drives up the idea of hype.
(05:53):
And what does that do?
It drives up resale prices.
Everybody should be havingPTSD and triggering moments right
nowto 2020 through 2021, maybe even
2022.
This is what happened.
One thing that Nike did ismade things available and that availability
caused hype to come down.
And they're looking at a lotof product that is sitting on shelves,
maybe virtual shelves, but a lot
ofproduct that is sitting somewhere
thatthey're having to send to the Nike
outlet.
(06:21):
That's not what Nike wants.
That doesn't give off the ideaof cool.
So now you've got Frank Cookback in the mix, who could very possibly
give us some of those iconic colorways
and iconic designs that we're used
to seeing.
And now they're going toproduce less of them and they're
goingto produce less of the regular general
releases.
And that means people aregoing to get more hyped, people are
going to want more.
(06:44):
The only thing that I'm notsure about is whether the prices
aregoing to come down.
I don't think that they are.
But the prices could be theonly thing that holds this combination
backfrom Nike really making an impact.
Now move to another piece ofnews that has been confirmed.
And this was confirmed onlylike a day or two before I recorded
thisepisode, the return of Tom Sachs.
(07:05):
If you recall, I think it wasin April of 23.
Somewhere in that time period,the news came out that Tom Sachs
was,I guess you could use the word, problematic
within his artwork space.
A lot of accusations came outabout certain things.
One of the most damning ones Ibelieve was being naked on Zoom calls
not really the greatest protocol
from aprofessional standpoint, but I think
people have understood that Tom Sachs
is what I would consider a delicate
genius.
(07:33):
He's an artist.
He's not somebody, in my opinion.
If you think about high mindedcreatives, do they really lack the
social interaction, the social skills
that a lot of the regular people
likeus might have?
I would venture a guess thatnobody listening to this podcast
wouldever get on a YouTube channel or
aZoom call or anything naked.
We just wouldn't.
(07:54):
There's also a ton of otherstuff that came out.
The bottom line with Tom Sachscomes down to Nike is making this
move to make money.
Many people, rightfully so,are going into the morality of the
situation.
Should they bring Tom Sachs back?
Is he too problematic?
The thing is, is I am not hereto help you make that moral dilemma
any easier.
(08:16):
What it comes down to for manypeople is, can you separate the art
from the artist?
Full transparency.
I don't really know a wholelot about Tom Sachs.
When I hear about what it wasalleged that he did, I thought, that's
just not a boss that I want to work
for.
Is that somebody who candesign sneakers and sell sneakers?
You're damn right he can.
And he's already proven that.
(08:37):
The Mars yard, the Mars yard2.0, probably two of the most iconic
sneaker releases almost of all time.
Some people would say thatthey haven't really aged well, but
you want to talk about something
thattells a story.
You want to talk aboutsomething that has intention behind
it?
That certainly does.
The last time that we saw TomSachs was the general purpose shoe.
(08:58):
And that shoe lookedcompletely plain, but it was something
sonew, because the idea, the story
wasthat it was anti hype, that you would
wear it, you would crease it, you'd
take it out.
It was something meant to beworn, which, as we all know, in sneaker
culture, isn't exactly a mainstay
withinthe culture.
I'm learning now that more andmore people wear their shoes.
(09:19):
More and more people don'tcare about the creasing and all that
stuff.
But the whole point of thatrelease was to be anti hype beast.
And so now you bring back TomSachs, but that's not enough.
Now you announce it's going tobe a Mard 3.0.
And that has had a lot of hypepercolating out on social media,
andrightfully so.
A lot of people are asking thequestion as to whether this is something
that they've had in the works.
(09:43):
And I would venture a guess,I'm sure somebody like sock Jake
probably knows more, but I would
saythat most likely the Marsyard 3.0
was something that had been in the
works prior to all of the extracurriculars
thatTom Sachs had on his plate.
Because obviously these thingstake time to manufacture, they take
time to design.
Somebody like him, I wouldassume, doesn't just spit out a sneaker
design and call it a day.
(10:08):
I would assume that he has a process.
I would assume that it's avery specific process and that he's
very particular about how he goes
about his work.
But when all that happened,Nike had to pull back.
Because in today's society,when something problematic like that
happens, you do need to pull back.
I wouldn't say he was canceledper se because I'm not sure that
he's somebody outside of that very
exclusive art community that anybody
really cares about, that anybody
reallyhas on their radar.
(10:35):
Sneakerheads have him on theirradar and now he's back on their
radar.
So the Marsyard 3.0 will release.
I think it will be hot.
I think it will be hit.
And based off of some thingswe've already talked about, my guess
is that it's going to be limited.
Nike again, trying to drive uphype, trying to drive the perception
thatthey are cool.
Now there's another thing Iwant to talk about.
The last thing I want to talkabout that is purely speculative
at this point.
(10:59):
However, there are things thatare not speculative about the entirety
of the situation.
And I'm talking about JamesWhitner and the Whitner group.
James Whitner and the Whitnergroup are obviously over a lot of
some of the most famous boutiques
insneaker and street wear.
And obviously the AMA manyercollaboration with Jordan Brand has
been nothing short of a major success.
(11:19):
The while you were sleepingcampaign that just happened recently,
they're starting to release those.
I just copped the Jordan four.
I was very excited about that.
Ama Manir really is in a placewhere I feel like they can do no
wrong.
And I did an episode and avideo on the fact that maybe they're
Nike's new flagship collaborator.
All this stuff that'shappening with James Whitner, what
we do know is that I think it was
like $1.2 billion that he had to
give back.
(11:44):
There was a federalinvestigation and a lot of it was
around the idea of backdooring.
I would venture a guess thatmost people when they heard about
this, didn't understand the nuances
ofit, didn't understand the money laundering
part of it.
I think what many people inthe culture heard was the b word.
The term backdooring.
Backdooring has a negativeconnotation within the culture.
(12:06):
And what is backdooring forthose who don't know, it's, I have
ashoe, I have a ton of them, and I'm
going to give them to people I have
a relationship with through the back
door, essentially.
And before all of these shoesactually release, it's something
that Ihave to imagine has been happening
withinthe culture forever.
It's just something that happens.
It's like somebody cutting in line.
How are you going to stop themat a release if they cut in line?
(12:29):
Who's going to tell them?
A lot of times that couldcause a fight.
Backdooring has happened.
It will continue to happen aslong as sneakers are a hot commodity.
And James Whitner now, in myopinion, is almost like the poster
child for backdooring.
And the speculation now isthat Adidas and James Whitner and
the Whitner group are going to be
collaborating on what seems like
nota one off collection, but a very
large collection of Adidas now in
full transparency.
(12:55):
This has happened before, andthe Whitner group has done a new
balance collaboration, actually fairly
recently.
So this is not somethingthat's like way out of left field.
But it does venture a questionof what does it mean for the partnership
between Ama manir and Jordan brand.
I would like to think thatit's pretty solid because they just
came out with this massive collection.
(13:15):
But that collection was beforethe fallout.
And now that we see thefallout, maybe Nike is thinking we
need to distance ourselves from anything
that gives us a negative connotation.
Because remember, at thebeginning of this episode, I talked
about the fact that Nike, with that
CEO change, is looking to make it
seem as if they are hearing us, the
consumer.
(13:36):
And backdooring is notsomething that we in the sneaker
community like to hear at all.
No matter whether it's real,no matter whether it's something
we haveno control over.
If there's a shoe that youwant and you find out that these
companies, you find out that these
stores are giving them away before
you've even had the chance to get
them, that's going to leave a bad
taste in sneakerheads mouths.
(13:56):
It just is.
And so I don't know if this istrue or not.
I don't know what this meansfor the overall partnership, but
perhaps per, just perhaps, Nike is
trying to say we want something different
for us.
And we need to get away frompeople like James Whitner for a while.
And maybe that's what this entails.
But I think that overall, whenyou look at these moves, Nike is
trying to change their perception.
(14:19):
They are trying to changetheir outward image.
They want to seem cool again.
They want to seem hype again.
And they're doing everythingthat they can so far, two weeks into
this new regime to make us, the sneaker
community, feel like they are going
to do something for us that they
haven't done in a while.
And before we get to the end,let's get to our release of the week.
(14:53):
Release of the week, where Ilike to highlight a shoe that catches
my eye.
It's not always hype.
It's just something that Iwant you to know about.
And this week, this shoe is abasketball shoe.
It is the third iteration ofthe Jason Tatum Jordan brand shoe.
It is the welcome to thegarden colorway.
I believe they're going to bedoing a pack.
There's going to be a Jordanone low and the Jordan Tatum three.
(15:14):
The silhouette overall, theway that it looks, straight flames,
inmy opinion, it gives me nineties
vibes.
I do really like it.
And to me, it kind of lookslike something that you might actually
be able to pull off casually, not
just on the basketball court.
It's going to run you $125.
This particular colorwayreleases on October 10, and I think
it's fire something to look into
ifyou don't have a tatum or if you're
somebody who's not sure about tatums.
(15:37):
I think this could be it.
The first iteration of theJason Tatum shoe I thought was great.
The second was okay.
The third one I really, really like.
So if you want to tatum, youlike this colorway or you're just
interested in the Jordan one and
this is your way to get it.
October 10, $125.
That is your way to go.
What do you think about allthis news that Nike is making, and
what do you think it means for the
direction of the future for this
company, at least in the short term?
(16:02):
Let me know.
Get in touch with me onInstagram at Firefootwearpod is the
handle to do that, I'd love to add
new people to the group chat.
I've been meeting new peopleevery day and it's been so much fun.
I would love to hear yourthoughts and opinions on this, but
I'd also like to share sneaker stories.
And do not forget, area code202-643-9170 is the number for the
fire footwear voicemail.
(16:26):
I'd love again to hear yourstories, play them, react to them
onthe show.
It means a lot to get thatconnection and that's one really,
really good way to do that.
You can, of course, find me onTikTok if you want to watch videos.
Fire footwear sneakers talk on YouTube.
It's not a regurgitation ofwhat happens here.
I'm trying to do some new anddifferent things on there.
So if you go find me onYouTube, please make sure to hit
follow.
(16:47):
Please make sure to hit likeand all that good stuff.
We just passed 1400subscribers, so a big thank you to
all of you.
This has been such a funjourney and I can't wait to do more
for you.
I hope this finds everybodywell, fam, I hope this finds everybody
safe and I will talk to you next
time.
This is fire footwear.
(17:20):
The opinions and viewpointsexpressed on fire footwear are those
of Matt fraits and his guest, and
not necessarily those of the Matti
Ice Media network.
Fire footwear is exclusivelyowned by Matt Fraitzen and is brought
to you by the Matti Ice Media network.
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