Andre 3000 is every rapper’s favorite rapper and a lot of us who enjoy Hip-Hop music that celebrates musicality and lyrics still place OutKast as the most important duo in music history… not just Hip-Hop. From the moment Southernplayalistic dropped in ’94 (a year of classics in Hip-Hop), everyone knew OutKast was something different. As the group matured and morphed with the sound of the Dungeon Family as the backdrop it became clear that the duo represented two sides of the same coin. The style and imagery changed from young, street influenced sneakers and jerseys to a more mature old school look and then into something futuristic, yet retro. Andre 3000 rocked Atlanta Braves hats and then turbans. The entire time that the fashion sense shifted the lyrics got stronger and by the time the SpeakerBox/Love Below album dropped (the last album by the duo) the group had cemented one of the most successful music careers in the business. It didn’t stop there. The duo shifted into film, television and entrepreneurship… but this is about kicks.
As many emcees align themselves with brands that are a lot more popular it makes sense that Andre 3000 attains a designer’s deal with a brand like Tretorn. Tretorn was a popular tennis brand years ago. The company was bought by Puma and then sold to Authentic Brands Group. ABG owns a collection of old properties including Shaq, Dr. J, Muhammad Ali, and even Michael Jackson.
Tretorn isn’t popular by any stretch of the imagination. Honestly, I’ve seen the shoes around for almost a year and I haven’t bought a single pair. It wasn’t until this morning that a Finish Line e-mail popped into my box and the picture above was there. I stopped and immediately clicked through. I had no idea that Andre 3000 was the designer behind the recent retro collection; and I’m in the sneaker business. I didn’t know this until the FL e-mail.
At a time when retro rules and the return of older brands is in place companies like ABG that own a lot of properties have a unique opportunity to capitalize on the resurrection of smaller labels. The problem is ownership groups like ABG often fail to understand the market of the product they own. It almost feels like when a guy has a lot of money and can just buy all of the properties on Monopoly, but still manages to lose to the girl who only owns the railroads.
It’s not only a Tretorn issue, but an issue with retail outlets and larger brands. I overlooked the Tretorn in store because the shoe arrived with ZERO merchandising items. Had I seen Andre 3000 I would have stopped and considered purchasing instead of continuing to walk beyond the Tretorn section. In other words, the correct influencer, with the correct product is a solid team and Tretorn is one of those shoes that could definitely garner a more style conscious person… with an influencer like 3000 and more than one video on YouTube about his process and how he would style the clothing. Right now, Tretorn has less YouTube subscribers than I do, and they haven’t posted a video in 6 months.
There is an obvious disconnect which is only natural when one company controls so many brands and isn’t capable of delivering a true concept to a release. It’s a shame too, the capsule is really dope.