Prep Network’s Drip of the Week: Justin Bieber, BAPE, and ANIME 🔥 🔥 🔥
Anwar Stetson
Plus Developing News: Adidas and Puma Could Merge 👀
It’s Time to Duel!
Today’s high school students might be a little too young to have seen the original U.S. debut of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the famous Japanese television series based on the popular manga. But the massive Japanese animation (anime) industry makes almost anything that intersects Japanese culture a hit with Gen-Z and Gen-A.
Introduced in August and released on Friday, Nike’s Air Max 95 QS YGO are inspired by Yu-Gi-Oh! sidekick Joey Wheeler, who wore the sneakers in the series. The young adult series revolves around a boy named Yugi and his friends battling fantasy creatures through a magical card game.
The shoes mix mid-90s vintage with early-2000s nostalgia, capitalizing not only on anime but young hypebeasts’ penchant for all things Y2K.
Bathed in Drip: Bathing Ape Brings Streetwear Style to Adidas
Staying in the land of the rising sun, Japanese streetwear brand A Bathing Ape or “BAPE” began its unique collaboration with Adidas earlier this year. This month, a soccer-based shoe was dropped. The collection includes one-of-a-kind cleats and intensely colorful kits.
BAPE reimagined the Adidas Predator Elite. Per Adidas, it is a soccer cleat with “an ABC CAMO upper in a blue to pink gradient treatment, a shark graphic on the medial, all over print clear stars, and alternating pink and blue sockliners”.
They match to a BAPE-branded soccer kit (below). However, be prepared to pay hypebeast prices. The cleats retail currently for $260, while the jersey in pink and shock blue sells for $130 on the Adidas site.
Biebs is Standing on Business with Soccer Kit
Justin Bieber is on top of the world after his second album drop in the last two months. With over a decade in Hollywood as a pop idol, the now husband and father is stepping into the drip game.
When Swag dropped in July, a new clothing brand, Skylrk, came with it. However, the brand received some pushback for its exorbitant prices, including $200 for a pair of sunglasses. Since July, the resale value for Skylrk merch has skyrocketed even further. Currently, a plain hoodie can be found for $600.
Recently, Bieber teased an Adidas collaboration himself with a Skylrk branded soccer kit. Skylrk’s most recent drop was based around eyewear, but as hype around the 2026 World Cup builds, it may be perfect timing for the former teen heartthrob. Bieber posted the light blue and black kit concept on his main page, and though it’s not out yet, it could rival the BAPE collab.
Drip News: Adidas and Puma Merging?
After financial trouble, Bloomberg first reported in August that the billionaire Pinault family could sell their 29% stake in Puma. The famous shoe and apparel brand has lost 60% of its value in the last two years, per Reuters.
On Friday, Puma investor Roy Adams suggested that the two rival brands should merge for Puma’s survival in an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt. “Puma is in a state of emergency,” Adams said. “If management fails to turn things around, a merger with Adidas is the best option.”
The story of the two companies is well known: German brothers Rudolf and Adolf Dassler founded a successful shoe company together in the 1920s, but their relationship soured over the course of World War II. When the war ended, the two brothers went their separate ways, with Adolf forming Adidas after his nickname “Adi” and Rudolf forming Puma. After nearly 80 years, could the two companies become one again? Neither company has commented yet, but a potential merger could have a profound impact on sportswear around the world.