Good morning, friends! Welcome back to The Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for reading today. Appreciate you giving me a bit of your time today. Happy Friday! Hope you’ve got a great weekend ahead of you.

The Business of Fashion is hosting its 10th anniversary edition of BoF VOICES next week! Mentioned this a few newsletters ago, but there will be some big names speaking from across industries at the event, including JD Sports CEO Regis Schultz. You can register here for the global members-only livestream to listen in when the time comes! Lock in, folks.

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Alright, let’s get down to business.

Steph Curry Splits With Under Armour

I never thought I’d see the day that Under Armour and Stephen Curry split up, but the day has arrived. Under Armour announced on Thursday evening that it plans to separate the Curry Brand from its business as part of a $95 million restructuring effort.

Details:

• Curry and his eponymous brand will reportedly continue operating independently without Under Armour after the brand is phased out.
• Under Armour says it will continue to produce Curry’s signature shoes through 2026 — including the upcoming Curry 13 — as the NBA superstar’s brand finds a new way forward.

Between the lines: The best way I can describe this news is shocking.

It was only a few months ago that we had a chat with Curry about his new Series 7 shoes with Under Armour. He told me that he was looking forward to expanding the brand with NBA star DeAaron Fox and the other athletes on his roster. The next big announcement was supposed to be for the Curry 13 — not a big split.

The question is, what happened? We don’t have all the details, but when you look at the bigger picture of Under Armour’s financials, the split begins to make sense.

Zoom out: Under Armour says it estimates that its basketball business, including the Curry Brand, is estimated to generate $100 million to $120 million in revenue for the 2026 fiscal year. The company also said it doesn’t expect to see a massive financial headwind following the separation.

Translation: This is Under Armour saying that the brand wasn’t generating enough revenue for the company to suffer any real pain from losing it.

• The inverse of that looks like Adidas parting ways with Yeezy. The company endured massive losses because Yeezy meant so much to its business — particularly in North America.
• Under Armour is saying that’s not the case here.

You can see that in the brand’s share price over the last five years. The Curry Brand signed on with Under Armour in December of 2020. Under Armour’s stock has dipped by around 69 percent since then. The market also didn’t budge much when the split was announced on Thursday evening.

Curry’s brand is no longer the boost for Under Armour that it was 10 years ago at its peak. If anything, it’s a wash. That’s why Under Armour let it go.

What’s next: It’ll be business as usual through the next year for Under Armour through 2026, but the Curry Brand’s future is up in the air. Curry has some key choices to make with his brand.

A couple of options come to mind.

• Choice 1: The brand could remain independent and figure out its own distribution and development strategies moving forward.
• This won’t be easy. Designing shoes is difficult. Building them is expensive. So is marketing them. This is an uphill battle, but it would give the athlete complete control over his brand and the other names included.
• Choice 2: Curry could find another partner. He’s Steph Curry, after all. Despite his shortcomings with Under Armour here, I’m sure a brand like Reebok, Anta, Li-Ning and more would love to have him.

On the other side: This is the true end of an era for Under Armour. Curry was, by far, the biggest athlete and brand ambassador the company has ever had. For things to end so unceremoniously like this feels like a blight on the brand.

It makes you wonder why Under Armour agreed to house the Curry Brand in 2020 in the first place. I questioned the rationale behind the deal back in 2020 when Under Armour initially announced it. The launch of the Curry Brand struck me as a ploy by (then) CEO Patrick Frisk to keep Steph around.

• The brand was in financial trouble with the SEC relating to financial disclosures in 2015 and 2016.
• The brand was also forcing its way out of massive licensing deals with colleges around the country, including a $280 million contract with UCLA.

It seemed very clear to me that Under Armour wasn’t in the best position to launch a subsidiary brand for an athlete with a cooling signature line at the time. Sadly, it seems I was right.

The bottom line: The fallout from this is just beginning. Regardless of the direction Curry chooses, this is a significant shakeup for the performance footwear market. It resets the playing field in a way I don’t think anyone saw coming.

What we’re about to see here is possibly the most interesting sneaker free agency in sports since Kevin Durant nearly left Nike in 2016. Buckle up, folks. This could get wild.

Mary Janes Are In

Data from StockX’s latest “Big Facts” trend report for 2025 may offer a glimpse into what the next weird footwear phenomenon looks like.

It’s Mary Jane sneakers.

• For the uninformed, Mary Janes are round-toed women’s shoes with a strap across the top. They come in styles ranging from flats to heels and, yes, even kicks.

Details: Mary Jane kicks are having a moment.

• According to the report, Adidas’ Samba Jane sneaker, which dropped in June, was the highest-selling new model for the brand on StockX’s platform.
• The Onitsuka Tiger TGRS was also Onitsuka’s highest-selling model on StockX.
• Sales for Nike’s Air Rift jumped by 21 percent year on year on the platform and searches for the model increased by 137 percent.

Zoom out: Mary Jane sneakers aren’t necessarily new. Nike’s Air Rift, for example, has been around since its original launch in 1996 and has had a few notable moments throughout the years. But more have entered the fray and the ones that were previously there seem to be doubling down on this style of footwear.

Be smart: This new stylistic takeover of the marketplace shouldn’t be all that surprising. Footwear has grown progressively weirder over the last few years, with brands introducing pieces made in a range of different styles and materials. The zenith of the trend that most people will probably point to is 2023’s Big Red Boots from MSCHF (who will also be at BoF VOICES!), which had influencers looking outside looking like Astro Boy.

There are manifestations of this trend that aren’t so over-the-top — think the sneaker loafer trend we’ve seen over the last year, sparked by New Balance’s 1906L, or the slimmed-down models that took over 2025. This new, trendy Mary Jane look falls into that category. It’s the sneaker-fication of a style of shoe that came roaring back from the past.

The big picture: This is a great example of what innovation in footwear really looks like. Again, the Mary Jane style isn’t new. However, it is something different that people haven’t seen, and that’s just as effective as building something from scratch.

Nike’s Sustainability Effort

It’s been a while since we’ve heard any positive news on Nike’s efforts in sustainability, but this week came with good news.

Details: Nike has reached multi-year offtake agreements with textile-to-textile recycling startups Loop and Syre, my colleague Shayeza Walid reports. The terms of the deals haven’t been disclosed, but each is set to shift Nike’s sustainability infrastructure.

• The deal with Syre is set to make the company Nike’s lead strategic supplier for textile-to-textile recycled polyester.
• The deal with Loop grants Nike access to the company’s Infinite Loop Twist resin — a recycled polyester made from textile waste. The brand will use it in various product lines starting in 2028.

The why: This is all part of a larger sustainability effort on Nike’s part to curb its environmental impact. Here’s Walid with more:

“Adopting more recycled materials forms part of Nike’s ambitions to curb its environmental impact. The company described developing closed-loop recycling that turns old clothes back into usable materials as its “highest aspiration” in its 2023 sustainability report, the last one it published before shifting to a more data-focused reporting approach.”

The other side: It was very refreshing to see this news coming from Nike. The brand had been relatively quiet on sustainability over the last couple of years.

Zoom out: While Nike hasn’t seemed to shy away from its commitment to sustainability, it certainly felt fair to question the state of things, considering all of the attrition happening in the background.

The bottom line: Nike still has a lot of work to do in the area of sustainability, starting with hiring a new chief officer to lead its efforts. But this is as good a sign as any to show that the company hasn’t forgotten about it.

Jeremy Scott Returns

Never thought we’d get to the point where we’d see an Ugg boot get retroed. Not only are we there, but it also doesn’t really seem that crazy!

What’s new: Jeremy Scott’s flame Ugg boots are restocking after eight years.

• The boots first released in limited quantities in 2017.
• Scott completely transformed the classic fleece-lined tan boot into something totally new with flame graphics covering the upper.

My take: Maybe this is a bit of a hot take considering all that Jeremy Scott has created — his projects with Adidas are absolute classics. But these Ugg boots might be at the top of my list for Scott projects. They’re awesome.

The why: The Ugg boot is so simple and quiet. It has a classic look that I’d never think to shift. To take that and transform it into something so loud and abrasive is extremely impressive to me. It’s also classic Jeremy Scott.

The other side: I do wonder how deep the excitement for these will be. It’s worth noting that the Uggs were first released when Scott was at the peak of his powers as Moschino’s creative director in 2017. He was a hot name out there that everyone wanted to work with.

Today? He’s no longer with Moschino. Everything he touches doesn’t turn to gold. He hasn’t had a high-profile job in a while.

How does that impact this nostalgia play? We’ll have to wait and see. Regardless, I’m here for a 2010s comeback. Let’s give this Y2K stuff a break.

#TheKicksWeWear

First, the homie Charlie came through with these Runfalcon Adi joints. GREAT daily shoe.

The homie Bwalla came through with these lovely ACG joints. Really happy to see the ACG comeback these days.

The Northern Lights Dunks! Y’all! Oh man. What a pair from the homie Saoirse. Sheesh.

The homie Jess sent us home with these Animal Print Forces. DEFINITELY NOT DAD SHOES.

SMOKED it. Great stuff, gang.

Thanks for reading, gang! Hope you enjoyed the newsletter.

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 💯