Can the World Cup Solve Nike’s Problems?

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Good morning, friends! Welcome back to The Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for reading today. I appreciate you giving me a bit of your time today. Hope you had an awesome weekend.

Quick note: So I’m working on a project around the World Cup and the brands participating in it. If you are part of one of those brands or have seen a brand do something related to the World Cup that you find interesting, feel free to reach out to me with details. I’d love to hear from you.

Speaking of the World Cup, today’s newsletter dives into the upcoming collaborations Nike is rumoured to be launching around the tournament. The brand is investing a lot in this moment. I thought it was worth wondering whether this could be the thing that picks it up out of its current slump.

Plus, BoF’s Lei Takanashi filed a fantastic piece on Scott Lloyd, Columbia’s new head of marketing. It’s a fascinating move that could position the company in a lane it hasn’t yet explored. I wanted to dive into some details from the piece here today.

Quick hits:

• Sportswear is in a tough spot when it comes to the Iran war. I wrote a bit about the decisions the sector’s biggest companies have to make as the conflict continues.
• Lewis Hamilton cruising around Tokyo in the Ferrari F40 is the coolest thing on the internet today.
• I hadn’t peeped this before, but Sporty & Rich founder Emily Oberg wrote a letter on Substack about why she installed herself as the company’s CEO. Some interesting perspective here.
• Peep Shayeza Walid’s latest in The Frayed Edge on the “game” of selling sustainability.

Let’s jump in.

Nike’s Big World Cup Investment

The closer we get to the moment, the clearer it’s becoming that Nike is putting a lot of faith in the World Cup as a fulcrum for its comeback.

What’s new: The brand is rumoured to be launching several different collaborations on its new Cryo Shot model themed around the World Cup.

• Sneaker insider Brandon1an says the company is launching seven Cryo Shot models and apparel collections with various collaborative partners, each themed around their home country’s football federation.
• A few examples are the Virgil Abloh Archive’s Team USA-themed Cryo Shot, Palace’s England kit and Patta’s Netherlands-themed Cryo Shot.

That’s a level of collaboration within sport that Nike didn’t even go to for the Olympics. This level of specificity and scale shows just how much the brand wants to turn the World Cup into a moment to build on. These partnerships are coming on top of what Nike is doing with the federations they’re representing in the World Cup.

Thinking back: These rumoured collaborations match what Nike CEO Elliott Hill had to say about the World Cup during the company’s Q3 earnings call last week. He said the World Cup would “catalyse the football marketplace for quarters to come” for Nike.

“By the end of the tournament, we will have elevated our presentation in more than 5,000 Football doors around the world,” Hill told investors on the call.

Be smart: That last sentence stuck with me. This isn’t the brand simply looking to jump in on the World Cup moment and activate around the most popular sporting event of the year, though that’s obviously part of it.

But the brand’s true goal here is the long term opportunity to establish itself as a power player in the global football playing field.

The why: Nike doesn’t have a history in the sport as deep as its competitors.

• Don’t get me wrong. Nike has always had some element of global football in its business — especially in the early 2000s with its Total 90 branding.
• But it’s always been tertiary in a sense. Basketball and running have always been Nike’s bellwethers.

That’s changing these days as football fashion continues to take over. Sales of football lifestyle footwear have continued to rise over the last few years. Data from Circana shows that football lifestyle sneaker sales rose by 63 percent from January to November in 2025. While it’s still a small part of the market, it’s clearly a fast-growing one.

Reality check: This is an away game for Nike. We have to remember that the reason this shift in style is even happening in the first place is because Adidas was so shrewd with how it positioned itself in the marketplace with the Samba. It remains the unquestioned leader in terrace style footwear and footballer fashion. That won’t change here with a few collaborations and some fresh new kits on the Nike side.

Yes, but: This is a long game that Nike is playing. If it can get a firm foothold in this marketplace, it’ll be able to grow that into something that might finally stabilise things for the brand. That’s what matters most for Elliott Hill and company here.

Columbia Wants to Be the New Balance of the Outdoors

Can Columbia be the New Balance of the outdoor industry? Scott Lloyd seems to think it certainly can.

The news: The Business of Fashion’s Lei Takanashi reports that Columbia hired Lloyd, a Skims and Savage X Fenty alum, as its new senior director of marketing to change the 88-year-old brand’s public perception.

The state of play: Columbia has largely missed out on the outdoors-as-fashion trend, Takanashi writes. Instead, it’s mostly viewed as an outdoor value brand commonly found in big-box stores like Costco or T.J. Maxx.

Part of Lloyd’s job at Columbia will be pushing the brand upmarket.

The how: Lloyd’s plan is to pull this off through what he called “world building.” The brand has to find a bridge product, he said, similar to what New Balance did with the 990.

Lei writes:

“Ads can only take a brand so far. Columbia also needs a “bridge product” that, with the right storytelling, can embed the brand in pop culture, Lloyd said. He cited Carhartt’s Detroit jacket and New Balance 990s as examples — pointing out how they’re items that have been adopted by both older mass consumers and the young fashion-forward crowd it’s vying to reach.”

My Take: I don’t know too many people who seek out Columbia at this point. Chances are, you probably don’t either. That’s not to say that Columbia is bad or that the brand doesn’t have good pieces — it certainly does. But if you’re wearing a Columbia piece, it’s probably because you found a good deal on it.

Lloyd’s vision in changing that is interesting to me. It’s certainly possible that he can reposition the brand, but I kind of wonder if it’s a bit too late?

• The North Face and Arc’teryx have the trendy gorpcore lane on lock at this point. It’s hard for me to see Columbia entering that space with them.

The real question is whether the brand can find that “bridge product,” as Lloyd alluded to, or if there’s a specific niche that competitors aren’t covering that it is. The thing that made the New Balance 990 work was that the brand leaned into its disparate niches in its marketing. I’ll never forget seeing the “Worn by supermodels in London and dads in Ohio” copy for the 990v5. That dichotomy made the shoe appealing.

Can Columbia find something to match that? I guess that’s what we’ll find out.

Worth Your Time: Can This Skims Alum Make Columbia Cool?

Golf Gets in Its Own Way Sometimes

Sometimes (most times, really) it just feels like golf doesn’t want to be looked at as cool. I’m getting that vibe again this week.

What’s happening: This week is the biggest week in the sport of golf. The Masters tournament begins on Thursday. It’s the marquee tournament of the sport held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

Jason Day, one of the sport’s most fashionable golfers, had an outfit planned for his run at the 2026 Masters this week before the country club stepped in and asked him to tone it down, according to reporting from Sports Illustrated.

• Day’s outfit from Malbon was inspired by bird watching. It featured several birds printed on his shirts, vests and coat for the tournament. The vest he’s set to wear on Wednesday includes a pocket made for binoculars.
• The golfer was set to wear a matching pair of pants for the tournament, but Augusta National asked him to wear solid colours instead.

Remember: This is the second time Augusta National has stepped in on one of Day’s outfits. Two years ago, in 2024, the club asked him to remove a Malbon vest because it was too busy.

Be smart: Day’s outfit from Malbon is intentionally silly. It was meant to push the line way too far so Augusta National would react and we’d talk about the reaction like we’re doing here. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Golf has always been a vanilla sport, and The Masters is the apex of the sport itself. Nobody is supposed to outshine the game.

Yes, but: This shows us exactly why it’s so hard for the sport to catch a foothold within fashion. This industry is about pushing boundaries. Sometimes, you’ve got to make a scene. But that’s just not allowed here. At least not on the sport’s biggest stages.

Maybe one day this game won’t be so rigid. Clearly, that day is not today, though.

RIP Sole Collector

If you’re confused as to why you’re following a ComplexBets account on X or Instagram, don’t worry. You are not alone.

What happened: Complex completely rebranded the social media accounts for its old Sole Collector property and turned it into a social account for its new betting vehicle.

The background: Sole Collector was an old website that was once the go-to for any sneakerhead.

• Sole Collector would keep you up-to-date on what’s coming down the pipeline, as well as any upcoming drops.
• Plus, some of the best voices from the sneaker community were there. Sneaker OGs like Nick DePaula, Nick Engvall and a bunch of others.

Fast forward: Now, it’s a betting handle. That feels a bit weird to me. The account now has hundreds of thousands of followers — most of which have no idea that they’re following it. Ultimately, it’s Complex’s property to do what the company desires with it. But I can’t help but feel like there was a better way to do that. Especially with a beloved property like Sole Collector.

More than anything else, I’m sad to see this website that I used to love so much go away. Pouring one out for you, SC.

What’s Droppin’, Bruh?

This is a dedicated section detailing upcoming sneaker releases for the week, and sometimes other interesting drops I think you might care about.

• Tyler, The Creator x Converse 1908 Jogger Collection — Wednesday, April 8
• Nike Tiempo Streetgato — Thursday, April 9
• Jurassic Park x Nike Ja 3 — Friday, April 10
• Palace x Nike Air Max 95 collection — Friday, April 10
• Pharrell x Adidas “Vario Flat Earther” — Saturday, April 11

Thanks for reading, gang!

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, reach out to me via email at michael.sykes@businessoffashion.com or shoot me a message @MikeDSykes via socials.

Peace and love. Be safe, be easy, be kind. We out.

-Sykes 💯

Want to dive deeper into an insight from this article? Check out The Brain of Fashion, BoF’s new generative AI tool where you can unlock BoF’s sports archive with a single question.