As part of the
It’s A Man’s Worldcampaign with Reebok Classic, Allen-Lord talks about the women making an impact on the ground, the need for inclusivity, and the inspiration behind her shoe design.
Source: Jazerai Allen-Lord Is Here To Disrupt Things
When Reebok gets it wrong I give them the business. Why? I operate in the grey area. For my hustle to hit, I need a healthy marketplace for sneakers. A healthy marketplace means I don’t have to rely on Nike solely and retailers don’t have to rely on Nike too heavily. I know this is a paradox as Nike completely dominates the entire scene, but there are considerable opportunities in pockets and while I love for small brands to enter and disrupt, it always amazes me that legacy brands like Reebok garner so little shelf space in stores and that Reebok fails to register as a first or second option for sneaker buying.
This happens for a number of reasons. Reebok takes on influencers in an erratic manner. One week they are attempting to push fitness, the next minute they are trying to tackle fashion. All of the releases are retro-inspired, but the footwear carries forced colorways that are almost cartoon like in appearance and style. Reebok appears to still be unsure of what they are and this shows up in its marketing where the brand ventures into some strange ass territory:
Reebok’s New Video Shows that the Brand has a Lot of Work To Do | Storm the Court
The Storm the Court video was bad on several levels, but recently the Cardi B “Nails” video was on point.
It’s the latest campaign that I find the most intriguing, “It’s A Man’s World” was pulled from the 90s archive for the Vector. The phrase popularized by James Brown is always attributed to the primary line in the song, but is usually overlooked for the following line where Brown stated, “It would be nothing without a woman or a girl.” Reebok’s campaign took Brown’s second line to it’s core to create this updated version. One of the people chosen for this new campaign is Jazerai Allen-Lord. I had the pleasure of finally meeting Jazerai at the African-American Footwear Forum 2019 and when I say that Reebok is actually under-utilizing her, I mean it.
She’s not just fly asf, her ability to place into words the importance of women in the footwear and apparel industry is very much needed. Her statement, ““I don’t have to be a sublet of you and your designing and be your afterthought… it’s not your world. It’s an inclusive world,” is exactly what Reebok needs to reestablish their presence with a segment that has shifted to Vans and back and forth between adidas and Nike. What tends to happen with campaigns is that they exist inside of the echo chamber of IG and social media. The It’s A Man’s World campaign should be a concept that is carried to key cities as a documentary on empowering young ladies. I certainly hope that is the plan.
Oh, this Club C is actually doper than anything the brand did with a macro-influencer who jumped ship in Kendrick Lamar. This is clean and something I’d rock in a minute… that says a lot.
For Allen-Lord’s collaboration on the Club C silhouettealso being released at the time of launch, graphic footwear designer Alejandra Roig-Bucco who worked on the collaboration says the joint discussions between the two about the role’s females play and the messaging behind that is what set the tone for the unique design.