Shoes and eSports?
Shoes. What’s the first thing that you think of when you see the word ‘shoes’? Maybe your favorite sneaker to wear. Maybe your cleats you wear when you play soccer. Maybe the shoes you wish you could have but, can’t afford. All of these seem logical when you look at it for the first time. 15 years ago would you have thought about a rapper?
No chance! Unless you had already been immersed in sneaker, street/urban, or rap culture from the time you were born. It just wouldn’t have made sense in the early 2000s for a rapper to represent a shoe brand.
Yet in 2006, coinciding with the same year as his debut album, Kanye West partners with Nike. He partners and releases his shoe only in one size. Size 12, his size. Even from the start Kanye West’s brand was exclusive.
This partnership with Nike lasted until 2013, and during this time he also partnered with Louis Vutton. Kanye left for Adidas for a variety of reasons probably but, one Adidas exec suggests it was because he wanted all the creative input and his voice to be the loudest. Other reasons could be for money, Kanye wanted a price for his name. This brought about one of the biggest cultural trends in fashion.
No longer were sneaker-heads an eclectic group, now it’s mainstream to be a sneaker-head. Everyone and their mother is an Adidas “Hypebeast” and waits for the next Yeezy drop.
What does this have to do with eSports? eSports are experiencing the same rise in popularity that sneaker-heads are. No longer are professional gamers seen as “computer nerds” that spend 14 hours a day in their parents’ basement. Kids are starting to want to be pro gamers, YouTube stars, and top Twitch streamers. It’s this sense of newness and the experience of being an outcast and lowkey that brings eSports and street culture together. Both weren’t mainstream. Both carry a sense of being completely comfortable with being what they are and not caring if it’s liked by the general public. This is where the worlds collide.
You see top influencers in the gaming and eSports area that align with the streetwear culture. One of the best examples is Matt “Nadeshot” Haag. A household name for anyone who knows anything about competitive Call of Duty. He has done dozens of unboxings on his YouTube channel. He identifies with this idea so much that he even made his own streetwear brand! 100 Thieves is his professional team that had a brief stint in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and now is partnered with the Cleveland Cavaliers in League of Legends.
K-Swiss is doing what other shoe brands should be doing. They recently partnered with open source entrepreneur, intuitive marketing guru, and social media at scale master Gary Vaynerchuk. They dropped the GaryVee 001 and 002. This marks the first time an entrepreneur or prominent business person has their own shoe! K Swiss embodied the forward thinking that other brands need to adopt.
All of this is to say in the future whichever big streetwear or shoe brands can do what Adidas did with Kanye in the eSports industry, will be the next big thing in 15 maybe 10 years in the future. K Swiss hats off to you! You took the bold first step by going out of your comfort zone, it’s going to pay off. So Adidas, do you want to continue to be forward thinking to crush Nike? Nike, do you want to prevent Adidas from catching you? Under Armor and Reebok, do want to save yourselves?
