Foot Locker recently announced third-quarter earnings, with revenue benefited from a higher-than-planned allocation of Nike, an increase management viewed as enabling the chain to offset the loss of Yeezy product. In discussing the all-important holiday season, an executive on the call also let it be known there will be a Adidas Fear of God Athletics capsule.
Commenting on how the company plans to make up for lost Yeezy product, which was estimated to account for $40 million of fourth-quarter sales, chief operating officer Franklin Bracken said, “There’s a great partnership that they launched with Jerry Lorenzo‘s, Fear of God this holiday. So we’ll lean into and partner and continue to collaborate, tell great stories and plenty of other franchises across the adidas brand.” Bracken didn’t comment further on whether the drop would include apparel or shoes or both.
Adidas announced its partnership with Jerry Lorenzo in December 2020. Overseeing a collaborative label dubbed Fear of God Athletics, Lorenzo’s role was described as directing creative and business for Adidas basketball globally.
Since then, the only product released has been a hoodie and a crewneck sweatshirt (above) launched at Innersect, Shanghai in January 2022. On a March 2022 earnings call, then Adidas CEO Kasper Rørsted named dropped Lorenzo 13 times and promised the first collection would launch in summer 2022. However, summer came and went as did the opening of the 2022 NBA season without any Fear of God Athletics product or launch news.
Lorenzo hasn’t commented on the delay nor has Adidas. Notable, ex-Jordan exec Jason Mayden, who was announced a president of Fear of God Athletics, in February 2021, appears to no longer be associated with the project. Mayden Instagram no longer references the brand and his LinkedIn account indicates he left the role in October 2022.
