Some things in life just go well together. Children and a dog, burgers and fries, basketball and trash talk, and peanut butter and jelly (or so I’m told) are some of these things, just to name a few. Other things, however, should not go together under most any circumstance. A prime example? Wearing Nike with Adidas.
I don’t have anything against either of these brands (though I personally prefer Nike), but I do take offense when people – especially my fellow basketball players – wear a combination of the two brands. It may be Nike shoes and Adidas socks, Adidas shoes and braces with Nike sleeves, or some other combination, but each mix-and-match pairing is downright wrong.
Why?
Honestly, I don’t know how to explain it right now (I’m writing this a little after 10 p.m. as my fam and I are driving out to NYC to drop me off at The King’s College…and I’m sleep deprived), but I know that I’ve felt this way for years now (don’t judge me).
It’s not just between Nike and Adidas though. I also don’t like it when people mix Under Armor and Nike or Under Armor and Adidas. It doesn’t bother me as much, but it still bothers me. To be honest, I get irritated by most athletic-wear cross contamination. Puma (which I just started rocking) and Nike, Reebok and Adidas, etc.
The only time I’m not upset about this mix-and-match approach is if one of the products isn’t nearly as well known/they don’t contain every apparel product. For example, I started wearing Way of Wade basketball shoes instead of Nike’s. But I was unable to find any socks from this lesser known brand, and thus continue to wear Nike socks with the China manufactured shoe.
You don’t need to tell my I’m weird…I already know that.
To be clear though, I only have these opinions when it comes to sportswear. For streetwear, dress clothes, and literally anything else, I honestly couldn’t care less. I’ll wear a snapback and a t-shirt from Statement Apparel (my own e-commerce clothing brand that you should definitely check out), jeans from Duluth Trading Company (their ballroom jeans are super helpful), and Puma socks and shoes (just started this Puma phase about a week ago…we’ll see how it goes) without a second thought.
So yeah, there’s my unfiltered, half-sleep written thoughts on not wearing Nike with Adidas (which I think was random enough). I’m gonna try to sleep now. I’ll probably end up staying up writing (creatively) and listening to NF or Will Smith (yeah, I know there’s a big difference between the two but I’m a self-proclaimed contradiction anyway) until 3 a.m.…but I’ll try to fall asleep.
Until next time.
– JP
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2 Comments
I feel you on the Nike/Adidas front. Even putting them together with the slash in the last sentence was difficult for me. I’m curious if you have internal playlist genre contamination guidelines. You may listen to NF and Will Smith, but could you put them in the same playlist?
Thanks for the question! My answer is yes, but it depends on the playlist. If I want more of a pure funk sound and a chilling type vibe, I couldn’t put NF on that playlist. However, if it’s a pump up playlist, I could include (select songs from) both artists without an issue.