Nike Returns Dunk To Vault While Running Up Super Bowl Score, Bluestar Buys Palm Angels And Bell Bottoms Get A Bump
Plus some images I took at L'Enchateur's presentation
"I realize now that there's a strength in dunking that I can use to my advantage. When you dunk all the time it isn't as demoralizing to the opponent, but when you dunk at a key moment in the game you can use it to change the momentum." —Kobe Bryant: New Nike CEO Elliott Hill recently met with analysts to fill in some blanks on the company’s outlook for the remainder of the year. Analysts were not thrilled by what they heard about Nike’s recovery timeline, spurring a couple of downgrades.
At the same time, it was revealed in analyst follow up notes that Nike plans to draw back Dunk allocation. Unlike the reduction in allocation of the brand’s Air Jordan 1 and Air Force 1 franchise, the Dunk will be returned to the vault. Commenting on the change, Citi analyst Paul Lejuez wrote that Air Jordan and Air Force 1 will “still be large franchises” even after inventories are managed lower, but Dunks will “not be a relevant part” of the mix over time.”
Little Crumbs: Bluestar Alliance has acquired Palm Angels from Milan-based New Guards Group (NGG). The acquisition of Palm Angels follows the company’s recent acquisition of Off-White from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. The brand was founded in 2015 by Francesco Ragazzi, who served as the brand’s creative director and will exit the brand.
According to press, the deal “underscores Bluestar Alliance's continued expansion into the high-end streetwear and luxury fashion sectors.” Financial details were not disclosed.
At this point it appears there isn’t much left for NGG to sell other than a smattering of brands like Heron Preston and Peggy Gou that haven’t been operational for quite some time. As for Ambush, I am told by a reliable source that the Tokyo-based brand is no longer associated with NGG.
Bluestar Alliance, according to reporting by WWD ($$) was founded by Gabbay and Ralph Gindi in 2006. The company owns, manages and markets a portfolio of brands including Hurley, Scotch & Soda, Bebe, Elie Tahari, Catherine Malandrino, Nanette Lepore, English Laundry, Brookstone and Limited Too, with over $9 billion in global retail sales.
Online retailer Farfetch acquired New Guards Group’s house of brands for $675 million in 2019. Five years later, Coupang purchased Farfetch and all related properties for $500 million. In November 2024, two weeks after losing the license to distribute Reebok footwear and apparel in Europe, NGG filed for Chapter 11-style proceedings in Italy.
For Whom The Bell Tolls: Grammy Award winning rapper Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show performance drew a range of reviews but his flair jeans by Celine drew universal acclaim. Selected by stylist Taylor McNeill and paired with Nike’s Air DT Max ‘86 sneakers, the bell-bottom silhouette inspired a bevy of articles on how to recreate the look. Levi’s 567 Relaxed Flare in a light wash, which was in stock before the Super Bowl, is now completely sold out of the style. (Thanks to my friend Henrock for the tip. He had the pants in his cart pre-Super Bowl and watched them vanish from his cart not long after the event aired.)
How To Lose Friends And Deinfluence People: Shopify has removed Ye’s Yeezy store from its network. The store was populated with a single item, a t-shirt featuring a Nazi swastika. Commenting on the move, Shopify provided a statement to Variety. “All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform,” the company said. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms, so we removed them from Shopify.”
The t-shirt alone probably caused Shopify to pull the plug, though anyone paying attention to Ye’s various launches is familiar with customers complaining about Yeezy’s haphazard customer service along with very long lead times on shipments. On Reddit, a poster on a Yeezy forum said customer service has promised that even though the website is down, items will be shipped, though there are others in the same thread saying they haven’t received product they ordered in December.
While the shop was selling just the t-shirt on Monday morning, the day prior the site included multiple items, including a recently launched slip-on shoe dubbed SL-01 (as shown on Yeezy’s Instagram account). Ye drew attention to the store with a Super Bowl ad, shot on his iPhone. While reclining in a dentist chair, Ye stated, “I spent like all the money for the commercial on these new teeth. Once again I had to shoot it on the iPhone. Um…um…go to yeezy.com.”
The removal of all but the offending t-shirt followed a multi-day stream of unhinged posts by Ye on X, where he mainly attacked Jewish people but also feminism, poor people and women who report being assaulted by men. He also uploaded multiple porn videos and wrote posts celebrating Hitler and defending Sean “Diddy” Combs, for whom he created a tribute t-shirt that was available on the store.
At the moment, Ye’s X account is deactivated. It’s not known who is responsible for shutting down the account. Given how equally mentally unwell the owner of X is, it could be Ye himself who withdrew from the site. That said, at one point Ye paused his stream of hateful consciousness to note that X owner Elon Musk had unfollowed him and warned that his account might be deactivated.
Running Up The Score: Nike launched its renewed focus on sport by flooding the zone for the NFL’s Super Bowl. The brand made the interesting decision to center women’s sports in the midst of a very male-centric event with a spot featuring sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, gymnast Jordan Chiles, soccer player Sophia Wilson and WNBA players Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu, and A’ja Wilson.
Titled “So Win,” the spot is narrated by TDE artist Doechii, who recently won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. According to Nike press, the campaign “speaks directly to athletes who win, lead and dominate despite constantly being told how they should act, what they can’t do, and who they can’t be.”
In addition to the campaign, Super Bowl Halftime performer Kendrick Lamar wore Nike Air DT Max ‘86 sneakers, while SZA wore Converse Chuck 70 kicks and backup dancer Serena Williams was in a pair of very limited Converse and A Ma Maniére Chuck 70 sneakers. For the cherry on top, Jalen Hurt, the game MVP, sported a pair of player edition cleats inspired by Air Jordan’s Retro 1 ‘85 Bred, a shoe the brand is in the midst of relaunching at select boutique accounts.
Prior to the Super Bowl, Nike announced South African singer Tyla as a friend to the brand. Nike also stole the show at Bode’s spring 2025 runway presentation held as part of Super Bowl weekend festivities in New Orleans where the brand revealed a green iteration of the Astrograbber sneaker.
Finally, the brand made its presence known during New York Fashion Week at L’Enchanteur’s presentation. While not an official collaboration, the Brooklyn-based accessory label’s presentation included several customized pairs of Nike’s Air Max Muse sneaker, a women’s life style silhouette the brand is putting a lot of energy behind, along with the newly relaunched Air Superfly, a low profile silhouette.
I don’t want to ruin the surprise for all involved, but Nike will reveal an actual collaboration with a women’s label in one of the remaining fashion weeks.
Images from “Enchanteur’s New York Fashion Week Presentation
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