Q&A with Michael Sykes, Creator of The Kicks You Wear
Talking about kicks is a constant for me and a definite love language so when I connected with Michael online via Twitter and hit that subscribe button to his newsletter, The Kicks You Wear, I was instantly hooked! For all the negative that was 2020, this was by far one of the bright spots to feel apart of an inclusive community online for sneakerheads! From the onset when he dropped the 1st edition in October 2019, this was way more than just talking about shoe drops and debating best kicks ever! Michael really deep dives on so many topics and the level of care and information that pour into those twice a week newsletters is top-notch! Add to that now an online message board community, merchandise, and the best part of Twitter Thursday, dropping picks of our looks of that day is everything and he’s just getting started! Check the interview below to learn more about The Kicks You Wear and creator, Michael Sykes!
Talk about your initial love of kicks and some of your background in sports writing and other avenues before the newsletter and community?
So I've always loved sneakers, but it only recently became a passion I thought I could ever write about. My first love, as far as journalism goes, was basketball. I spent so much time through college watching and covering the league. Sneakers kind of just comes hand in hand with the league — it's the biggest stage of the footwear industry. So it just all kind of came naturally to me. I was covering the Wizards for a while and John Wall was going in and out of deals with Adidas. I spent a few years covering the whole saga, and that was really my intro to writing about kicks.
When did the newsletter idea for The Kicks You Wear come about? Did you have experience with substack and newsletters previously or what was the time commitment like to learn the tech and build it out?
I spent a few years at Axios covering politics and sports. Their bread and butter are newsletters. I spent so much time there learning everything about the future of media and the best ways to create content. Everything we consume now comes in bits and pieces. It's bite-sized nuggets of information — whether it's via Twitter or TikTok or whatever. Everything is in short form. No one wants to spend more than 5 minutes consuming...whatever. So I sort of just tried to practice that while writing about something I love — sneaker culture.
And that's how the Kicks You Wear was born. I wanted to keep my newsletter skills fresh and I thought KYW would end up as a hobby that, like, 30 people would read. And here we are today haha.
How has the newsletter evolved and grown from your initial drafts? What’s the most rewarding piece you reported on thus far?
It's been pretty fascinating to just watch it grow and interact with so many people while doing it. It's been a big learning process for me — figuring out what people like to read about, what formats they like to read in, what they don't like and how they don't want to consume media. I'm still learning a lot, to be honest.
I think the most rewarding thing for me so far was all of the coverage I did on how the sneaker industry was being impacted by COVID-19 back in January and February of last year. I was sort of early on that trend and I felt like I did a really solid job of not just warning people about industry trends but also showing people how dangerous the virus was and how it was impacting everyday folks. I'd like to think that I helped keep some of my readers ahead of the curve with that.
How did you go about ensuring this new community was going to be inclusive? How are you continuing to champion that moving forward with now the message boards and other entities?
I think I still have a lot of work to do in this area, but one of the things I've prided myself on is the coverage of every aspect of sneakers for everyone. Whether that's Black folks, women, people of color, my LGBTQ fam, folks with disabilities, or anyone else.
What can we expect for this year from the newsletter, new merch, more interactivity?
Lots of new content ideas coming! I'm hoping to do some more specialized newsletters and, hopefully, get a few more partnerships with folks who care about sneakers in the same way that I do. It's going to be a fun year.
Talk about some stories and kicks you are excited about for this year?
The thing I think I'm most looking forward to is probably the movement in sustainability that we're going to see. Obviously, Nike's Space Hippie stuff was a big hit last year. Adidas is moving forward with their Prime Blue and Prime Knit stuff. Puma has some good stuff coming, too. It's going to be a good year for green sneakers.
Top 5 kicks all time, Top 5 for last year?
WOW, these are the tough questions! Honestly, this is tough. But here we go.
Top 5 all-time: OG Raygun SB Dunk Low, Sk8 or Die SB Dunk Low, Day of the Dead SB Dunk Low, Bred Jordan 4, Aqua Jordan 8. Those are my five favorites, but maybe not the best or most important five shoes of all-time. Haha.
Five faves from last year: The Space Hippie 04, Raygun SB Dunk Low retro, Nike's ISPA Road Warrior (It's just so weird!!!), Ivy Park's Super Sleek 72, StrangeLove SB Dunk Low.
Anything you want to plug or add?
Subscribe to the Kicks You Wear, watch Special Delivery on USA Today Sports' YouTube Channel, and keep reading Swaggability. Thanks for having me, fam!
The kicks that speak to him at the moment …
Deep into thought while writing the latest newsletter ..
Flexing on us with the latest looks!
