I have a warm fuzzy about this one - a fuzzy that's at least twice as big as multi-millionaire, failed quarterback, and professional race-grifter Colin Kaepernick's fro when he's feeling really oppressed and needs to victim signal.
Colin Kaepernick didn’t destroy his career. Being a one-read QB who went 1-11 in his last season as a starter destroyed his NFL career. Hopping on the woke bandwagon made him millions in Nike dollars from idiot race hustlers. He’s a shitty football player but a top notch con… https://t.co/H5KEP0KHVe
— James Valvis (@JamesValvis) June 14, 2024
Remember who helped keep Kaepernick's anti-American schtick in the game?
Nike.
🇺🇸 With Nike signing Colin Kaepernick to new "Just Do It" campaign and thus disrespecting veterans of the armed forces (because he won't stand for the national anthem), I'll also join the NIKE BOYCOTT. #NikeBoycott #TuesdayThoughts #Nike #Stand4OurAnthem pic.twitter.com/n078Rh5Uk1
— Scott Davis (@Chiseled_Scott) September 4, 2018
Of course, our household had been boycotting them long before that. I don't think we've purchased a single stitch of anything Nike in at least three decades. They've always been American money lovers, America the brave haters but the buying public with kids crazy for Air Jordans couldn't look past what their kid wanted at the time. However, this stunt with the incredibly divisive Mr. Take A Knee opened a lot of eyes to what Nike had been two-facedly doing all along.
It blew their cover.
NIKE LOST 3.75 Billion today after putting Colin Kaepernick on the Just do it campaign.
— Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) September 5, 2018
So know you how much we love America!
RT if you laughing with me https://t.co/PmSo7HptBD pic.twitter.com/64lVSsBpeI
It didn't bother the wokesters over there, though. They had the righteous social justice warriors' juices going and the bazillions to fund every last indulgence. Nike kept hacking away at the red, white, and blue through means subtle and flat-out in our faces.
Like bending their own knee to Kaepernick over Betsy Ross flags on their 4th of July sneakers. Remember that?
Nike pulled a Betsy Ross inspired US flag shoe because Colin Kaepernick said it was racially insensitive per @wsj. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/rCjcNpxzw7
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 1, 2019
Nike Inc. NKE -0.35%decrease; red down pointing triangle is yanking a U.S.A.-themed sneaker featuring an early American flag after NFL star-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick told the company it shouldn’t sell a shoe with a symbol that he and others consider offensive, according to people familiar with the matter.
The sneaker giant created the Air Max 1 USA in celebration of the July Fourth holiday, and it was slated to go on sale this week. The heel of the shoe featured a U.S. flag with 13 white stars in a circle, a design created during the American Revolution and commonly referred to as the Betsy Ross flag.
...After images of the shoe were posted online, Mr. Kaepernick, a Nike endorser, reached out to company officials saying that he and others felt the Betsy Ross flag is an offensive symbol because of its connection to an era of slavery, the people said. Some users on social media responded to posts about the shoe with similar concerns. Mr. Kaepernick declined to comment.
You saw their ads everywhere and those ghastly Oregon uniforms every fall.
No reason to buy any damn thing they made, but millions upon millions did. Nike was a juggernaut.
I was today years old when I learned it's all caught up to them.
Nike Layoffs Continue Massive Downward Trend For Company
Nike is in crisis mode.
The once-dominant sports apparel company is suddenly realizing that it no longer appeals to people the way that it once did. The days of Michael Jordan are long gone.
Company stock is in complete free fall, down nearly 25 percent over the past month, nearly 30 percent over the past 6 months and nearly 60 percent from its all-time high in November 2021.
That has caused the apparel giant to cut jobs at a massive rate. The Oregonian reported in December that the company quietly cut a lot of jobs in December of last year, from nearly all departments.
Many of those jobs being slashed came from the brain-trust floors. Sure sounds as if there were lots of brains to spare.
...In April, Nike not-so-quietly announced layoffs of more than 700 employees from the Oregon-based headquarters.
The Oregonian acquired data on those layoffs, and it showed that the company got rid of many high-ranking executives, including more than 30 vice presidents and more than 110 senior directors.
As Outkick notes, it wasn't just woke that bit them in the asterisk - it was competition and their own greed.
...Then there's an even more simple explanation: competition. Nike always got by on the fact that it was a known brand and charged high prices for, mostly, cheaply-made Chinese clothing and shoes.
Again, the company that is all-in on explaining why the United States is a horrible country has no issue exploiting the Chinese labor force, as long as it leads to cheaper production costs. Funny how that works, isn't it?
But more and more companies are entering the sports apparel space and are either producing better goods or cheaper ones. Nike continues to spend more time worrying about marketing and less time thinking about its products.
It's not working. Personally, I don't buy any Nike products. I generally disagree with its politics, of course, but I was never a big Nike fan. I always found its clothing and shoes to be overpriced, poorly constructed, and uncomfortable.
That is interesting how Mr. Kaepenernick, warrior for the oppressed and champion of the downtrodden, could reconcile his multi-million dollar Nike contract with it being built on the back of enslaved Uyghurs and underpaid Chinese factory laborers, not to mention overcharging underprivileged black kids for his crap goods once they hit the shelves at Footlocker.
I guess it's like asking John Kerry why he takes private planes.
HE'S A SPECIAL PRINCESS
Nike's thirst for showboating innovation is going to anger some fans as they're also cutting back on previously released high tech apps. The loss of this one will cause surely cause some heartburn.
RETIRED APP MEANS OWNERS WILL HAVE TO "JUST DO IT" THEMSELVES —
“Immensely disappointing”: Nike killing app for $350 self-tying sneakers
In 2019, Nike got closer than ever to its dreams of popularizing self-tying sneakers by releasing the Adapt BB. Using Bluetooth, the sneakers paired to the Adapt app that let users do things like tighten or loosen the shoes' laces and control its LED lights. However, Nike has announced that it's "retiring" the app on August 6, when it will no longer be downloadable from Apple's App Store or the Google Play Store; nor will it be updated.
In an announcement recently spotted by The Verge, Nike's brief explanation for discontinuing the app is that Nike "is no longer creating new versions of Adapt shoes.” The company started informing owners about the app's retirement about four months ago.
Those who already bought the shoes can still use the app after August 6, but it's expected that iOS or Android updates will eventually make the app unusable. Also, those who get a new device won't be able to download Adapt after August 6.
Without the app, wearers are unable to change the color of the sneaker's LED lights. The lights will either maintain the last color scheme selected via the app or, per Nike, "if you didn't install the app, light will be the default color." While owners will still be able to use on-shoe buttons to turn the shoes on or off, check its battery, adjust the lace's tightness, and save fit settings, the ability to change lighting and control the shoes via mobile phone were big selling points of the $350 kicks.
Awww...I guess.
The knives are out for someone's head on Wall Street...
...Stifel analyst Jim Duffy took it the furthest, blasting the company’s strategy under CEO John Donahoe and writing that Donahoe’s days could be numbered. “Management credibility is severely challenged and potential for C-level regime change adds further uncertainty,” Duffy wrote after June’s disastrous earnings call. There was enough heat on Donahoe that Phil Knight, the company’s legendary founder and largest shareholder, felt compelled to say that Donahoe had his “unwavering confidence and full support.”
The embattled Donahoe will now be doing his job with hundreds fewer executives supporting him.
...and the panicked firm just rehired a guy who'd retired four years ago after spending thirty years with the company.
Nike continues to lean back into its wholesale partnerships — and enlisting the help of a former executive to get it right.
The Swoosh has rehired former senior executive Tom Peddie to the role of vice president of marketplace partners, Nike confirmed in a statement. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.
Nike closed 4 cents ($72.46) above their 2020 low ($72.42) this afternoon. Yesterday the stock was the Dow's worst performer.
Shares of Nike Inc. were falling sharply Monday, with the sneaker company’s stock posting the worst performance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in early-afternoon trading, according to FactSet data, at last check.
The company has some collaborative collections coming up with gaming company Tekken and surf outfit Stussy, but that's not going to be enough to right this ship.
As the OutKick piece said, there's now a lot of competition who do things very well. They may not have the agility to respond. They may well not be able to temper the arrogance that got them to where they are today.
When the Kaepernick/kneeling BS broke out, I wrote a Facebook comment during a discussion that I have pinned to the top of my X page.
Nike broke that trust, as far as I'm concerned. The company has spent the past half-decade grinding everything American into the dirt with its heel while its palms were out, demanding blood money to pay the instruments of the insults.
Let them do a little - or a lot- of their own bleeding.
Karma can also be red, white, and bruise blue.
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