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|| THIS WEEK IN COLLECTIBLES NEWS ||

👟 Nike’s DTC Strategy Rollback

💸 Nike Announces New Pegasus Premium Shoe

🥣 Kellogg’s Cereal Characters Are Latest Crocs Collaboration

💸 eBay and Collectors Announce Massive Partnership

👀 Launch of Darren Rovell’s New Media Brand CLLCT

🏀 Joel Embiid Officially Signs Skechers Deal

👟 Nike’s DTC Strategy Rollback

Around 2017, Nike publicly announced a big direct-to-consumer push, which meant that a lot of retailers (big and small) would no longer be allowed to stock Nike products.

Today is a different story - Nike has been battered in the press, gone through a set of big layoffs, is losing ground to competitors, and is in a generally more difficult situation vs. seven years ago.

In 2017, pivoting to DTC made sense - why not have better control over your distribution channels like SNKRS and Nike.com? Nike physical stores were elevated to become a better shopping experience and Nike could ensure high quality retail experiences for their customers. And of course, this increased Nike's margin by cutting out a certain number of wholesale distributor and retailer middle men.

Last week, Nike CEO John Donahoe acknowledged that the company had moved too far away from their wholesaler partners like Macy's and DSW. As part of this, Nike has publicly announced reinvesting and reinvigorating their relationships with retailers.

It took several years, but retailers and wholesalers ended up having more leverage than Nike realized. If the hot New Balances or ASICS are selling better than some Jordan retros, why not showcase these newer brands instead of Nike?

💸 Nike Announces New Pegasus Premium Shoe

Here's the latest in Nike product innovation - a new running shoe. The Pegasus Premium is a new running shoe coming out in 2025, which was unveiled in Paris during an announcement of a new Nike product for the upcoming Olympics.

One of the big selling points of the new shoe is Air Zoom technology sitting across the entire shoe. This should make the shoe more comfortable and better for running. It's a novel application of the Air Zoom tech and Nike is betting on this being a solid selling point.

Nike has been losing ground in running shoes to brands like Hoka, ASICS, and On. It's an important part of their business but will the Pegasus Premium succeed?

At first glance with this announcement, Nike is hoping this "product innovation" helps them sell more running shoes. We'll have to wait and see if this new shoe actually converts to sales.

🥣 Kellogg's Cereal Characters Are Latest Crocs Collaboration

Crocs doesn't stop with the collaborations! Crocs has announced their latest limited edition collaboration, with Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam. You might recognize these two characters as the mascots of Frosted Flakes and Fruit Loops cereal.

A lot of Crocs’ recent partners have come from entertainment and animation IP. Does this signal an emphasis on younger audiences? What works well or not so well? How do they decide who's a good fit or not?

At this point, Crocs collabs are so prevalent that marketers at places like Kellogg's are likely aware of Crocs appetite for collaborations. Has Crocs reached a point of cultural relevance that they are now receiving tons of inbound requests from CPG companies, studios, IP/Rights Holders?

Crocs' growth has been a fascinating story in the world of sneakers. Let's see how far this brand halo of collaborations can ensure continued growth and potentially even new revenue opportunities.

💸 eBay and Collectors Announce Massive Partnership

Two of the biggest companies in the collectibles industry are coming together in a highly consequential agreement. eBay, the world's largest online collectibles marketplace, is signing a deal with Collectors, the parent company of PSA and Goldin Auctions.

eBay is now acquiring Goldin Auctions, the collectibles auction house best known for their founder Ken Goldin and their recent Netflix series "King of Collectibles". Simultaneously, eBay Vault is being sold to PSA, the world's biggest grading and authentication company for collectibles.

While eBay and Collectors are separately two of the biggest collectibles holding companies, this transaction brings the two companies closer together. eBay increases the relevance, reach and brand of their marketplace by working with Goldin and PSA gets the added infrastructure of eBay Vault and eBay's distribution channels.

This creates a kind of partnership (or alliance) between both companies, beefing up their competitiveness when competing against other collectibles companies like Fanatics.

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👀 Launch of Darren Rovell’s New Media Brand CLLCT

A new collectibles focused media site from Darren Rovell has been launched! "Cllct" is a new media brand focused on sports collectibles and I believe there is definitely unmet demand for collectibles interest.

Companies like Sports Collectors Daily, Cardboard Connection, and Sports Collectors Digest all provide great content but Darren Rovell himself has orders of magnitude more social media following than those brands combined.

And he has relationships, clout, and a true brand name in not just collectibles, but the broader sports world. The demand for sports cards, sports memorabilia, trading cards and other collectibles will continue to increase and regardless of the specific growth potential, Cllct should be an attractive product for advertisers looking to get closer to collectors, investors, and resellers.

🏀 Joel Embiid Officially Signs Skechers Deal

The latest NBA season MVP, Joel Embiid, now works with a brand that has historically not been known at all for basketball shoes. It's a bold move by Skechers to move into new territory, which Nike has dominated for decades.

Another NBA MVP, Nikola Jokic, recently left Nike to work with Chinese sneaker brand 361°. It seems like more top tier basketball players are willing to work with brands that are not Nike (or even Adidas) - like Reebok, Puma, Anta, and Li-Ning.

Skechers has also signed English footballer Harry Kane as they launch a new football cleat line. Meanwhile, they're also selling performance basketball shoes and it's likely Embiid will be the face of this new line.

The competition for basketball shoes is getting more intense, but at the end of the day basketball shoes are not the most consequential part of the footwear market compared to broader lifestyle shoes. These challenger brands signing basketball talent might be more about developing brand awareness and consideration rather than driving their top line revenue with new basketball shoe sales.

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🎧 Mike Sykes

⚫ The Kicks You Wear

Michael Sykes is the writer of The Kicks You Wear - a newsletter covering the intersection of sneakers, business, and culture. Mike is also a writer at USA Today and previously worked at SB Nation and Axios covering the sports business.

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This newsletter was written with contributions from Neustreet Editor-in-Chief Tony McGuire; art generated by Logan Fulcher.