The Rise and Fall Of L.A. Gear & Michael Jackson | the detail.
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- Опубликовано: 11 ноя 2024
- L.A. Gear's 'Billie Jean' Sneaker was set to become their answer to Nike's Air Jordan. Both enforcing the power of celebrity endorsement, Michael Jackson & Michael Jordan, to play hard in the sneaker wars of the late 1980s. This is the story of the battles between corporate brands and the showbiz world of the MJs.
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I know a girl who found those black buckled "Billie Jean" sneakers in a flea market back in 1999, boxed and in great condition. I was so jealous of her. I still think they look awesome.
What!?
She found them in a flea market??? Wow lucky her, hope she still has them because they cost over a thousand dollars now
Wow!😳
The ones michael wore??
😂😂😂 they used to sell these ugly shits at Pic n Save when I was a kid. I was more interested in GI JOE coloring books
Those shoes look dope now. Michael was so before his time.
I like them they were cheap back in the day
@@phatgirl2121 They look expensive.
I think you mean he was ahead of his time
@@Char-kd6bl Same thing
Amerie Johnson they expensive af on eBay , I would like to see a re release , all original
I’ll never understand why MJ didn’t get an endorsement deal with Floresheim Shoes which is the brand he is famous for wearing. Or even a signature Fedora with a clothing brand. Also why were the shoes named “Billie Jean” when they are clearly inspired by BAD. They should have made a more casual loafer style shoe. More relatable to MJ. These look like U play ball in them.
Calz 970 LA Gear had horrible marketing and MJ teams didn’t know how to market him. Could you imagine the sales of just attaching MJ to the Florsheim loafer he wore his entire career. Or how many fans would have wanted a signature MJ Fedora.
Probably didn't think it was good marketing to call a shoe "Bad"...
Maybe these companies didnt afford him
I love this comment. I can tell you’re a real MJ fan. ❤️
Would a parent but anything named 'bad' for their children.. No
We all have a purpose in life. Michael Jackson's purpose was to be the best entertainer Someone else has a purpose to invent shoes but that wasn't Michael's purpose
Exactly!!!!
But he invented the lean shoes
Yeah, Michael never should've got into that deal. I would've advised him against it.
@@saffirechanning7286 I love you Saffire!
"Bless yer heart, you just weren't meant to make sneakers, Michael." 🤣
Michael Jackson had his hands in everything as a businessman rest in peace King Michael Jackson I love you
Stevie Critique Newby not just as a business man
@@aaronbirtig we already know Michael Jackson was the biggest-selling artists but he don't get credit by being a smart businessman
@jose miranda 🖕🏿
Michael Jackson learned the business of everything with working with Motown artists. He knew everything about branding, publishing, rights, etc. And also, I believe MJ hired the best financial advisors at the time that suggested him some good business moves.
I like this new editing style and narrator a lot better. The previous one sounded like she was reporting on a TV gossip program. Also, those shoes were rad! so sad they didn't know how to appreciate their aesthetic at the time.
You're not serious. Not about anything you said. Typical.
@pappagetti 2009 Are you speaking English?
@@pappagetti ???
Those Billie Jean shoes look dope too me now, i bet if someone like kanye wore them today. They'd sell out like yeezys.
Kanye West, the gay fish?
Yas those shoes are so cool!
I’d buy them without Kanye for sure
Peacewalker267 Fr
Lol, Kanye West isn't a good testimonial for a brand.
I guess they had no success because everybody knew MJ didn't wear that kind of shoes, people knew it was a lie! Still, I like them and I think the design is well thought, it suited Michael Bad era style and I guess they are collector items now.
yeah, found one on ebay
Michael wore tennis shoes all the time
@@bighomie8255 Michael Jordan?
He didn't drink pepsi either, but the sales were booming
@@BlueblueN That's right!
Man I can just imagine what it would've been like if they did a Sonic The Hedgehog version of the shoe. Considering the fact that Sonic's shoes are inspired by Michael Jackson's "Bad" boots it would've been a no brainer.
I will wear those type of shoes now they still look good in 2020
I agree :)
@@honormj7348 Thanks
@@steviecritiquenewby7874 yes sass those r still dope
I Have some Harley Davidsons that look similar.
are they in stores now?
i wouldve owned 10 pairs of each had i not been 5 when these shoes were released. they look dope tbh.
Damn you rich, I would've owned 10 pairs too...*in my dreams*
No kid or teen wanted La gear.
It was Salvation Army shoe.
Or you get a pair with government cheese.
I could NEVER find them and STILL want a pair to this day
really 😞
@@Big_Black_Dick really.... believe it or not. They are not for everyday wear, at all
Try Ebay.
Same. I wanted some so bad.
Chikago Asa true true, still wicked cool tho
If someone relaunched marketing for them now they could have all my money 🤷🏻♀️
You look like a fish
@migel rotschild I bet your parents don’t love you
@@migelrotschild5581 she's a cutie. You look like a fish... out of water for 10 hours.
migel rotschild she looks cute
@@migelrotschild5581 you must got bad taste in women.
Michael Jordan = Sneakers
Michael Jackson = Loafers
Michael endorsing Black loafers would’ve made a fortune. Should’ve let Mike do him.
Lia Mclendon 💯
Only Michael Jackson could bring a $600,000,000 company down by doing absolutely nothing
I mean if you pay somebody a lot of money for doing a job and they just don't do it, it's likely that you will go bankrupt.
@@wendywhoisit1819 that was their bad business move. I'm 99.9% sure mike didn't promise them an album, they assumed that. Big mistake. Never try to put creatives on a timeline, never gamble with big money, and always think of not just the end recipient of a product but also the final decision maker (whoever has the money to make the purchase). LA Gear make all 3 mistakes and we all learned their lesson.
Keep in my that LA Gear quality issues also brought down the company, aside from a bad business move like MJ endorsement.
Y'all talking like it's all Michael's fault. L. A. Gear came to him even while they were losing business. They were using Jackson to stay afloat, I don't blame him for doing nothing.
He ripped them off
I never did like sneakers but I would have gotten those MJ’s sneakers as a collector item. because I love MJ.
I didn't like them either..😒
Gloria Cruz Thank you.
Y'know, as much as I ADORE Michael Jackson, I could never have imagined him endorsing sneakers. To me, that just wouldn't have made any sense at all. When he was endorsing Pepsi-Cola, that made much more sense since the softdrink giant would've wanted MJ's fans buying and drinking their product at Michael's concerts. But endorsing athletic stuff should be left to superstar athletes.
What about kanye and pharell?
Well dancing does take a lot of athleticism
Nike and Reebok both gave sneakers contracts to rapper Rick Ross who clearly wasn’t a poster child for athletics and an active lifestyle at that time whatsoever. And most mainstream rappers don’t promote a wholesome squeaky clean image of positivity in their music. With the impact that Mike Jackson had on pop culture, the idea made great sense from a worldwide corporate perspective.
Michael Gundersen Yeah Kanye’s sneakers line with Adidas has blown up way beyond what anyone could have imagined in my opinion. Even his Nike line from that brief stint are some of the most sought out after and one of the most expensive in the Sneakerhead community.
What about rihanna?
Am I the only one who’d wear those shoes today?
Gloria Cruz they’ll rock good with rip jeans right?
I have the black edition. (You can see that in my video) I will rock them!
Yes, you're the only one, you special snowflake
@@BlueblueN Why are the internet full of dimwits? Y’all hella weird😂😂😂
I think the shoes were ahead of their time. They look great and I would totally wear them.
Those were the cool shoes of the 80's
MY FATHER WAS RUNNIG MANY HOURS IN + 100 GERMAN SHOPS TO BUY ME THIS SHOES
THANK YOU PAPA LOVE YOU
R.I.P
I remember LA Gear being quiet popular in the Middle East. I am an 80s guy so I saw the rise of LA Gear in around 86-87 to see them pretty much vanish from stores in 91. A lot of my friends wore them. The black ones with two small red lights on the sides were so dope. I remember not being able to buy them cause they were so expensive and my parents refused to get them. I still think those black sneakers with lights were way cooler than Jordans.
God I remember L.A. Gear shoes were so popular among me and my friends when we were in elementary school in the late 80’s and early 90’s! Still think they’re so cute, and I’m from L.A., so it was perfect😄
Have you ever seen michael?????
elementary school in the eighties? Geez, you're old!
I think if they would reboot today with that exact old look, they could be a hit today!
I wanted those shoes so bad as a kid my mother refused to buy them citing they were too expensive 😭
How much were they at that time?
Omg, that was really petty of Michael to hide the shoe after they gave him 20 millions to promote it, lol 😂
I'm looking at them they are I put them on my knick knack stand in Plexi glass because he passed away
I love Mike but he was a bit of controlling and petty sometimes lol
It wasn't petty, he never wanted to be the face of anything but Michael Jacksons brand. If they get pictures of him holding the products they could put that on billboards and then he will be known for more than his music. He didn't care about the money because it's all he has ever known, his dad used him and his siblings to get rich and now companies wanna do the same thing. If you were hounded from the age of 11 every day for product deals, you would get pissed off too.
-N- Tertain he didn’t want to be the face, but he was quick to take their money right?
@@ceasarnunez5652 they were trying to sneak in a free promotion
I had some LA Gear shoes in the 90's without even knowing they were uncool I just bought them because they were affordable, my dad sure as hell wasn't throwing $80 dollars on a pair of Nike's. Even today in my 40's sure I can afford some expensive shoes but I ask myself why?
MJ is inimitable and can never be replaced! Michael Jackson was a special,extraordinary person! He will live forever. See you soon! John-5:24 Acts-24:15 Revelation-21:4 Proverbs-2:21
N. Dzenet what do those verses say
JW?
Coherently It looks like LA Gear should not have tried to Market their shoe spin off someone else's celebrity status
Best RUclips channel on Michael Jackson tell all life stories. Thank you
This narrator is amazing
He not follow the trend he set the trend superb Michael
That was a bad business deal. Why would Michael Jackson sell sneakers? Should've went with Magic Johnson or some other major ball player.
Coz they wanted to use him in everything and l think taking photos if him holding the shoes without his permission pissed him off so he couldn't do what they wanted
To be fair, Michael isn't really good at keeping promises to do something for another party unless it's charity.
@@TheDudeOfSteel87 Nah, he kept his promises to Pepsi and Sony, despite them treating him like dirt throughout.
I think Michael secretly wanted to endorse Hush Puppies shoes.
@@TheDudeOfSteel87 Exactly! Like when he took the money for a biography after 2005 but didn't do it and got sued yet again.
I saw these shoes and begged my mom at a major department store at the time for them, I almost got them, but just as she was about to purchase them, I changed my mind. I don’t wanna wear them and in the scheme of life I should’ve gotten them. Would’ve been a great collectible.
I had the Billie Jeans in high school. Absolutely loved them, even though I got little electric shocks from the metal rivets near my pinkie toes…
Michael looks spectacular in shoes and he has the "Drip"
Im really loving all of these videos!! so glad i subscribed!
Like the new edit and stuff, well done!
Never knew or even heard anything about their partnership until AFTER he passed away. I was shocked to even SEE Michael Jackson in sneakers!
Do a video about Michael talking about his music in interviews. The world needs this
Michael was so cool, man. Style icon and there’ll never be another. Thanks for the nostalgia trip, loved the video.
Kids used to call me gimp Boy cos I had pair of these back in 1990.
Wish I were born in ur era.
Gump boiii
The King will never be forgotten
I just love seeing Michael dance in them in that commercial it’s so amazing.
Sometimes I think that LA Gear was a very important learning experience to Mr Greenberg when he started Skechers, because this guy has learned those lessons and applied it to his actual business. In fact I believe that Skechers is a spiritual successor of LA Gear.
I had a pair when I was little and loved them
Billie Jean was the wrong name,because it was to immolate the outfit from his "Bad" Album. If they were called "Bads" It probably would've sold better.
Would be interesting to know what MJs ideas, going into the endorsement was. Clearly they weren't on the same page!
I love how the CEO kept handing him products to hold for the cameras and how it pissed him off. Look at his face 4:55, he was like “Can I get my check now?”
I had these and got teased so badly but I didn't give a damn and wore them far too long !
Great video! Could you do one on MJ's friendship with Eddie Murphy?
I was just reading an article on this then halfway through I decided to look up the LA gear commercial. Which led me to this video. Then listening to the content, 🤔... that sounds familiar. Kudos to you for being smart enough to have print AND video of the same content 😂. I love it. ❤
Such designs are poppin now.. LA GEAR was way ahead of its time
These were big as a kid in London it was between LA Gear, BK knights, girls wore matchstick or fila f13. Not many Jordans as a kid in 1988 to 92 then around London but after that Air Jordana everything.
Great video from Detail
Thank you!
@@thedetail. you're very Welcome MJ is my idol and one of my many heroes this Channel really does him Justice
I loved my high top pink La Gears, miss them
I really wish I had some of those shoes or at least a spin-off of both Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan shoes together put together.
I remember when i was a kid around 1995/96 and the cool kids had the new fila/nike trainers. Unfortunately for me i had to make do with a pair of LA gear trainers from a well known discount shop. It wasn't kool to be wearing LA gear or Ascot trainers. It's only now im finding out LA gear was once a cool brand.
4:58 whatta gangsta move mike ! 😂 btw those Shoes are DOPE 🔥
Mj was being ridiculed in the late 80’s and early 90’s. We couldn’t wear those shoes w/o being made fun of. It was sad cuz his best work was during that time.
In 1995, my brother bought them at a heavily discounted price in a shoe store run by a chinese lady. She had so much old stock. He wore them to Michael Jacksons History concert in 1996.
If people haven’t heard of LA Gear it’s because they are young, not because of anything else like the intro of the vid tries to insinuate. I remember it and had those same trainers.
Yeah LA Gear is more or less like Sketchers. I saw lots of people with those shoes.
Never heard of the Billie jean shoes but L.A. gear was pretty popular in my youth. Expecially the light up shoes.
Those shoes are still to this day popular! They should’ve had wayyyyy more hype though. Because it’s MJ of course!! There are still a lot of ppl who would love to get their hands on one. Definitely a collector item for any moonwalker. But all in all they’ve always looked cool. 😍
always the realest never failed to throw in some sneakers with his outfits😍😍
We sold these at Footlocker in 1990 and sold decently. However Nike Jordan and Reebok remained the top brands especially the Jordan's and Air Max
I had these in middle school and during my MJ super fan days. Was teased but its was totally worth it.
Those MJ Kicks go hard as hell jus that some people don't have the right style for it
It's funny, I always liked LA Gear shoes as a kid. Now I know my parents just bought 'em because they were cheap AF.
They should still sell them. Corey Feldman exclusives
I totally would've copped them then and now in 2021 (and beyond).
Still have my MJ sneakers. I've worn them for different MJ occasions though the years, and they still look great. The box sadly is pretty beaten up.
We need to get this channel to 100k
Great doc! Two suggestions: don't use auto-tune on a speaking voice, it just makes you sound like a corporate chat-bot. And your typeface is uninspired.
My bro bought a pair in 95 and wore them to this concert in 96.
I had three pair when I was a high school. Mine were white and pink with white fringe on the top.
You forgot about How Robert Greenberg leaving for skechers in 92 and Michael Jackson's 93 allegation helped the decline of those shoes and that company.
Yo they need to bring those back😎👍🏽🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💯
I had a pair of those sneaker and I loved them!! My mon bought them in El Salvador. Someone in her office brought them from the usa for someone else and didn't fit. I was so lucky. I think I was 8 at that time 😉
I think the sneakers are popular today with fans and collectors.
Those shoes look very cool! It looks ahead of its time to appreciate it. It happens at times. Just like touchscreen phones never took off in the early 2000s until the late 2000s IPhone came around ✌❤
these shoes look so fire, some company needs to do a throwback collab ASAP
I used to have those pair of shoes when I was a kid they were the coolest shoes I ever had.
I had a pair all white with gold rhinestones. 5th grade, with my hammer pants and new kids on the block t-shirt 😂💜
Damn! You went all out 😆
Companies that Sponsored MJ/The Jacksons
1. Suzuki - MJ - 1980
2. Pepsi - The Jacksons - 1983 - 1984
3. Pepsi - MJ - 1988 - 1989
4. LA Gear - 1989 - 1990
5. Pepsi - MJ - 1992 - 1993
6. Kingdom Entertainment - 1996 - 1997
I just bought some low top la gears from the sketchers outlet store 😭😭 I’m stylin 😎 💪🏻💪🏻 they’re so cool
I just saw that Skechers has a couple of L A GEAR models in my country :D
I bought a pair of LA Gear from Famous Footwear with the memory foam and I like it they so comfortable
Amazing mj forever 👑😌💕
As a teenager I had them in white with golden buckles. They were expensive for me. I never wore them, because I didn't want them to get dirty. 😅
The king 🤴 😊
First of all, I wonder what that "greatest hits" album would have looked like, second, those shoes and the contract happened three years too late, imagine if they had done that in 1987, those shoes would have been PERFECT with the "BAD" album
What? Those shoes are 🔥 they need to bring those back im bout to see if I can find a pair online
Ironically the L.A. Gear commercial is actually a predecessor to the panther scene in the extended version of Black Or White
These shoes were released like 25 years too early , virgils lv sneakers look sorta similar and other high fashion designers like rick Owens have the same sort of aesthetic, I feel like these would be designer shoe level cause someone like uzi would wear these if they were to be re released nowadays
@DUVAAL although I think most designer sneakers are ugly and usually ripoffs of real sneakers, I have to agree the MJ’s were way ahead of their time.
Before Michael passed he was working with Nike. At Charles Maxwell would have been dope is to Have Fedora hats and other hats such as the paper boys in say say say and dress shoes or casual sneakers as well
Sneaker 👟 looks so good😍😍😍 Michael’s style is timeless 💯🤩
so cool 😎 😮😮
I remember those but the only L.A. Gear shoes I want them to bring back is the Wayne Gretzky’s A lot of people didn’t know too much about them only a few people had them
I used to have a pair, as a kid I was fascinated they used clear glue to emulate a water splash on the shoes