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February 18, 2015

Athletic Brands Battle For New York Fashion Week

2.18 ryan (Photo: Kanye West debuts new Adidas collection at New York Fashion Week, by flickr user CityPeople News Nigeria, via Attribution 2.0 License)

A tidal wave of athletics, fashion and culture flooded New York City this past weekend with the epic combination of the NBA’s All-Star Weekend and NYC Fashion Week. This was the perfect stage for Nike, Jordan, Adidas, Under Armor and Reebok to make a major splash with athletic gear and sneaker enthusiasts. Each took different approaches to gain the attention on their fans.

Nike: The swoosh went way over the top this weekend and spent some serious dough. For starters, they have a complete roster of NBA stars including Lebron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant each owning a line of signature shoes. Nike was also soft launching a new app called SNKRS. This app allows users to have a better shot at getting new releases by setting them up with a variety of tools within the app. In sneaker culture, it is nearly impossible to purchase highly coveted releases without a little luck or help because of high online demand. To help aid in the launch of SNKRS Nike turned a NYC street corner into their giant signature orange shoe box. The shoe box made of video screens displayed details on the new app.

Nike was just getting started with the street corner takeover. Directly across the street from the All-Star game Nike set up a fully interactive fan experience called the Zoom City Arena. Inside, fans were invited to take part in virtual training programs with Nike athletes all on top of a full-size LED basketball court. You have to see it to believe it. Nike even teamed up with fashion designer John Elliott who featured a special edition Lebron James shoe strutting down the runway as part of his 2015 collection.

Jordan: The Jordan brand is celebrating its 30th year and hosted a variety of events surrounding the All-Star Weekend. This included pop-up shops and several historical exhibits showcasing some of the brand’s most celebrated sneakers and Michael Jordan memorabilia. The Jordan events also gave the chance for fans to collect pins. If you were lucky enough to score every pin, you were granted special access to “Terminal 23,” a private basketball court and event space.

Adidas: Much of Adidas’ approach to the weekend centered around Kanye West. Adidas has teamed up with several hip hop artists over the past year or so to develop signature shoes. The first Adidas release of Kanye’s Yeezy was set for All-Star Weekend. The lead up to the release featured an outdoor concert by Kanye where he relentlessly name dropped Adidas and the release of his shoe. On Saturday, the day of the release, customers who were lucky enough to get an invite from Adidas to purchase the Yeezy were in for a treat when they showed up at the Adidas store. Kanye surprised customers by hand delivering his new kicks. Adidas has got the celebrity endorsement angle covered.

Side note: Kanye’s Yeezy line used to be housed with Nike, but in light of Nike’s refusal to grant Kanye royalties because he isn’t an athlete (like the rest of Nike’s celebrity collaborators), Kanye took his Yeezys elsewhere in 2013. The story is pretty interesting, click here to catch up.

Under Armour: This is the first year that Under Armour has released a signature basketball shoe. After unsuccessfully luring Kevin Durant away from Nike they decided to go after Steph Curry. They too picked All-Star Weekend for the big release of the Curry One. There was a little fanfare but they relied on the skill of their go-to man. Curry was one of the select players chosen to participate in the three point shooting competition. Well, there was no competition. He destroyed the field garnering Under Armour some much needed spotlight.

Reebok: In a feeble attempt to remain relevant, Reebok teamed up with specialty sneaker shop Packer Shoes. They set up a pop-up shop for the weekend showcasing new releases of signature shoes from the 1990s when Reebok was at the height of their NBA popularity. This has limited reach to consumers because it is relying heavily on the nostalgic factor and does not show any progress for the brand. Currently, Reebok does not have a signature athlete and is in steep decline in the basketball arena. They are concentrating their efforts in CrossFit.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am really into shoes and found it fascinating the many different ways brands connected with consumers on such a big weekend. Some did it better than others but at the end of the day, each brand engaged with their fan audiences in unique and non-traditional ways.