I was just reading a story on Bloomberg Businessweek about Nike’s drop and Donahoe’s part in it. Dude was a Bain consultant and e-commerce guy who didn’t understand sneakers at all. Leaned into lifestyle shoes like Dunks and AJ1’s and away from sneaker technology and design.
I used to check the SNKRS app regularly but now I barely do. Nike is trash right now and if it weren’t for their vault they’d be done for already.
Yeah Nike losing their connection with actual stores and doing collabs with them was huge... I used to mark all the Tier 0 stores and hit up all of them in and around London, you used to find mad sneakers that you hadnt even seen before...
Same internationally, Daves Quality Meat was a big store that folded in the states quite a while back, TheGoodWillOut not so long ago etc... So many GOAT stores closed up... Crooked Tongues closing in the UK was really sh!t...
Ah ok
I didn't understand the significance of this move but I for one know that I haven't been excited by a Nike release for a few months now
Oversaturation with retros or rather the same silhouettes. Once I get this last pair of shoes I've had my eye on, I could legit see myself not buying any sneakers next year.
Ive been this way for ages, literally nothing has really excited me in recent years, apart from the 1 or 2 joints, like the Fire Reds (that I missed out on)...
Though the way the culture shifted to teens just hyping up sneakers and buying to flip or to just have the 'in' thing really helped ruin my enthusiasm too... Especially knowing theres a high percentage chance you couldnt cop the sneaker even if you wanted it because the bots and resellers...
Plus the quality control had been trash for years too, though I think Nike have upped that abit more...
Though I still think Nike have great tech innovation for running sneakers, its just that there is more competition in that space by new brands, like Hoka etc
I think Nike have lost a little bit of their 'cool factor' too, alot of celebs and influencers are wearing newer brands like ON, Hoka, Veja etc and Ive noticed New Balance, Asics and Karhu getting more popular in North America too...