At one point, painters would often have patrons who would support them. Colin Kaepernick, at one point an unconventional NFL quarterback, now has a patron, Nike. That's fine. Hope they live happily ever after.
Would I buy Nike shoes or clothes now that they employ Kaepernick? Doesn't really matter that much. If the clothes are well-made and reasonably priced, sure. Generally speaking, Nike gear is more expensive than it needs to be, but that's because it's designed for people who have disposable income. I send my kids to expensive colleges, so I don't have much disposable income. If my shirt or my shoes don't have a Nike swoosh on them, it doesn't affect my life appreciably.
I typically buy one pair of sneakers a year, usually around May, almost always at the local Kohl's. I have large, wide feet, so it's difficult to find shoes that fit. In my experience, Nike shoes tend to run narrow, so some years I can't find a pair that fits. In the past 20 years or so, I have bought Nike, New Balance, Skechers, Reebok, Converse, Adidas, K-Swiss and probably something else I don't remember. Did the shoes fit? Were they less than $75? If so, I probably bought 'em.
I hear a lot about white privilege, but I've always believed one thing is certain -- a significant percentage of the privilege that impacts your life isn't from the power of the authorities, but rather from the power of peer pressure. If you want to be a fat suburban guy and wear unfashionable Nike Air Monarchs, or some variation of New Balance, or off-brand shoes from Walmart, go right ahead. If you want to spend hundreds of dollars to wear clothing that Colin Kaepernick and LeBron James specify, that's cool with me, too. If you want true white privilege, free yourself from the bondage of caring what other people think about your clothing choices. In the end, people are going to care about what you do and how you treat them, rather than the clothes you had on at the time.
4 comments:
I've got odd sized feet too, and New balance is basically the only brand that will fit me. It's about the only brand label you will find on me. I've eshewed the fashionable stuff.
My last three pair of sneakers have been New Balance, and I wear them just about every day. That's because only NB has a line of sneaks with the "roll bar" in the heel that limits the tendency of my feet to over-supinate (or in regular terms, "roll over"). Perhaps Nike could look into this "not rolling over" thing.
Agreed that it is a huge privilege to not care about fashion; I remember joking about being "crushed" when my beloved flannel shirts became fashionable, and getting the latest style of "Air Jordan" or whatever never was that important to me. I still buy some premium things--sometimes it simply pays off--but not because it's the style.
The OP seems more like an Under Armour kind of a guy anyway
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