Nike Kicks the Can Down the Road Again

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Good morning, friends! Welcome back to The Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for reading today. I appreciate it! Hope you have a great weekend ahead of you.

Exciting times here at The Business of Fashion: The BoF 500 is here. Our annual addition to our list of fashion’s biggest movers and shakers debuted this morning. It features big sports names like Naomi Osaka and Alysa Liu. Friend of the newsletter Dylan Kelly also made it in. You can also check out coverage of The BoF 500 Gala live from Paris Fashion Week tomorrow.

Today’s newsletter is headlined by Nike, which had its first quarter earnings call on Thursday. It’s safe to say that things didn’t go well — the company’s shares fell by as much as four percent in after-hours trading. Chief executive Elliott Hill announced a new restructuring — again — that the company says will lead to $2.5 billion in cost savings. But it’ll also come with some pain and some layoffs in the meantime.

Plus, I had some thoughts on Ralph Lauren’s newly announced Polofest, which I think sportswear could learn from.

Quick hits:

• Lei Takanashi wrote a fantastic piece on why Japanese menswear brands are winning over the luxury market. This is for you Auralee lovers out there.
• Read Thursday’s Full Coverage from Daniela Morosini on why we’re never getting out of “pretty prison.” This was really good. I’ve got to watch The Swan now.
• A bright spot for Nike: The debut of Caitlin Clark’s signature shoe was the biggest women’s signature shoe launch in the brand’s history. Sizes sold out in minutes on Thursday.
• Here’s Marc Bain in Tech Mode on how AI Agents may soon be changing how we shop.

Let’s get to it.

Nike’s Plan on Top of Its Plan

If you thought Nike’s restructuring days were over, think again. Chief executive Elliott Hill announced yet another four-year revamp plan on Thursday during the company’s latest earnings call.

Details: Hill and company said the brand’s new so-called “Pace” plan will drive $2.5 billion in cost savings for Nike by 2031, but it also comes with quite a bit of reshuffling on the front end, along with some pain for employees.

• The company is reorganising its business into three geographies instead of four starting in its 2028 fiscal year. The plan is to combine Nike’s Greater China business with Asia-Pacific, and do the same with North America and Latin America, creating two new geographies.
• It’s also building a new campus in India, which has lately emerged as a sportswear hotbed. The brand called the company an important growth market and manufacturing hub, and plans to grow its business there over the next several years.
• Nike is also restructuring its supply chain as part of this new plan. Details of what that looks like in practice have yet to be unveiled.
• The biggest takeaway here is how these moves will impact Nike’s rank-and-file employees. The restructure will cost $1 billion, including $300 million in severance pay. The company will decide where it’s making its cuts continuously through 2027 and beyond.

Why this matters: For the last two years, investors and consumers alike have been wondering exactly when Elliott Hill’s comeback plan would finally bear fruit. Now, there is an answer: We know that cost savings are now expected to come in 2031.

That’s quite a ways away, especially when you consider that we’re already two years into Hill’s tenure. Nike’s share price had already shown us that investors were running thin on patience, and this announcement didn’t help: the stock dropped by 4 percent in after hours trading following the announcement.

The pros and cons: There are certainly positives, as Hill highlighted. The company’s Sport Offense has been beneficial for its performance products, which saw high single-digit growth in sales for the quarter. Gross margin ticked up slightly. Revenue grew in North America and wholesale was basically flat.

But at the same time, Converse, where sales dropped 28 percent year-over-year, is still a huge issue. Jordan Brand has seen a mid-teens decline in revenue, according to Hill. Greater China is still heading in the wrong direction. Nike direct was down eight percent for the quarter.

The reality is we’ve been talking about the same problems with Nike for years now and, despite these well-laid plans, there’s no clear path back to growth — just cost savings. Even Hill himself said there’s “a lot more work to do.” That’s just not what investors want to hear after two years on the job.

It’s not over: Nike’s investor day in Beaverton is in a little over a month. Hill made sure to note that there was still much more to discuss then when the time comes. Right now, we’ll have to simply take him at his word.

But it seems there may be a lot of people falling off the bandwagon in the meantime.

Can Anyone Else Pull Off Ralph Lauren’s Polofest?

This year has been chock-full of surprises so far in fashion, culture and sports. But one thing I certainly didn’t have on my bingo card for 2026 was a Ralph Lauren fan festival.

But it’s happening.

Details: Ralph Lauren announced its first-ever “Polofest” on Wednesday.

• The event, set for late Oct. 23 through 25 in Tokyo, Japan, is pegged as a kickoff celebration of Ralph Lauren’s upcoming 60th anniversary in 2027.
• Its purpose is to celebrate the culture and community built by enthusiasts and collectors around the brand throughout its history.
• It’ll feature several vintage Polo vendors as well as exclusive collections built specifically for Polofest.

My take: Not many brands could even dream of pulling something like this off. Ralph Lauren is a luxury brand that strikes a perfect balance: aspirational and exclusive, yet ubiquitous enough that some consumers have spent years buying and collecting product from the company’s different eras. Most other brands either lean too hard in one direction or another, which makes it difficult to pull off an event like this.

With that said… I’ve been wondering whether this could be pulled off successfully in sportswear. Obviously, Ralph Lauren has its own unique position. But this does feel like something that uniquely fits into the culture of sportswear.

The thing that makes Polofest possible are the scores of devotees out there who’ve been building their collections for years. There’s a history of collecting with the brand that spans through the decades, with super fans for products, like the Lo-Life crew of the 1990s or Polo Bear sweater connoisseurs.

A similar infrastructure exists in the sportswear and sneaker world. For example, there are Jordan aficionados who have been buying and preserving Jordan sneakers since the first pairs released in 1985. Something like a Nike or Jordan Brand fan festival could make sense.

One might argue that these sorts of sportswear brands do have their own fan festivals — they just host them at coinciding sports events like NBA All-Star Weekend, the Super Bowl, the US Open and more.

But I think there’s an added benefit in a brand hosting an event on its own like Ralph Lauren is.

• Usually, brands like to keep their most obsessed consumers those folks at arm’s length at best. Typically, brands like to maintain an air of mass-market desirability while pushing for profitability. That can run counter to the mission of the enthusiast, who wants a specific product from a specific moment in time.
• This is Ralph Lauren totally embracing them, which makes Polofest a big change of pace.
• It ingratiates a brand even deeper within its fandom, further solidifying its core audience.

Sportswear needs that. The industry is in a bit of peril right now with investors bowing out on brands left and right while fan attention is scattered across multiple industries. Sportswear’s leaders have to find ways to bring that attention back.

Ralph Lauren might have shown them a pretty good one here.

The SOTY Debate Begins This Weekend

This weekend is going to get pretty crazy in the sneaker space, folks. I can guarantee you on that.

Here’s why: ComplexCon is hosting its annual “Sneaker of the Year” panel, where the media company gathers six sneaker experts on a stage to have them debate about the best sneakers of the year, ranked from 10 to 1.

Once they make their selections, the list is posted online and chaos ensues.

• This year’s panel includes Complex vets Breanna Walker, Matt Welty and Joe La Puma along with Fear of God founder Jerry Lorenzo, sports personality and former NFL player Shannon Sharpe, rapper and Nike collaborator Lil Yachty.
• This year’s conversation might be more polarising than in previous years, since many of the sneakers that have captured people’s attention aren’t what people would consider sneakers in a traditional sense. Last year there was no real consensus. This year will likely be the same.

Let the controversy begin.

The Jellyfish Sequel?

One of the consistent picks for “Sneaker of the Year” in 2025 was Pharrell Williams’ Adidas Jellyfish. It seems a follow-up may be coming soon.

What happened: The Louis Vuitton men’s creative director was spotted at Dior’s womenswear Spring/Summer 2027 show in Paris this week wearing a new variation of the chunky Adidas sneaker on foot.

Why that matters: Adidas’ hype cycle for the first Jellyfish has clearly passed, with the brand releasing multiple colourways en masse over the last few months. Their presence in the market has increased dramatically in that time. Consumers have been waiting for a follow-up. If Williams’ Instagram is any indication, that follow-up is set to arrive soon.

#TheKicksWeWear

This is the community section of the newsletter where you (Yes, you!!!!) send me your best fits and kicks from the week. Feel free to send submissions to michael.sykes@businessoffashion.com or shoot me a message via social channels @MikeDSykes

First, the homie Rick Dubb came through in the All-Star Cool Grey Jordan 1s. We really need to appreciate these shoes. We won’t be getting Jordans like these for a while with Nike cutting back soon.

Speaking of Jordans, the homie JD came through with a couple of crazy pairs in the carousel. The Air Jordan 4 SBs will never get old for me.

The homie Sha Lo came through with the KD 7s today. I haven’t seen a pair of these in so long. The colourways were spectacular.

The homie Nate came through with the animal print Air Max 1. Anytime you get a safari thing going on a sneaker, I’m going to love it. Period. End of story. These are great.

That’s the good stuff right there.

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 💯