| Dear Nice Kicks Readers,
What are you thankful for? Is it having a job? shelter? clothing? food? or just time with your family? While I am very grateful for the essentials that I am fortunate to have, I am thankful for the people that I have in my life. Family first, I was extremely happy to spend the day with my wife with a baby on the way, daughter, and younger brother with his girlfriend.
To kick off the list, I am very thankful for my team I work with daily at the Nice Kicks lab. Greg, George, Nick, and Peter have helped me greatly to push harder as well as get more news out each day.
Life would not be the same without our partners at Complex – Joe, Bradley, Maeve, Aleksey, Ashish, Moksha, and Rich. I have said it before, and I will say it again – Thank you for pushing me to step out of the box of “blogs” and teach us to provide better content for our readers.
Many brands have stepped up and have worked with us above and beyond…even when our requests may seem like harassment. My good people at Nike: Demetria and KeJuan from the NY office have been great to us. D’Wayne Edwards of Jordan Brand has helped us greatly by getting us in touch with Terri from JB. Much thanks also goes out to Sarah and Kristen. Kristina from New Balance always helps us out with samples when we need them – much thanks.?? Nu from Puma has been helping us stay up on the crazy cat and what is going on with that Dassler brother while Kristen has been keeping us going with the other Dassler – Adidas. Shaun and Hillary we have to thank for keeping us up to date with Reebok. Special thanks for all of the independent brands as well – we will never forget you guys. Thank you for brining new ideas to the table in this saturated market. Sung from Clae, the good people at Alife and The Club, Nick and Brandon from Greedy Genius, and while they may be HUGE right now, they still are keeping things true – Ash from Supra.
We have an imense amount of love for all of the independent shops. You guys are what drives this culture. Any store can open up and sell products, but I am very thankful for the art and culture that ‘mom and pops’ bring to sneakers. I will attempt to remember all the shops we work with but please excuse me if I forget to mention your name. Livestock, Rock Paper Scisors, Goods, Just Be, Huf, UNDFTD, Alife, Premium Goods, Adikt, Politics, Shoe Gallery, Standard ATL, Proper, Next. I know I am leaving off a ton, but I thank all of you for what you bring to sneakers.
Other people who have helped me imensely with guidance and other thought provoking conversations to better my site include DJ Clark Kent, Bun B, Iterative Media, Josh Bauguss, Rick del Rio, Brian “Chef” Spar, Frank “the Butcher”, Vulkan,?? OSD crew, Puneet, Clarence, Ronnie Fieg, David, Kevin, Eugene, Khan, Yu-Ming, Woody, Mafia, Chris Vidal, and so many others that I have not forgotten (just can’t remember).
Lastly, I would like to thank YOU! Yes YOU! The one reading this, you! Readers of Nice Kicks get me so pumped up to get to the lab every morning to bring the news, creative ideas, and features that you deserve. Thanks to all who comment and send emails in to us pushing us to be a better and better news outlet. If it wasn’t for you, Nice Kicks would not be where it is today.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Have fun and stay safe tomorrow. |
