Some familiar faces are returning to Nike.

What does it mean?

We're going to dive into that.

This time on fire footwear.

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 for coming back to this podcast.

It means a lot to me.

I want to remind everybody that 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.

You can find that wherever it is that you find your podcast.

But as always, I want to make sure that you support the people who support me.

So go and hit follow on them.

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Follow their account.

Because I think it's very important 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 episode about Nike CEO change, and I tried to focus on the positives and negatives or the highs and lows that John Donahoe's tenure at Nike saw.

And I think that I missed the boat a little bit on thinking about this in the proper context.

I mean, at the time, we knew that the CEO change was happening, but we really hadn't seen any signs of life out of what the new direction was going to be.

The thing I think I was right about, though, is that I think most people out there don't really care who the CEO of a company is.

I think that sneaker culture might be a little bit different because, and I think also social media helps change that a little bit.

We know more than we ever did.

There's so much more information that's out there that we know who the CEO is.

We know when they've changed things over.

But the thing is, is since I've been in sneaker culture, I think this is the second or third CEO that Nike has had.

The last episode, I tried to talk about a lot of the positive things that took place for Nike in the time that John Donahoe was at the helm.

I think it was a lot of positive.

I mean, you could argue that Nike was at the highest of highs during that time period.

Certainly resale prices would have you thinking that.

But I ask you now, is what is Nike hoping to accomplish now that they're moving on to their CEO?

Well, the first thing I think you've noticed is that they're looking to change the perception that they are an uncool brand.

John Donahoe, for everything that he brought to the table was a CEO.

And I mean that in, he wore suits, he looked professional.

He didn't seem like he fit into the culture.

Now, I also said that Nike is not 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 a guy in Elliot Hill who has a ton of pedigree with the company.

30 plus years with Nike, starting out as an intern, holding some major positions.

And I think the perception that 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 brand can be better for its consumer.

And I think that's a really important distinction to make because I believe that it's the, the future of what Nike is trying to do.

Fast forward to this week.

I think you're seeing some growing signs that Nike is on the path to treading a new path for themselves.

First thing, the return of Frank Cook to the design world with Nike.

If you don't know anything about Frank Cook, I think you need to look him up.

Frank Cook is helpful or responsible in so many of some of the greatest colorways and greatest releases that we've seen over the last decade or so.

The shattered backboards.

While he maybe didn't have a direct impact on that, he was a part of that.

The Air Jordan four.

Raptors in 2018.

The Justin Timberlake man of the Woods Jordan three.

The soulfly Jordan one in 2018.

The Air Jordan four.

Cactus Jack in 2018, the Houston Oilers colorway.

That's a now iconic shoe.

The list goes on and on.

And I think what Nike is trying to accomplish by doing this is trying to add some familiarity to the brand and familiarity not just for their athletic apparel seekers.

I'm talking about familiarity for people who are really embedded and deep into the culture.

One of the things that today's world provides us that I think wouldn't have existed 20 years ago is now.

A lot of people may be learning who Frank Cook is for the very first time.

There's nothing wrong with that, by the way.

You know that one of the reasons that I started this podcast, and one of the things that I try to accomplish on this pod is that I give you a different perspective or I cause you to learn something or remember something that maybe you hadn't remembered or maybe never knew.

And for many, many people, I think Frank Cook's impact is not something they're deeply familiar with.

It's something that you should be deeply familiar with because I think Nike is telling us specifically sneaker culture with this move.

We hear you.

We want to do something different for you.

We want to give you what you have been used to up until this point.

That's an important distinction to make because I believe that Nike is doing the right thing by trying to give us something that feels familiar.

Now, it doesn't necessarily mean 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 the new CEO to give us, this is an important step forward.

The other thing that the new CEO has already done is announce that they're going to be pulling back production on general releases.

You'd think to yourself, who cares?

Why do I care if general releases aren't as available?

But the entire point of this is to drive up the idea of scarcity.

And what does that do?

It drives up the idea of hype.

And what does that do?

It drives up resale prices.

Everybody should be having PTSD and triggering moments right now to 2020 through 2021, maybe even 2022.

This is what happened.

One thing that Nike did is made things available and that availability caused hype to come down.

And they're looking at a lot of product that is sitting on shelves, maybe virtual shelves, but a lot of product that is sitting somewhere that they're having to send to the Nike outlet.

That's not what Nike wants.

That doesn't give off the idea of cool.

So now you've got Frank Cook back 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 to produce less of them and they're going to produce less of the regular general releases.

And that means people are going to get more hyped, people are going to want more.

The only thing that I'm not sure about is whether the prices are going to come down.

I don't think that they are.

But the prices could be the only thing that holds this combination back from Nike really making an impact.

Now move to another piece of news that has been confirmed.

And this was confirmed only like a day or two before I recorded this episode, the return of Tom Sachs.

If you recall, I think it was in 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 out about certain things.

One of the most damning ones I believe was being naked on Zoom calls not really the greatest protocol from a professional standpoint, but I think people have understood that Tom Sachs is what I would consider a delicate genius.

He's an artist.

He's not somebody, in my opinion.

If you think about high minded creatives, do they really lack the social interaction, the social skills that a lot of the regular people like us might have?

I would venture a guess that nobody listening to this podcast would ever get on a YouTube channel or a Zoom call or anything naked.

We just wouldn't.

There's also a ton of other stuff that came out.

The bottom line with Tom Sachs comes 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 here to help you make that moral dilemma any easier.

What it comes down to for many people is, can you separate the art from the artist?

Full transparency.

I don't really know a whole lot about Tom Sachs.

When I hear about what it was alleged that he did, I thought, that's just not a boss that I want to work for.

Is that somebody who can design sneakers and sell sneakers?

You're damn right he can.

And he's already proven that.

The Mars yard, the Mars yard 2.0, probably two of the most iconic sneaker releases almost of all time.

Some people would say that they haven't really aged well, but you want to talk about something that tells a story.

You want to talk about something that has intention behind it?

That certainly does.

The last time that we saw Tom Sachs was the general purpose shoe.

And that shoe looked completely plain, but it was something so new, because the idea, the story was that it was anti hype, that you would wear it, you would crease it, you'd take it out.

It was something meant to be worn, which, as we all know, in sneaker culture, isn't exactly a mainstay within the culture.

I'm learning now that more and more people wear their shoes.

More and more people don't care about the creasing and all that stuff.

But the whole point of that release was to be anti hype beast.

And so now you bring back Tom Sachs, but that's not enough.

Now you announce it's going to be a Mard 3.0.

And that has had a lot of hype percolating out on social media, and rightfully so.

A lot of people are asking the question as to whether this is something that they've had in the works.

And I would venture a guess, I'm sure somebody like sock Jake probably knows more, but I would say that most likely the Marsyard 3.0 was something that had been in the works prior to all of the extracurriculars that Tom Sachs had on his plate.

Because obviously these things take time to manufacture, they take time to design.

Somebody like him, I would assume, doesn't just spit out a sneaker design and call it a day.

I would assume that he has a process.

I would assume that it's a very 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 canceled per se because I'm not sure that he's somebody outside of that very exclusive art community that anybody really cares about, that anybody really has on their radar.

Sneakerheads have him on their radar 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 things we've already talked about, my guess is that it's going to be limited.

Nike again, trying to drive up hype, trying to drive the perception that they are cool.

Now there's another thing I want to talk about.

The last thing I want to talk about that is purely speculative at this point.

However, there are things that are not speculative about the entirety of the situation.

And I'm talking about James Whitner and the Whitner group.

James Whitner and the Whitner group are obviously over a lot of some of the most famous boutiques in sneaker and street wear.

And obviously the AMA manyer collaboration with Jordan Brand has been nothing short of a major success.

The while you were sleeping campaign 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 place where I feel like they can do no wrong.

And I did an episode and a video on the fact that maybe they're Nike's new flagship collaborator.

All this stuff that's happening with James Whitner, what we do know is that I think it was like $1.2 billion that he had to give back.

There was a federal investigation and a lot of it was around the idea of backdooring.

I would venture a guess that most people when they heard about this, didn't understand the nuances of it, didn't understand the money laundering part of it.

I think what many people in the culture heard was the b word.

The term backdooring.

Backdooring has a negative connotation within the culture.

And what is backdooring for those who don't know, it's, I have a shoe, 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 shoes actually release, it's something that I have to imagine has been happening within the culture forever.

It's just something that happens.

It's like somebody cutting in line.

How are you going to stop them at a release if they cut in line?

Who's going to tell them?

A lot of times that could cause a fight.

Backdooring has happened.

It will continue to happen as long as sneakers are a hot commodity.

And James Whitner now, in my opinion, is almost like the poster child for backdooring.

And the speculation now is that Adidas and James Whitner and the Whitner group are going to be collaborating on what seems like not a one off collection, but a very large collection of Adidas now in full transparency.

This has happened before, and the Whitner group has done a new balance collaboration, actually fairly recently.

So this is not something that's like way out of left field.

But it does venture a question of what does it mean for the partnership between Ama manir and Jordan brand.

I would like to think that it's pretty solid because they just came out with this massive collection.

But that collection was before the fallout.

And now that we see the fallout, maybe Nike is thinking we need to distance ourselves from anything that gives us a negative connotation.

Because remember, at the beginning 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.

And backdooring is not something that we in the sneaker community like to hear at all.

No matter whether it's real, no matter whether it's something we have no control over.

If there's a shoe that you want 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.

It just is.

And so I don't know if this is true or not.

I don't know what this means for 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 from people like James Whitner for a while.

And maybe that's what this entails.

But I think that overall, when you look at these moves, Nike is trying to change their perception.

They are trying to change their outward image.

They want to seem cool again.

They want to seem hype again.

And they're doing everything that 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.

Release of the week, where I like to highlight a shoe that catches my eye.

It's not always hype.

It's just something that I want you to know about.

And this week, this shoe is a basketball shoe.

It is the third iteration of the Jason Tatum Jordan brand shoe.

It is the welcome to the garden colorway.

I believe they're going to be doing a pack.

There's going to be a Jordan one low and the Jordan Tatum three.

The silhouette overall, the way that it looks, straight flames, in my opinion, it gives me nineties vibes.

I do really like it.

And to me, it kind of looks like 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 colorway releases on October 10, and I think it's fire something to look into if you don't have a tatum or if you're somebody who's not sure about tatums.

I think this could be it.

The first iteration of the Jason Tatum shoe I thought was great.

The second was okay.

The third one I really, really like.

So if you want to tatum, you like 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 all this 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?

Let me know.

Get in touch with me on Instagram at Firefootwearpod is the handle to do that, I'd love to add new people to the group chat.

I've been meeting new people every day and it's been so much fun.

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this, but I'd also like to share sneaker stories.

And do not forget, area code 202-643-9170 is the number for the fire footwear voicemail.

I'd love again to hear your stories, play them, react to them on the show.

It means a lot to get that connection and that's one really, really good way to do that.

You can, of course, find me on TikTok if you want to watch videos.

Fire footwear sneakers talk on YouTube.

It's not a regurgitation of what happens here.

I'm trying to do some new and different things on there.

So if you go find me on YouTube, please make sure to hit follow.

Please make sure to hit like and all that good stuff.

We just passed 1400 subscribers, so a big thank you to all of you.

This has been such a fun journey and I can't wait to do more for you.

I hope this finds everybody well, fam, I hope this finds everybody safe and I will talk to you next time.

This is fire footwear.

The opinions and viewpoints expressed on fire footwear are those of Matt fraits and his guest, and not necessarily those of the Matti Ice Media network.

Fire footwear is exclusively owned by Matt Fraitzen and is brought to you by the Matti Ice Media network.