Converse Finally Has a New Path Forward

Subscribe to The Kicks You Wear with Mike D. Sykes, a drill down on the red hot intersection between sports and fashion.

Good morning, friends! Welcome back to The Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for reading today. I appreciate you giving me a bit of your time. Hope you’ve got some good weekend plans ahead of you. Happy (pre) Valentine’s Day! I’ve got a nice sushi dinner date planned this weekend. Can’t wait.

Looks like it’ll finally start to warm up next week, too. Unfortunately, I ordered some new Nike Boots this week so I’ll need snow again soon. (This is my third pair of shoes for 2026. Yes, I’m keeping still track).

Quick hits:

• My colleague, Malique Morris, dropped a story on Thursday about how fashion should stop sleeping on YouTube. I wholeheartedly agree. It honestly reminded me of the journey sneakers have had on the platform. Fascinating stuff.
• The European Union is banning the destruction of unsold textiles, writes BoF’s Shayeza Walid. That includes sneakers. Brands like Adidas are going to have to rethink inventory. That’s a good thing.
• Confused by the Nike ACG push? Elliott Hill gives it all away here, via Bloomberg. Nike is keen on the outdoors and gorpcore.

Alright. Let’s get into it.

Converse’s New Path Starts

Questions were bubbling about Converse’s path forward under the Nike umbrella even before reporting about the company’s latest round of layoffs surfaced earlier this week. Thanks to a note sent by Aaron Cain to Converse’s employees obtained by The Business of Fashion, some of those questions have been answered.

What’s new: Cain detailed his new vision for the brand to employees in the note, laying out the infrastructure of what he called an “entirely new Converse” as the company integrates its strategy with Nike’s overall “sport offence” plan.

Remember: Nike’s “sport offence” is the strategy the brand is using to reorganise everything around its sports categories. It was announced at the top of December along with a C-suite restructuring for the overall brand. It was an organisational from top to bottom.

The details: Something similar is happening here with Converse.

• The company is focusing in on four categories: Sportswear (including Kids), Basketball, Energy (including Skate) and apparel/accessories.
• Each category will have a sports general manager with their own “cross-functional” team that can work across categories.
• The brand will start its focus on four key markets around the world: New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Seoul.

This is Converse slimming down its business and focusing on development in four distinct categories. That’s a smart strategy for a brand looking to regain its footing. Sometimes doing less can mean a little more.

The big picture: Layoffs suck, no matter the rationale behind them. But when an organisation is restructuring in the way this one is, they’re par for the course. This move for Nike is a necessary one. The Boston-based company needed to do something — calling Converse a challenge for Nike might be putting it kindly.

• Nike’s latest earnings report revealed Converse’s sales dipped by 30 percent during its fiscal second quarter.
• Nike CEO Elliott Hill cited the turnaround of Converse and its business in China as two of his strategic priorities as he works to get the company back on track.

The bottom line: Converse’s turnaround is an important part of Nike’s overall turnaround. Getting this business back on track will go a long way. We’ll have to wait and see if this is effective down the stretch.

But, at the very least, though, we at least know there’s a plan in motion.

Don’t Forget About All-Star

We’ve been blitzed (pun intended) by sports over this last week with multiple big fashion moments. Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance is probably at the top of that list, but the Winter Olympics have had their share of moments, too. That’s not even mentioning everything that went on around the periphery of the NFL’s big game.

And then… There’s the NBA All-Star game. This is the crowning moment of the best basketball league in the world, and it’s happening in Los Angeles. On Valentine’s Day weekend, no less!

There’s plenty on the schedule for the weekend.

• Multiple sportswear brands will be activating around the weekend, including Nike, New Balance and Adidas (the latter of which has collabs coming with Hellstar and Willy Chavarria).
• Foot Locker already has people lining up outside (if we can actually call this chaos a line) for their drops.
• Shoe Palace is releasing the full collection of Bin 23 Air Jordans that come with more of a luxury twist to them than typical models.
• Jordan Brand is also launching another Jordan Brand house (similar to what it did at the Super Bowl) in Inglewood.

Don’t get it twisted: There’s not a Bad Bunny performance or a Thom Browne GQ show happening here, but the NBA All-Star game is still a valuable space for brands in the sportswear business.

Why it matters: There’s not a better place to sell a brand for the weekend. You’ve got fans, the players they admire and the product those players wear all in close proximity to one another. While the game itself isn’t the biggest stage anymore, there are still so many opportunities to sell fans on something new.

Don’t be shocked if we don’t see a few surprises here and there come from the weekend.

The Chunky Shoe of Chunky Shoes Returns

Balenciaga felt like tapping into a bit of nostalgia, it seems.

The fashion house released the Balenciaga Triple S.2 — a revamp of the high-fashon shoe that set the bulky sneaker trend ablaze. New design head Pierpaolo Piccioli decided to put his personal touch on it this time.

The details: The sneaker takes the same bulky shape and revamps it a bit.

• Just like the original design, the Triple S.2 comes with a stacked outsole.
• This version of the shoe comes with more mesh on the surface, creating a bit more breathability and making the shoe a bit lighter on foot.

The shoe is already available on Balenciaga’s site for pre-order and will finally begin to ship in March.

My take: I can’t decide whether this is perfect timing or if it’s happening three years too late.

• On one hand, the slimmed-down shoe trend is still in full swing. People are wearing flat sneakers, Mary Janes and tabi footwear. The Triple S doesn’t lend itself to any of that, obviously.
• At the same time, Pharrell’s Jellyfish was the sneaker of the year for so many people in 2025. It’s clearly directly influenced by the original Triple S.

We’ll see how this goes. I just can’t believe the 2010s keeps bouncing back like this.

The Most Creative Nike Boot Ever???

We’ve seen plenty of variations of Nike boots through the years. Foamposite Goadomes, seamless boots, low cut boots. But a shrouded boot? That’s just crazy.

What’s new: NYC-based fashion brand Public School put their own custom twist on the Goadome for New York Fashion Week.

• The brand added a shroud to the classic all-black Nike Goadome with Public School branding on it.
• The shroud was clipped down by two buckles that models styled in various ways walking down the runway.

The look was unexpectedly fantastic. Don’t get your hopes up about getting a pair. These are a custom job for Public School’s show — a fitting moment, considering the brand hadn’t walked the runway in a decade.

Shoutout to Fashion Week. I love it when it brings this sort of creativity to the table.

#TheKicksWeWear

This is the community section of the newsletter where you (Yes, you!!!!) send me your best fits and kicks from the week. Feel free to send submissions to michael.sykes@businessoffashion.com or shoot me a message via social channels @MikeDSykes

First, the homie Mark came through with the all black Goretex Forces. Somebody please get this snow out of here.

Then the homie Jaden came through with another classic look at the Air Jordan 1. They said these are dead. I say no.

The homie Blair came through and took us home with the V-Day Air Jordan 4. Happy Valentine’s Day to all the Valentines!

Good stuff, y’all!

Thanks for reading, gang!

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, reach out to me via email at michael.sykes@businessoffashion.com or shoot me a message @MikeDSykes via socials.

Peace and love. Be safe, be easy, be kind. We out.

-Sykes 💯

Want to dive deeper into an insight from this article? Check out The Brain of Fashion, BoF’s new generative AI tool where you can unlock BoF’s sports archive with a single question.