Brands
Nike takes a walk with Yu-Gi-Oh! for Joey Wheeler-inspired Air Max 95
MUMBAI: Konami Cross Media NY and Nike have cut a deal that pulls one of anime’s most beloved universes straight into sneaker culture. The new Nike Air Max 95 QS YGO, inspired by Kazuki Takahashi’s Yu-Gi-Oh!, lands this September alongside a capsule of apparel. At its heart: Joey Wheeler—Yugi’s brash, loyal sidekick—recast as a global athlete.
The tie-up is more than a simple branding exercise. It comes with a full-blown campaign fronted by the original English and Japanese voice actors from the anime series, blurring the line between nostalgia and contemporary fashion. For fans who grew up duelling with trading cards or glued to Toonami, the sneaker is both a collector’s item and a wearable badge of fandom.
Konami Cross Media senior vice-president of licensing and marketing Jennifer Coleman said Nike’s handling of the project had been “extraordinary”. She credited the brand with bringing “passion, care and attention to detail” and praised its “unique vision of Yu-Gi-Oh! characters and fans as athletes”, a framing she said would “redefine how audiences connect with their favourite characters, especially Joey Wheeler.”
Nike, never shy of myth-making, pitched the collaboration as part of its broader belief that sport is a limitless canvas. Dave Vericker, the company’s senior director of neighbourhood merchandise, said: “We didn’t invent this lore: it was born organically from the community. Through our partnership with Konami, we wanted to show love to longtime fans and inspire the next generation by bringing a beloved, mythical story to life through design.”
The collection is built around two centrepieces: a global release of the “Joey” colourway and apparel on 12 September via Nike’s Snkrs app and select partners, and a Japan-exclusive “Jonouchi” version—named for the character’s original manga identity—dropping on the same day in local stores.
The timing is apt. Yu-Gi-Oh! has spent more than 25 years as a fixture in global pop culture, with over 1,000 anime episodes, countless manga volumes and one of the world’s most enduring trading card games. For Nike, the collaboration is both a courtship of older millennial collectors and a way to seed loyalty among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, for whom anime has become as much a cultural touchstone as sport.
Nike’s mission statement has long been: “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” This partnership stretches that definition further—suggesting that even duelists, strategists and manga heroes can lace up and join the ranks.
Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
