【Nike vs Adidas】Episode 1: Sneakerheads

英文文稿+中文翻译 

Nike v. Adidas

耐克对战阿迪达斯

Episode 1: Sneakerheads

第一集：鞋迷

[SFX: dull roar of a crowd – clapping, murmuring]

 【特效：人群低沉的声音，鼓掌，低语】

HOST: It’s February, 2015.

主持人：这是2015年的二月。

At the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, there’s a stage glowing in candy-colored hues of neon red and blue, pulsing like a monster-sized slushy machine.

在曼哈顿中城，百老汇大街和第五大道的交汇处，有一个舞台正闪烁着糖果般色彩的霓虹灯，红蓝交错，像一个震动着的庞大碎冰机。

That’s what comes to mind because it’s cold---beyond cold-- The kind of bone-numbing New York cold that keeps sane people inside, sheltered from the evil wind ripping off the East River.

之所以让人想到碎冰机是因为这里实在太冷了，不仅是冷，而且是那种独属于纽约的让人麻木的冷，那种让理智的人会乖乖躲在室内，以免受纽约伊斯特河上肆虐的妖风袭击的寒冷。

But there’s nothing sane about New York Fashion Week, is there?  And this is night two of the most important week of the year for everything couture. And now, it’s about to get even crazier--word has it that the biggest hip-hop artist in the world is about to make an appearance--climbing onto this rainbow colored launching pad in the shadow of the Flatiron Building-- standing room only, and if you miss it---you may miss out on a New York moment that will never happen again...that fear--fear of missing out--- has been enough for some to wait in line all day for the chance to see something electric---the icy cold be damned. 

不过纽约时装周本来和理智也不搭边。这一周，对于所有高定时装来说，是一年中最重要的一周，而今晚是这周的第二个晚上。今晚，场面变得更加疯狂，据悉，世界上最知名的嘻哈艺术家即将露面，他即将在纽约熨斗大厦阴影的映衬下，登上这个彩虹般的霓虹舞台。他的表演只有站票，如果错过这场秀，你就错过了一个再也不会发生的纽约专属的时刻。这种害怕错过的心情，足以让一些人一边咒骂这寒冷的天气，一边还坚持在严寒中排一整天的队，只为了能见证这一令人兴奋的时刻。

[SFX: The crowd volume increases – now with foot stomping]

[特效：来自人群的响声越来越大，伴随着跺脚声]

HOST: And then, a little after 10 it happens...he emerges as if from nowhere in a black hoodie, black pants, black shoes, and very white fingerless gloves.

主持人：十点刚过，激动人心的这一刻终于来临，他仿佛从天而降，穿着黑色连帽衫，黑色裤子，一双黑鞋，和一双白得刺眼的露指手套。

[SFX: Short clip of the end of Kanye’s "Fade"]

[特效：播放侃爷 Fade 的结尾片段]

HOST: Mic in one hand, a halo of oscillating lights circles the silhouette of Kanye West as he leaps to the front of the stage. He performs a brand new song as a cadre of dancers and rappers join him on stage.

主持人：侃爷单手拿麦，一跃跳到舞台前，光晕摇曳，环绕着侃爷，他开始表演他的新歌，舞者和说唱歌手们也顺势加入进来。

[SFX: Hip hop beats ]

[特效：嘻哈风的节拍]

HOST: Then something unusual happens- really unusual: Instead of moving on to the next set of beats, Kanye starts shouting to the crowd. Like, really hollering, until his voice has gone hoarse.

主持人：接着，一件意想不到的事情发生了，这可是非常不正常的事：侃爷没有继续他的下一段表演。他突然开始朝着观众大喊，是那种声嘶力竭的大喊。一直喊到他的声音都嘶哑了。

KANYE WEST: "We ain't even gonna mention that *other company no more, right? “We ain't wearing that* other company no more, right?” 

侃爷：我们不会再提那家公司了对吧？我们也不会再穿那家公司的鞋了对吧？

HOST: The audience looks around, confused.

主持人：台下观众听到这句话，面面相觑，十分困惑。

Do they have any idea what Kanye is talking about? The diehard sneaker fans -- the sneakerheads -- *they do.  Until recently, Kanye West was signed to Nike, the Oregon-based sportswear company that produced his best-selling sneakers, the Air Yeezys and the follow-ups, the Air Yeezys 2.

 观众知道侃爷到底在说什么吗？但骨灰级的鞋迷们肯定知道。就在不久前，侃爷还是和耐克合作的，耐克这个位于俄勒冈州的运动服装公司，为侃爷生产了他最畅销的球鞋，Air Yeezys 和之后的Air Yeezys 2。

And for a while, the partnership made a whole lot of sense to both parties: The most profitable sneaker company in America teaming up with the hottest rapper in the universe. Bigger than a match made in heaven---this was a partnership of superpowers---one that had already earned Nike tens of millions of dollars in sales, plus the kind of boost that comes from having Kanye hyping your brand in music videos and on stages around the world. Stages like this one.

很长一段时间里，耐克和侃爷都觉得这个合作很合适。美国最赚钱的运动鞋公司和全球最火的说唱歌手搭配，这简直可以说是潜力无穷的天作之合。耐克已经从这个合作中赢得了数千万美元的销售额，而且侃爷还会在他的MV和类似今天这样的演唱会上为耐克大肆宣传。

But now Kanye and Nike were no more. Months before this night, Kanye had abruptly renounced his partnership---a move that stunned business analysts and his fans.  

但现在，侃爷和耐克不再是一对了。几个月前，侃爷突然放弃了和耐克的合作关系，这个举动让侃爷的业务分析师和粉丝都十分震惊。

Now he was signing on with Nike's arch-rival, the German company Adidas, in a deal worth a reported $10 million.

现在他要和耐克的竞争对手，位于德国的阿迪达斯签约了，据报道，这是一笔价值一千万美元的交易。

"They weren't giving me the opportunity to grow,” he explained of his decision to leave Nike.

谈及离开耐克的缘由，侃爷说，“耐克不给我发展的机会。”

He spoke of stifling conditions with the Oregon company---a lack of creative control. Maybe he wanted to express himself more. But what really rankled him was that Nike wouldn’t give him a cut of the sales ---like Michael Jordan got.

他说，耐克这个来自俄勒冈州的公司控制太多，缺乏创作力，让人窒息。也许侃爷想要更多地表达自己。不过，真正激怒侃爷的，是耐克不给他分红，他不像迈克尔·乔丹那样可以从AJ的销售额中分红。

And now---Kanye didn’t just want a *change, he wanted *revenge.

事到如今，侃爷不仅要跳槽，他还要报仇。

And here, on stage at Fashion Week, months after dumping Nike, *this is the big reveal:  the official launch of his new line of Adidas sneakers. And on stage, Kanye is openly taunting his former business partners.

此刻，在甩了耐克的几个月后，侃爷在时装周的舞台上展示了这个报仇行动，不仅宣告他的阿迪达斯系列运动鞋正式发布，而且还大肆嘲弄了自己的前任合作伙伴

KANYE: “Sing it loud for Adidas for supporting me.  Adidas let me get my dreams out, let me make shit for y'all when everybody was suffocating me.”

侃爷：感谢阿迪达斯，它在周围的其他人都压制我的时候选择支持我，让我可以为粉丝设计创造这么棒的球鞋，也实现我的梦想。

HOST: Peering up at Kanye, you can’t help but wonder---how’s Nike gonna respond to *this??

主持人：看着侃爷，会让人不禁去想，对于侃爷的这些举动，耐克又该如何回应呢？

‘Cause, this isn’t just a product launch--this is something else -- Nike can’t just pretend this didn’t happen...they can’t just look the other way---how can they?  The only real question is what happens next?

这已经不只是产品发布会了，侃爷还传达出其他信息。耐克不能当这一切都没发生过，也无法换个角度来解读这件事。现在的问题就是，接下来会怎么样？

Because this much is certain: Kanye has just declared war on Nike.

毋庸置疑，侃爷刚刚对耐克下了战书。

SEGMENT ONE:

第一部分：

HOST: From Wondery, I’m ________, (insert Host’s name), and this is Business Wars.

您正在收听的是由 Wondery 授权、喜马拉雅制作播出的《商业战争》。

Behind every successful business there is always a hard-fought war that the public rarely gets to see up close.  In Business Wars, we’re gonna be delving into the most iconic and fascinating battles among rivals like McDonald’s vs Burger King; or Coke Vs Pepsi. Others may be less well known, but they will be just as dramatic. You’ll get a close, inside look into the dynamic, sometimes commanding and cunning Entrepreneurs who drive these companies. We’ll learn about the strategies these business titans use to their rivals.

每一笔成功的生意背后，总是有一场鲜为人知的艰难战争。在《商业战争》这档节目里，我们将深入探索一系列最具有代表性和戏剧性的商业战争，例如麦当劳对战汉堡王，又或是可口可乐和百事可乐的争战。其中有些战争可能不那么知名，但同样戏码十足。您将在节目里近距离观察这些公司背后的企业家推手，他们充满活力，威风凛凛且灵活狡猾。我们将向这些商业巨头学习他们对付竞争对手时使用的策略。

For our first series, we're diving into the battle between two multinational companies fighting to edge the other out of the sneaker market: Nike versus Adidas.

在第一个系列节目中，我们将深入探索耐克和阿迪达斯之间的战争，观看这两家跨国公司为了将对手挤出运动鞋市场使用了哪些战术。

In coming episodes, we'll go decades back in time, to the start of Nike and Adidas's rivalry. And we’ll follow it to the present, to an era of multimillion dollar lawsuits and high-stakes sponsorship spats and a ballooning sneaker market worth approximately $60 billion, bigger than the gross domestic product of many nations.

接下来的几集，我们将追溯到几十年前，从耐克和阿迪达斯竞争的源头讲起，观看两家的竞争是如何发展到今天的局面，讲述其中的百万美元诉讼，高额赞助争夺，和这个飞速扩张的价值600亿美元的运动鞋市场。一个价值比许多国家的国内生产总值还高的市场。

This is Episode 1: Sneakerheads.

请听第一集：鞋迷

Let's start with a simple question: Why the sneaker? Why would two corporations -- Nike and Adidas ---sink so much cash and energy into nylon and mesh and rubber for your feet? Why would Kanye spend so much stage time venting against Nike?

让我们从一个简单的问题开始：那就是，运动鞋有什么特别之处呢？为什么耐克和阿迪达斯两家公司都选择将那么多的金钱和精力“浪费”在你脚上的尼龙，网布和橡胶上面呢？为什么侃爷会愿意在舞台上花大量的时间去攻击耐克呢？

The answer is complicated, but it lies mostly in the sneaker's unique positioning at the center of a lot of vital subcultures, from music to sports to high-fashion: No other single item of apparel is so beloved by basketball stars, by professional athletes, by amateur athletes, by kids, by fans of high fashion--and those who shape it.

答案很复杂，但最主要的原因还是在于运动鞋在音乐，体育，高级时装等许多重要亚文化中具有独特的定位。所有的服装饰品中，只有运动鞋能让篮球明星，职业运动员，让业余运动员，让孩子，让高级时装迷，让高级时装设计师们，让所有这些人都为之着迷。

This was not, of course, always the case: Until relatively recently – you only need to go back to the 1970s – sneakers were utilitarian, designed like construction boots, for a specific task. Equipment for the feet. 

当然，运动鞋的地位并非一直如此。哪怕在不久之前的19世纪70年代，运动鞋都还是功用型的，像工地靴那样，属于为某个特殊任务而设计的脚部装备。

The very first sneakers? Rubber-soled things called Plimsolls, which were used by 19th century British vacationers as beach shoes, and prized by seafaring men for their ability to stay stuck to the decks. In the early *20th century, an American firm, the US Rubber Company, riffed on this basic concept with Keds, canvas-topped rubber-soled shoes that became popular among runners and tennis players--an overnight sensation of sorts.

最早的运动鞋是一种叫做Plimsolls的橡胶底鞋。 19世纪英国人在度假的时候把它当做沙滩鞋穿，这种橡胶底鞋能在甲板上踩得很稳，因此也受到航海人员的青睐。20世纪初，美国橡胶公司成立凯兹鞋业，他们把帆布鞋面和橡胶底鞋组合起来，发展出了当今运动鞋的雏形，夸张点说，在当时，一夜之间，这种鞋就在跑步者和网球运动员中广受欢迎。

For decades – through the entire first half of the 20th century – sneakers remained largely the domain of athletes, or those who wanted to be. You wore them out running, or out to the local tennis club; a sneaker like the now-iconic Converse All-Stars wasn’t a fashion choice. It was the shoe one wore to the basketball court.

在整个20世纪上半叶的几十年里，运动鞋在很大程度上仍然只是运动员或想要成为运动员的人的选择。人们穿运动鞋出去跑步，或去当地的网球俱乐部。像匡威这样在今天风靡的鞋，在当时并不是时尚的选择，而只是一个人打篮球时会穿的鞋。

Today, we wear sneakers everywhere: we wear them to the grocery store, but we also wear them to work, and even sometimes to weddings. Only the most buttoned-down blink twice upon seeing nice ones paired with slacks or suits.

今天，我们去哪儿都穿着运动鞋。去超市的时候穿运动鞋，去上班甚至去婚礼时也可以穿运动鞋。只有最古板守旧的人才会觉得运动鞋搭配休闲长裤或者西装是一件奇怪的事情。

The sneaker, for millions of people around the world, has become a kind offocal point of personal style: more affordable than a designer suit or dress, and worn correctly, they make just as much of a statement.

对于全球数百万的人来说，运动鞋已经成为彰显个人风格的点睛之笔。运动鞋比名牌西装或连衣裙更实惠，而且只要穿戴得当，它具有同样彰显个性的力量。

Which makes the sneaker important to millions of consumers, --and all the more important to sneaker *manufacturers.

这使得运动鞋对数百万消费者来说变得重要，而对于运动鞋制造商，这一重要性更是不用多说。

According to some estimates, the global sneaker market has grown 40 percent in the past ‘decade and change’, and is today valued at around $55 *billion dollars.  If current projections are accurate, by 2020, the market for sneakers will reach $220 billion, more than *double the GDP of a country like Ukraine.

据估计，全球运动鞋市场在过去的十年增长了40％，2018年，运动鞋市场的价值约为550亿美元。如果当时的预测准确无误，到2020年，运动鞋市场将达到2200亿美元，比乌克兰这样的国家的GDP的两倍还多。

And those numbers don’t take into account what’s known as the secondary market – the trade in rare or *vintage kicks – which is believed to be worth an additional billion bucks. Big enough, in fact, to warrant its own stock market, believe it or not, StockX, where sneakers rise and fall on indices that resemble the Dow Jones Industrial.

而且这些数字没有考虑到用于交易稀有鞋品和中古鞋品的二级市场，而这个二级市场据估价值十亿美元。实际上，这个二级市场已经大到可以维持一个自己的股票市场了，信不信由你，在Stock X 这个鞋类转售平台上，鞋子价格的波动就和道琼斯工业指数十分类似。

Point is, the selling of sneakers is a very big business, especially in the United States, home to the biggest contingent of sneakerheads in the world.

总而言之，运动鞋的销售是一笔巨大的生意，尤其是在美国这个拥有世界上最多鞋迷的国家。

Now, let's take a moment to define the two companies sparring over America’s sneaker market.

现在，让我们花点时间来勾勒这两家公司在美国运动鞋这个拳击场上的搏斗吧。

[SFX: Boxing bell dings]

 [特效：拳击比赛铃响]

HOST: In one corner we have Nike, founded on the West Coast in the 1970s by a track athlete named Phil Knight, and Knight’s mentor and coach at the University of Oregon, Bill Bowerman [pronounced: bau-er-mann].

主持人：在拳击场的一角，是耐克公司，耐克诞生于70年代的美国西海岸，由田径运动员菲尔·奈特和他的导师，俄勒冈大学的教练比尔· 鲍尔曼共同创立。

Nike is big: Not only does the company have almost 60,000 employees, and 650 designers, but it has a market cap just shy of 100 billion dollars, making it not just the most successful *sneaker company in the world, but the most successful *apparel company, period.

耐克是一个庞大的公司，它不仅拥有近60,000名员工和650名设计师，还有将近1,000亿美元的市值，这使得耐克毫无悬念地成为世界上最成功的运动鞋公司，同时也是最成功的服装公司。

Under the firm hand of Phil Knight, who built his company with the same ambition and competitive instinct he once brought to the track, Nike sneaker brands have become bywords for street style: The Air Force 1. The Air Max. The Cortez. The Air Jordan.

和他用在田径上的野心和竞争性直觉一样，菲尔·奈特建立了耐克。在他的有力领导下，耐克运动鞋品牌已成为街头风的代名词。耐克生产的 Air Force 1，Air Max, 阿甘鞋，AJ等都是街头风时尚的宠儿。

Nike has rewritten the rules as it has risen to dominance: breakthrough ad campaigns, a revolutionary use of athlete endorsements, and innovations in design and technology too. Nike spends incredible amounts of money to hold its advantage, but rakes in even more.

耐克公司成为行业霸主的同时也改写了游戏规则。从突破性的广告活动设计，到空前地使用运动员代言，再到设计和技术的不断革新，耐克为保证自己的竞争优势投入了难以想象的财力，不过它的收获也更多。

[SFX: Boxing bell dings]

  [特效：拳击比赛铃响]

HOST: And in the other corner ---it’s the proverbial David to Nike’s Goliath.  The German contender to the crown--the one and only---Adidas.

如果把耐克和阿迪达斯的决斗比作《圣经》中广为人知的牧童少年大卫挑战巨人歌利亚的故事，那么在拳击场的另一角的，就是耐克这个巨人歌利亚需要面对的大卫——来自德国的唯一一位王冠争夺者，阿迪达斯。

Adidas, which has only a couple hundred designers versus Nike’s 600-plus, was born in Europe, not long after the end of the First World War. Its founders were a couple of brothers, Rudi and Adi Dassler (pronounce: Roo-dee and Ah-dee Dass-lerr), who started their business in Bavaria, building their products by hand.

相比于耐克有600多名设计师，阿迪达斯只有200名左右。阿迪达斯来自欧洲，在第一次世界大战结束不久后诞生。它的创始人是鲁迪·达斯勒和阿迪·达斯勒两兄弟，他们在巴伐利亚州开始了手工制鞋的业务。

For decades, Adidas has been a soccer-centric company.  Adidas outfits the best soccer players in the world, and Adidas-branded gear is everywhere at major international sports events like the World Cup, or at Premiere League soccer games.

几十年来，阿迪达斯一直是一家以足球为中心的公司。世界上最好的足球运动员都穿阿迪达斯生产的运动服饰，而且阿迪达斯的运动装备也在诸如世界杯或英超联赛等重大国际体育赛事中随处可见。

Adidas makes the balls used in FIFA tournaments, the soccer boots used by stars like David Beckham, and the uniforms of the entire German national soccer squad, which brought home the World Cup in the long summer of 2014.

阿迪达斯生产FIFA锦标赛中使用的足球，生产大卫·贝克汉姆等明星使用的足球鞋，还生产整个德国国家足球队的制服，德国国家足球队穿着这些球衣在2014年的盛夏为德国赢得了世界杯。

Across Europe – in England and France and the UK – Adidas is the favored brand of millions of young consumers, who wear the company’s three stripes as proudly as Americans do the Nike Swoosh.

在欧洲，尤其是在英国和法国，阿迪达斯是成千上万年轻消费者青睐的品牌，他们像美国人穿着耐克对勾鞋一样自豪地穿着阿迪达斯的三条杠球鞋。

And yet Adidas very much wants to be a more than just the champion of Europe---they dream of being a global sneaker superpower. But if you want to be a global sneaker superpower, you need to *own the world’s *largest market. Ground zero for all things street culture cool. In other words, you need to be number one in the United States--Nike’s home turf.

不过，阿迪达斯并不满足于做欧洲的冠军，它想在全球运动鞋市场成为领军人物。如果想成为全球运动鞋市场的领军人物，就需要拥有全球最大的球鞋市场，占据街头文化的核心位置。换句话说，阿迪达斯需要在美国这个耐克的主场，成为冠军。

So let's go back to Fashion Week, in Manhattan, on that cold night in February 2015.

所以现在，让我们再回到曼哈顿的时装周，回到2015年2月那个寒冷的夜晚。

[SFX: Murmur of the crowd]

 [特效：人们低声说话]

HOST: In the year leading up to Kanye's appearance, things had not looked great for Adidas. At least not on paper. The German company maintained about a 5 percent share of the sneaker market in the United States, compared to the 60 percent owned by Nike and its independently run subsidiary, Air Jordan.

主持人：阿迪达斯签下侃爷之前的那一年，阿迪达斯的情况看起来并不理想，至少报表上是这样。这家德国公司在美国运动鞋市场中占有约5％的份额，而耐克及其独立经营的子公司Air Jordan则拥有60％的份额。

If those sound like lopsided figures, let’s put this in perspective shall we?

如果这只是一些听起来不太平衡的数字，那让我们通过例子来更准确地感受数字背后的信息吧。

Let’s consider another well known rivalry, between Samsung and Apple.  Each company currently commands about 35 percent of the American smartphone market. 

想想商界另一对有名的对手，三星和苹果。目前，这两家公司都占据着美国智能手机市场约35％的份额。 

And you know how neck-and-neck Samsung and Apple run these days. Always at each other’s throats.

而且，众所周知，三星和苹果这些年来总是并驾齐驱，紧逼不舍。

But when it came to the sneaker market, back in 2015, Nike had 12 times the market share of Adidas.  12 times!

但是谈到运动鞋市场，2015年的时候，耐克的市场占有率是阿迪达斯的12倍。整整12倍！

Apple and Samsung?  No.  David and Goliath.

由此看出，阿迪达斯和耐克之间的战争绝非像苹果和三星之间的战争那样势均力敌。他们的战争是牧童少年大卫和巨人歌利亚之间的战争。

But in business, fortunes can shift rapidly, and what initially seem to be small strategic moves can have mammoth repercussions.

但在商业世界中，财富可能会迅速转移，最初看来是很小的战略举措可能带来巨大的变革。

And for Adidas, that’s just what happened. It started with Kanye’s slingshot on that cold New York night.  Put yourself in his head for a moment.

阿迪达斯就经历了这样的变革，而一切都始于那个寒冷的纽约之夜，侃爷在舞台上对耐克宣战，就像牧童大卫手向巨人歌利亚射出手里的弹弓。让我们站在侃爷的角度来想想这件事。

Kanye knows that the key to driving up hype around an upcoming sneaker--or any product, really--- is to preview a wide release with a limited edition line, typically priced far out of reach of the average consumer. The inaccessibility of the limited-release is a tactic--part of the larger strategy: If you want people to feel covetous, to imagine what it might be like to own a pair, well this is what you do- you drive up buzz among hardcore sneaker fans. You want every sneaker blog from Toledo to Tokyo to feature your very-hard-to-get shoes on its front page.

侃爷知道，要让即将发布的球鞋爆火，关键是要在广泛发布之前，先进行限量版产品的销售，而且这个系列产品的销售价格通常需要远远超出普通消费者的承受能力。其他产品也同样适用这个理论。限量发售是一个必要的策略，也是整个销售策略的重要组成部分。因为如果想要大众产生购买这双鞋的欲望，让他们忍不住幻想拥有这双鞋的感觉，首先要让这双鞋引起鞋迷们的关注和热议，让世界各地的球鞋论坛都在首页上展示这双难以买到的鞋。

You want your fan base drooling too.

同时还需要让品牌的粉丝们也都为之垂涎。

And sure enough, in the days after the Fashion Week concert, Kanye has ‘em drooling. First, he offers 9,000 pairs of Yeezy Boosts, retailing for a hefty $350 a pair.

事实证明，在时装周演唱会之后的几天里，侃爷的确成功让粉丝为他的球鞋流口水。第一步，他提供了9,000双Yeezy Boosts，就是我们现在常说的椰子鞋，每双鞋的零售价高达350美元。

The shoes are light brown in color, with chunky tan soles and a Velcro strap that fits tight over the laces.

鞋面是浅棕色的，配有结实的棕褐色鞋底，鞋带周围还紧贴着一条魔术贴。

[SFX: Blaster pistol, like the one used by Han Solo.]

【特效：冲击波手枪声，就像《星球大战》里汉·索罗所用的那种枪。】

HOST: They look like futuristic moon boots. They look like something Han Solo might have worn whilevisiting a desert city in another universe.

主持人：这鞋看起来像是来自未来的月球靴，像《星球大战》里面的汉·索罗在另一个宇宙访问荒漠城市时会穿的鞋子。

They aren’t ---*pretty, exactly, but they are... distinctive---eye-catching. And hey look like no other sneaker- that’s the point. And within minutes, the entire release of 9,000 pairs of Yeezy Boosts has vanished. Adidas releases *another run of Yeezys but those sell out, too. A third run: Whisked away as soon as they hit the display racks.

这鞋不能说是漂亮，但的确独特，而且引人注目。它和其他运动鞋看起来都不一样，这也是最关键的。几分钟内，第一批发行的9000双鞋就销售一空。之后，阿迪达斯发布了第二轮销售，也很快售罄。而第三轮发行的鞋子一摆上货架就被抢空。

By the fall, the average price for a pair of original Yeezy Boosts on resale sites reaches $1,500. Some sites are asking as much as four or five thousand.  And the online chatter is deafening.

到秋天，在转售网站上，一双全新的Yeezy Boosts 的平均价格达到1,500美元。有的网站要价高达四千到五千。同时，网上关于Yeezy Boosts 的讨论可以说是震耳欲聋。

CNBC:  Adidas Yeezy Boost, designed by Kanye West, is named Shoe of the Year at the Footwear News Annual Achievement Awards

CNBC：  由坎耶·维斯特设计的Adidas Yeezy Boost在鞋类新闻年度成就奖中被评为年度最佳鞋履。

HOST: At the annual awards show often billed as the "Oscars of footwear," Kanye goes on another rant.

主持人：在经常被冠以“鞋类奥斯卡”之称的年度颁奖晚会上，侃爷又发表了一番演说。

KANYE: "As a creator, it doesn’t matter how big your house is, how big your name is, how much money you have," the rapper tells the audience. "Your job is to create while you’re here."

侃爷：“作为一个创造者，你的房子多大，名头多响，财富多少，这些都不重要。”这位说唱歌手对观众说，“创造者的职责就是创造。”

HOST: Soon, the Yeezy Boosts go into wide release, in a range of hues and styles, from low-top to high-top.

主持人：很快，Yeezy Boosts就开始广泛发布，涵盖低端到高端的各种色调和样式。

Paparazzi catch actors wearing them on their morning bagel runs and famous musicians wearing them to their gigs.

狗仔队拍到明星晨跑的时候穿着Yeezy Boosts，著名的歌手表演时也穿着Yeezy Boosts。

But more importantly, as the price point for the Yeezys drops to a more Earthly $200 – more or less in line with an expensive pair of Nikes – ordinary consumers are finally wearing the Boosts too. Adidas’ sales figures start to shoot up.

更重要的是，随着Yeezys的价格下降到更接地气的200 美元，基本与一双高价的耐克鞋持平，这时普通消费者也可以穿Yeezy Boosts了。从此，阿迪达斯的销售数字开始猛增。

For the first time in years, the hottest shoe in the country is *not an Air Force One, or a new model of the AirJordans. Or ---or *anything made by Nike.

这是多年来的第一次，美国最热门的鞋子不是 Air Force One，也不是AJ系列的新鞋，不是耐克生产的任何鞋子。

It is the Yeezy Boost.  And just like that--- Adidas has Nike on the run.

今年最热门的，是Yeezy Boost。这次，阿迪达斯超过了耐克。

Not since the original Reebok Pumps were introduced 1989 to a hungry market has a competitor drawn blood against Nike. Nike, a US brand that many analysts had declared unbeatable, has been knocked back on its heels.

除了1989年锐步 Pumps老爹鞋在市场获得巨大反响那次以外，之后再也没有其他竞争对手的任何产品能够让耐克严重掉血。耐克，这个美国品牌，被许多分析家认为是无可超越的。在这一次，却被重重地打了一拳。

And Adidas isn’t even *done yet.  The company signs on a new executive, Mark King, to oversee its new American push. Adidas isn’t just going after superstars, it’s poaching some of Nike’s best designers to run a top-secret design lab in *Brooklyn. And it starts doling out huge money to secure contracts with big-name basketball stars, one of whom, James Harden, will soon agree to a 13-year contract rumored to be worth around $200 million dollars.

而且阿迪达斯还不满足，他们签约了新任执行官马克· 金，负责管理在美国的新业务。阿迪达斯不仅签约超级巨星，还挖走了耐克最好的设计师来组建一个位于布鲁克林的绝密设计实验室。同时，阿迪达斯还斥巨资稳固与知名篮球明星的合同，例如詹姆斯·哈登就很快同意接受一份长达13年的合同，传闻这份合同价值约2亿美元。

Yeezy Boosts are just the opening salvo.

Yeezy Boosts仅仅是阿迪达斯的开场白。

And Nike knows it.

这一点，耐克心知肚明。

[SFX: A polite crowd, murmuring, politely golf-clapping]

  【特效：礼貌的听众人群，低语声和恭敬收敛的鼓掌声】

HOST: At a gathering in Portland a few months later, Nike executives and managers from around the world converge on the company’s headquarters for Investor Day. The news is, by any measure, very good. Nike has released a string of popular new sneakers, including a retro air Jordan in the same colors as the 1985 original. And Converse, which Nike owns, has scored a hit with a new high-top version of the classic Chuck Taylors.

主持人：几个月后，在波特兰举行的一次聚会上，来自世界各地的耐克高管和经理们聚集在公司总部的“投资者日”活动上。无论从哪个角度衡量，这次聚会都是关于耐克的好消息。耐克发布了一系列受欢迎的新款运动鞋，其中包括与1985年原版相同颜色的复古版AJ。耐克旗下的匡威发行的新高帮版“经典Chuck Taylors”，在市场上也大受追捧。

Meanwhile, the company is putting the finishing touches on a futuristic, self-lacing shoe called the Nike Mag II, modeled on a version Nike created for the 1989 movie blockbuster Back to the Future Part II.

同时，耐克正在对一款名为Nike Mag II的未来主义风格的鞋子进行发行前的最后修饰，这是一款可以自动系鞋带的鞋子。该鞋的原型来自耐克为1989年电影大片《回到未来》第二部分设计的鞋。

Sales are up, and Nike is forecasting $50 billion in revenue by the year 2020.

耐克的销售额节节攀升，预计2020年公司收入将达到500亿美元。

[SFX: A few secs of crowd]

 【特效：时长几秒钟的人群声】

HOST: On stage, with the words “50 BILLION” projected onto a screen behind him, Mark Parker, Nike’s CEO, speaks confidently of the company’s future.

主持人：耐克首席执行官马克·帕克在舞台上将“ 500亿”字样投射到身后的屏幕，他表示对公司的未来充满信心。

PARKER: Today, we’re showing how Nike is built for growth – now and for years to come. We lead this market because we serve the athlete and consumer completely – through breakthrough product and personal experiences, all around the world.

帕克：今天，我们证明，无论现在还是未来，耐克始终会是一个为了发展而创建的公司。我们之所以能领导这个市场，是因为我们在全球范围内通过突破性的产品和个人体验，全心全意地为运动员服务，为消费者服务。

HOST: And yet anxiety ripples through the crowd. Phil Knight (pronounced: Fill Nite), the bold visionary who built Nike from nothing, has recently announced he’s retiring as company chairman, a role Mark Parker will now assume. Nike is confident,and in control of the market.  But with Knight leaving, can the company stay on top? And how exactly will the company respond to the aggressive overtures of a clearly emboldened Adidas?

主持人：但焦虑仍然在人群中散播。耐克大胆又有远见的创始人菲尔·奈特最近宣布，将辞去公司董事长的职务。马克·帕克将接任这一职务。耐克当然有信心也有能力控制市场，但随着奈特的离开，公司能否继续保持领先地位呢？面对阿迪达斯的大胆挑衅，耐克又该如何回应？

In coming episodes, we’ll watch as Adidas and Nike trade blows, sometimes in private and sometimes very much in public. And we’ll watch as the sneaker market grows ever larger, and the stakes get even higher.

在接下来的几集中，我们将继续了解，在球鞋市场的不断扩大、竞争筹码不断增加的背景下，阿迪达斯和耐克在生意场上的那些或私密或公开的博弈。

In the next episode of this Business Wars series, we’ll take you back to where it all began: to the German birthplace of a young man named Adi Dassler...and a momentous event that would announce the arrival of Adidas to the world….

在本期《商业大战》系列的下一集中，我们将带您回到故事刚开始的地方，回到一个名叫阿迪·达斯勒的年轻人在德国的出生地，我们还会讲到一个重大的事件，一个预示了阿迪达斯的诞生的事件……

[SFX: Crowd roaring, a whistle blowing, the thump of shoes on the track.]

【特效：观众的欢呼声，口哨声，鞋撞在跑道上的声音】

[SFX: Owens gold medal clip]

【特效：欧文斯夺得金牌】

ANNOUNCER: “Owens wins a gold medal! And then another! And then a third! And a fourth!

播音员：“欧文斯夺得了金牌！又一枚金牌！第三枚金牌！第四枚金牌！

HOST: A black man trouncing the competition in Hitler's Germany--wearing a pair of German-made shoes.

主持人：一个黑人在希特勒统治下的德国参加比赛，大放异彩。他脚上穿着的，是一双德国制造的鞋。

OUTRO

结尾

HOST: I hope you enjoyed Business Wars’ first episode of Nike vs Adidas. We’re available on _________ (insert Platforms here) and every major listening app, as well as Wondery.com.

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This series of Business Wars was originally hosted by David Brown (pronounced: Day-vid Brown). The host of this version is _______ (insert Host’s name). Matthew Shaer (pronounced: Math-yew Shay-er) wrote this story. Karen Lowe (pronounced: Kah-ren Loh) is our senior producer and editor. Original sound design by Bay Area Sound. Our executive producer is Marshall Lewy (pronounced: Marsh-all Loo-ee). Created by Hernan Lopez (pronounced: Hur-nonn Loh-pez) for Wondery.

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