In Kanye West’s track Facts from his 2016 album The Life Of Pablo, he raps “Yeezy, Yeezy, Yeezy just jumped over Jumpman.”; Whether you side with Ye’s controversial opinion is entirely up to you, however, it looks like Forbes has the final answer.
According to the American business publication, artist collabs have stepped over athletes in terms of popularity and their overall influence on the sneaker marketplace. Reportedly, Kanye West’s adidas partnership sells over 70% more sneakers than Steph Curry’s Under Armour offering, and clears around 9% more in overall sales compared to LeBron James. Other influential artists listed in the article were Pharrell Williams with adidas, Rihanna with PUMA, and Travis Scott with Nike.
Stadium Goods’ co-founder Jed Still revealed his thoughts on why this was: “Artists influence on culture is only becoming more impactful in today’s style landscape with larger social media followings and media attention in general. Also, where athletes signature shoes are more designed for performance, artists can focus more on aesthetic and truly embody their point of view and taste in the product. It ultimately leads to flexibility in creating “cooler” styles that consumers tend to embrace mixed with the perfect storm of marketing via the artists’ following.”
What do you think of this news? let us know down in the comments section below, and be sure to check out the ten hottest sneaker collaborations of 2018.
