Nike’s Ann Miller Talks the Brand’s Final Four Takeover

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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. Cheers to the weekend! Happy early Easter to those celebrating.

Today, we talk college hoops with Ann Miller, the executive vice president of global sports marketing at Nike. The swoosh has had a pretty rough week, obviously, given all of the headlines about its earnings.

Plus, sneaker resale marketplace GOAT made a savvy play this week that I’m genuinely surprised that no other aftermarket spot has done before. It’s a layup, honestly.

Quick hits:

• The Business of Fashion’s Cathaleen Chen wrote a brilliant story about resale and why so many users are so unhappy with it. Check it out.
• A’ja Wilson showed up to Team USA practice in the gold medal A’Twos. This might be our best look yet at the new signature shoe.
• There’s a really good piece on the fall of Allbirds over at Art of the Brand. This sale is such a fascinating story with endless threads to it.
• I had no idea what looksmaxxing was before Rob Cordero wrote about it this week. Needless to say, you should check it out.

Let’s jump in.

Nike Is Everywhere at the Final Four

It’s been a rough week for Nike, considering the way that investors have reacted to the brand’s earnings results. The brand still has a lot to prove to the public about its overall comeback.

But one area where Nike has managed to win is college sports, particularly basketball — the sport that Ann Miller, the company’s EVP of global sports marketing, calls the “soul” of Nike. “It couldn’t be more alive and true,” she said.

If you’ve paid attention to the men’s and women’s tournaments at all this March, you’ve noticed that almost every team that has advanced to the Final Four on the men’s and women’s side of the bracket is sponsored by either Nike or Jordan Brand.

• The lone exception comes on the women’s side, where Under Armour-repped South Carolina stands alone (though the school will be repped by Nike come July).

College sports are still largely uncharted territory for brands. New rules governing name, image and likeness rights for athletes have opened the door for brands to activate in new ways with sponsored athletes and teams.

Miller talked about how Nike is navigating the space, how the brand scouts college talent and builds relationships with teams and athletes, the product mix around college sports and more.

Below is our conversation. Enjoy!

This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Mike Sykes: You look across the board at the Final Four — it’s Nike, it’s Jordan. How do you build a moment around this?

Ann Miller: Any time we think about product or marketing or activation or moments, it all comes back to who are the athletes that we have? How do we serve them best? How do we showcase them? It’s about helping these athletes reach their full potential. Sometimes that’s through making sure they’ve got the very best product. Sometimes, it’s helping them tell a story.

We’re also guided by the school — their own distinction, right? What they have. The UConn Huskies are very different than the Texas Longhorns. Our job is to understand what is authentic and unique about each of them so we can better serve them.

Sykes: What are specific things that Nike looks for in athletes and schools it partners with?

Miller: We are about performance and excellence. It’s a high bar. I think it’s also about your potential. Where do we believe you can go? There’s also the attitude — there’s the irreverence, the edge. I’d also say authenticity. I don’t think it works when you try to ask an athlete to do something that they’re not comfortable with. It’s understanding what do they want to do, where do they want to go and does it fit with us?

Sykes: There are a lot of athletes and a lot of opportunities out there. I imagine activating around athletes these days has changed because of [name, image and likeness rights]. What’s that like from a scouting perspective? How do you decide where to look?

Miller: There are so many athletes and so many great sports, from flag football to padel. Sport is growing and that’s great for Nike. The thing for us is to really think deeply and get to know the athlete and the school. Do we have value alignment? Do we have purpose? Are our goals the same? If the answer is yes, that’s a really good filter.

And then I think you’ve got to be in the game from grassroots to EYBL to college to China to Nike Rise. You’ve got to be in the game, knowing the kids, knowing the families, knowing the agents and caring about them from day one so that you guys get to know each other. When the time’s right, you can make a call that both parties feel really good about.

Sykes: How do you all think about demand creation within college sports? How do you find the right mix of products, athletes and teams?

Miller: When I talk about performance, I’m talking also about the performance of the athlete, but also, what is the performance of the product we’re putting on the athlete?

Coaches have to constantly innovate with their athletes because of the introduction of NIL. You do that by saying I have the best product. It’s not just what you’re wearing on the court — look at the Nike Mind One. You’ve got to dimensionalise what performance product means. It’s now happening off the court in addition to on the court. That’s pushing us to innovate.

And, for me, when I look good, I play good. We want our athletes to feel good. We also want to make sure that the product we’re giving our athletes feels good. They feel stylish, right? We’ve got some really cool Kobe 3 [player exclusives] that are going to drop for all of our athletes in the Final Four. They can wear them on the court if they want, but we know they’re also going to wear them off the court because they feel good in them.

Sykes: With NIL, you get in on the ground floor with a lot of upcoming stars. How do you build those relationships up and forward?

Miller: The voice of the athlete is more powerful than ever. It becomes more of a collaboration and partnership with our athletes than a sponsorship.

We just rolled out what we’re calling Blue Ribbion Elite, which is our [NIL] program we have with certain colleges. The case of Texas, we rolled it out two weeks ago. It’s led by [Texas guard] Madison Booker, who, of course, has a connection with [Kevin Durant] and Texas. So, now, she’s getting exclusive access to KD’s PEs, which she feels awesome about.

Thinking about the way we partner our athletes, our schools and our existing All Stars to help this next generation of athletes — that’s where I think the world is going.

GOAT’s Smart GR Play

GOAT Group announced the launch of Sneakers.com — a new arm targeting the casual consumer rather than the traditional hyped sneakerhead these marketplaces are known for.

How it works: Instead of featuring the most hyped models on the market, the shoes featured are the more accessible and available pairs you might see in store. The average price point on the site is $70 and most of the models are inline shoes from popular brands like Nike and Adidas.

Why this matters: The sneaker resale market has changed a lot over the last few years. The White Whale sneakers that fetch resellers hundreds — sometimes even thousands — of dollars in premiums no longer exist. This is such a smart way to tap into that new market.

• This is how consumers shop on the secondary market these days anyway. You’re looking for deals and opportunities to make low-ball offers. This site is made with those deals built in.

Be smart: Some have said this move essentially confirms that the sneaker bubble has burst. But I’d argue that the bubble already burst years ago. Reseller strategies have already changed. It’s clear that consumers aren’t willing to pay high premiums anymore.

The best thing you can do in that situation is adjust. That’s what GOAT is doing here. That’s why, even if it’s a bit of an admission of defeat, it’s the right play to make.

Golf Is Bouncing Back

Golf might soon be fertile ground again. Following a decline from its 2021 pandemic peak, Bank of America says payment data shows a “modest rebound” in golf participation for 2025.

By the numbers:

• In 2021, nearly 7.5 percent of households in the US were spending money on golf activities. Over the next three years, from 2021 to 2024, that declined to under 7 percent.
• In 2025, however, that number climbed to the 7 percent threshold again.

Driving the climb: What’s most interesting about this rebound isn’t how much is being spent, but rather who is spending. Around 8 percent of the households driving the spending in the US are Gen-Z households, according to BofA. These are younger consumers hitting up Top Golf and local golf simulators with the homies. It’s become a social activity.

Be smart: This swell is small, but the fashion infrastructure around the sport is already in place. Obviously, big brands like Nike, Lululemon and more have golf collections. But there’s plenty of room to grow and collaborate for smaller brands like Eastside Golf, Malbon, Greyson Clothiers and others.

What golf needs is a young star to take it to that next level in pop culture. Who is the sport’s Carlos Alcaraz or Coco Gauff? That’s the big ingredient missing here. Maybe that star comes in 2026.

#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.

The homie Storm is ALWAYS fitted. She stepped out in the Lower Merion forces this week.

The homie Jess came through in these AJ6 lows. I really love this silhouette. Maybe a little more than the regular AJ6? Don’t be mad at me please!

The homie Dave came through in the “El Vuelo” Jordan 3s. FANTASTIC colourway.

Then the homie Xavier pulled out these classics. Air Trainer 3s. Can’t get enough of them.

Good stuff, gang.

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.