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    The Latest Air Jordans? They’re Digital

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    As the sneaker boom recedes, brands like Nike and Adidas are targeting younger audiences by meeting them where they are — in the virtual world of ‘Fortnite.’In March, when Jordan Brand released the Air Jordan 4 “Brick by Brick,” a collaboration with the BMX athlete Nigel Sylvester, they sold out almost instantly, quickly doubled in value on the resale market and were championed by collectors as an early contender for sneaker of the year.But for some sneaker fans, the real fun began two months later, when the “Brick by Brick” became available in Fortnite — as a fully digital replica that could be purchased for 1,000 “V-Bucks,” the game’s virtual currency, or about $8.99.Fortnite, the online multiplayer shooter by Epic Games, introduced Kicks, a vertical within its popular in-game marketplace dedicated to footwear, in November. Alongside a handful of quirky proprietary designs, the virtual shop sells shoes by Nike, Jordan Brand, Adidas, Vans and Crocs, which can be worn by player avatars and shown off during matches. For gamers — especially kids — these digital sneakers represent a form of creative self-expression. “The younger generation sees what happens on the internet as no less important than the offline world,” Funs Jacobs, a technology and culture strategist, said. “To older generations, it sounds insane, but it’s a bit of an identity thing.”Digital versions of Nike sneakers in “Fortnite.”NikeThey’re also a big business. Fortnite, a free-to-play game, has more than 500 million registered users and an average of over two million active players every day. Its $5 billion in annual revenue comes almost entirely from the sale of virtual goods. Though Epic would not provide exact sales figures, a representative from the company said players had selected and applied Kicks to their avatars nearly seven billion times since November.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Adidas Warns Sneakers Will Cost More in the U.S. as Trump’s Tariffs Take Effect

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      The chief of the German sportswear giant said that unpredictability surrounding the tariffs prevented the company from issuing a full-year forecast, but he predicted a price increase for American consumers.The German sportswear company Adidas said on Tuesday that the increase in tariffs would lead to higher prices for its sneakers and sportswear for U.S. customers.“Since we currently cannot produce almost any of our products in the U.S., these higher tariffs will eventually cause higher costs for all our products for the U.S. market,” Bjorn Gulden, the company’s chief executive, said Tuesday on a call with analysts.Mr. Gulden said Adidas had sent extra inventory to the United States to clear customs before tariffs took effect, but he added that the company would eventually feel President Trump’s 10 percent base-line duty increase for all imports.“Cost increases due to higher tariffs will eventually cause price increases,” he said. “But it is currently impossible to quantify these or to conclude what impact this could have on the consumer demand for our products.”Adidas also rerouted some products that were made in China and destined for the United States to other markets, which are expected to become more important for the company in the wake of the growing trade war between the global superpowers.U.S. sales in the first three months of the year increased just 3 percent, because of the phasing out of the last sneakers in the popular Yeezy line, which were developed with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, as part of a collaboration that ended in 2022.In Europe, sales increased 14 percent in the first three months of the year, while sales in China grew 13 percent.The company, which is based in Herzogenaurach in southern Germany, said that it was refraining from issuing a profit outlook for the full year, citing the unpredictability that tariffs have caused, which affect many countries, including Indonesia and Vietnam, where Adidas produces many of its shoes and sportswear.“In a ‘normal world,” Mr. Gulden said, the company’s first-quarter results would have led it to raise the outlook for revenue and operating profit for 2025, but “the uncertainty regarding the U.S. tariffs has currently put a stop to this.” More

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      Adidas Has Sold Its Last Yeezy Sneaker

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      The sportswear maker was eager to put the scandal with the rapper Ye behind it, but its cautious earnings forecast showed the breakup’s effects still lingered.Adidas said Wednesday that it had sold its last pair of Yeezys, a wildly popular and profitable sneaker brand it developed with the rapper and designer Ye, as it tried to move past the publicity nightmare that followed after Ye’s antisemitic comments.The sportswear giant severed ties with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in 2022 after he posted antisemitic remarks on social media and made other offensive comments publicly. Adidas had said that ending its nearly decade-long collaboration with the American entertainer cost it nearly 250 million euros that year.The rapper apologized to the Jewish community in 2022 only to later retract his apology in a barrage of social media posts in February in which he declared he was a Nazi.The sale of Adidas’ remaining Yeezy inventory generated about €50 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, boosting the company’s overall revenue to €5.97 billion, up 24 percent from a year earlier, Adidas said Wednesday in an earnings report.But the sports brand was cautious in its outlook, cutting its revenue growth forecast for 2025 to 10 percent, from 12 percent last year. It was the first time, the company said, that the outlook did not include revenue from the Yeezy line.The breakup was hardest felt in North America, where the apparel was driven by the Grammy-winning rapper’s popularity. “Sales in North America declined 2 percent solely due to significantly lower Yeezy sales,” said Adidas, which is based in Herzogenaurach, Germany.After ending its ties with Ye, the apparel company struggled with slowing sales and revelations that it had ignored the rapper’s misconduct for years. The severed contract also left Adidas with mountains of sneakers and clothing, and potential losses of €1.2 billion in sales and about €500 million in profit last year.In 2023, under the stewardship of a new chief executive, Bjorn Gulden, Adidas decided not to write off the remaining Yeezy stock but sell it and donate part of the profit to organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.On Wednesday, Mr. Gulden struck an optimistic tone, signaling the company’s eagerness to put the Yeezy scandal behind it with new celebrity collaborations and a focus on other popular sneaker lines, like the Samba, a decades’ old brand that has had a resurgence in popularity.“With all the challenges out there, let’s not forget that there are so many fun things to look forward to in 2025,” Mr. Gulden said.’ More

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      Con su línea de zapatillas doradas, Trump vende algo más que calzado

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      ¿Qué gana el expresidente Donald Trump cuando vende tenis a 399 dólares?¿Hay algo más trumpiano que las zapatillas Never Surrender de 399 dólares presentadas el fin de semana en la Sneaker Con de Filadelfia? De toda la mercadería promocionada por el expresidente y actual candidato a la presidencia Donald Trump y otras entidades relacionadas con él en los últimos meses —las barras de oro (de chocolate), los vinos, las NFT de superhéroes—, los tenis son como una hoja de ruta del sistema de valores y la estrategia electoral de Trump en forma sartorial.Son unos tenis altos dorados tan brillantes como las lámparas de araña de Mar-a-Lago, con una bandera estadounidense que envuelve el tobillo, algo así como el bosque de banderas que surge detrás de Trump cada vez que sube a un escenario. Tienen las suelas rojas a juego con sus características corbatas rojas (y con la bandera) y quizá como guiño socarrón a los tacones Christian Louboutin y a la semiología del calzado de lujo. Además, tienen una gran “T” en relieve en el costado y en la lengüeta.Aunque son “atrevidas, doradas y resistentes, como el presidente Trump”, según el sitio web de las zapatillas Trump, y permiten a sus posibles propietarios “formar parte de la historia”, no ofrecen ningún atributo técnico de rendimiento. Aunque tienen una forma similar a las Nike Air Force 1 (¿lo entendiste? ¡Air Force One!), son imitaciones descaradas del original.Resulta tentador desestimar la oferta por considerarla pura ostentación y publicidad con poca sustancia. Eso es lo que hizo Michael Tyler, vocero de la campaña de Biden, que dijo: “Que Donald Trump aparezca para pregonar unas Off-Whites piratas es lo más cerca que volverá a estar del Air Force One en lo que le queda de vida”.También es tentador pensar en ellas como la respuesta de Trump a la presencia en TikTok de la campaña de Biden: un esfuerzo por asociarse con lo cool a través de la cultura de las zapatillas deportivas, por no mencionar la energía y el atletismo del modelo “Just Do It”. Pese a que al propio Trump casi nunca se le ve llevando calzado deportivo, ni haciendo mucho ejercicio.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Gold Trump Sneakers Are About More Than Shoes

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      What is Trump really selling when he is selling footwear?Of all the merch hawked by the former president and current presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and related entities over the past few months — the gold (chocolate) bars, the wines, the superhero NFTs — is any of it more Trumpian than the $399 Never Surrender sneakers unveiled over the weekend at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia? They are like a road map to Mr. Trump’s value system and electoral strategy in sartorial form.Gilded hightops as shiny as the chandeliers at Mar-a-Lago, they have an American flag wrapping the ankle like the forest of flags that spring up behind Mr. Trump whenever he takes a stage. They have red soles made to match his trademark red ties (and the flag) and perhaps as a sly nod to Christian Louboutins and the semiology of luxury footwear. Also, there’s a large embossed “T” on the side and on the tongue.While they are “bold, gold and tough, just like President Trump,” according to the Trump sneakers website, allowing potential owners to “be a part of history,” they boast zero technical performance attributes. While they have a shape similar to Nike Air Force 1s (get it? Air Force One!), they are unabashed imitations of the original.It’s tempting to dismiss the offering as all flash and marketing with little substance. That’s what Michael Tyler, a spokesman for the Biden campaign, did, saying, “Donald Trump showing up to hawk bootleg Off-Whites is the closest he’ll get to any Air Force Ones ever again for the rest of his life.”Or to think of them as Mr. Trump’s answer to the Biden campaign’s TikTok presence: an effort to associate himself with the cool embedded in the whole idea of sneaker culture, not to mention the energy and athleticism implied by the “Just Do It” model. Despite the fact that Mr. Trump himself is almost never seen wearing a sneaker, or doing much exercise.Yet the merching of the moment is more dangerous than it may initially appear.There has been a lot of eye-rolling since the sneakers’ debut, and jokes about the fact that, given the millions of dollars in penalties levied on Mr. Trump in his various civil cases, he has to make more money somewhere. And there was a lot of focus on the boos that met his appearance at Sneaker Con. (To be fair, the sneakerhead community is not the market for the kicks since there’s nothing original about them; it’s the MAGA market.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More