UPDATE: Tom Sachs has issued the following statement in response to the allegations.
Tom Sachs has become as popular, if not more, within streetwear and sneaker circles as he is in the art world. But an exposé from New York Magazine reveals a workplace environment at his studio that should raise concern with any consumers of his work.
The word “cult” is tossed around repeatedly in the story, and even Sachs himself has used the word consistently to describe what goes on behind the scenes of his art practice. Stories from former employees reveal such a categorization isn’t merely a joke, with rigorous rules put in place and gross mistreatment for any perceived infraction.
Several former employees said Sachs has been known to throw objects across the studio when upset. “I saw him throw a sheet of steel across the room because someone had left it in the wrong place, and it almost hit a tank of welding gas,” a former fabricator said. “And when I went to the studio manager to say, ‘Hey, he threw something toward me,’ her response was, ‘Well, at least he didn’t throw it at you; he used to throw stuff at people.'”
Sachs is also said to have screamed at his employees and belittled them. A studio assistant says that, in front of a group of gallerists at an overseas exhibition, Sachs told her: “This is a cult. If you want to leave we don’t want you. There’s a million of you.” Another time, during a Zoom call in which she gave feedback, Sachs screamed, “I don’t care if she dies.”
Inappropriate comments about employees’ bodies and sex lives weren’t uncommon either. Upon learning about one employee’s living situation, Sachs asked if she was “fucking all of [her] roommates.” On one occasion, he told the same employee she was “lucky to live in a day and age when curves and butts are in fashion.”
Nike, which has been an increasingly regular partner with Sachs over the past decade, didn’t initially respond to NY Mag‘s request for comment but issued a response Thursday through Complex. “We’re deeply concerned by the very serious allegations,” spokesperson said. “We’re in contact with Tom and his studio seeking to better understand this situation and how these issues are being addressed.”
According to the report, the company has been aware of at least some of Sachs’ uncomfortable behavior. He once appeared on a Zoom call with several female Nike employees while in his underwear.
A spokesperson for Sachs denied the allegations throughout the story but did concede the workplace as a “rigorous and exacting artist’s studio” in which not everyone is fit for the culture. The questions sneakerheads should be asking, especially as Sachs’ General Purpose Shoe draws so much attention with each release, is whether there’s any place in the culture for such behavior.