The forever highly ambitious Kanye West announced his plan to ditch Nike for adidas earlier this year saying that, “The old me, without a daughter, would’ve taken the Nike deal because I just love Nike so much. But the new me, with a daughter, takes the adidas deal.”
Behind the scenes, adidas’ link up with Kanye, as well as an impressive roll call of other celebrities, is the handiwork of Jon Wexler. His official sneaker top dog role at adidas is Global Director of Entertainment and Influencer Marketing, a role created especially for him after pulling in celebrities such as David Beckham, Run–D.M.C, Missy Elliott, Katy Perry, and Jeezy for an ad campaign in 2008. His abilities to maximise and sync with these relationships lead to a naturel progression of working with hip hop royalty Kanye West. West’s ever growing footprint on fashion grows bigger with his upcoming collection with adidas.
In a recent interview with Complex, Jon gives us a behind the scenes look at the process of working with Kanye and what it takes to earn your stripes.
“We look for people who are creative and groundbreaking, who set trends and forge their own paths and are not afraid of what people are going to say about that. Obviously the people [adidas works with] are iconic, because it is the most iconic brand in the world. We try to find people early enough in their careers and then nurture the relations so that, as they grow, we grow and our audience grows together.”
When asked about collaborating with Kanye, “That guy is a good example of somebody who is always early. No one works harder than he does. He’s so determined to make a partnership a success, he’s constantly gathering information and speaking positively about the brand. He’s an amazing partner. He came to Germany, and has gone to the factory in China. He’s dived into understanding all aspects of what it is in the creation process and the engineering that goes into it. He’s a scientist.”
You can read the whole interview here.
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