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. Happy December! I don’t like the fall/winter, but this is always one of my favourite months of the year. The holiday season is upon us, folks. I now have a valid excuse to buy that pair of shoes I’ve been eyeing for months.
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Now, let’s dive in.
More Nike Changes Are Coming
Nike’s shakeup under Elliott Hill continues after the company made sweeping changes to its C-suite this week.
What’s new:
- Nike announced it’s eliminating the roles of Muge Dogan, its chief technology officer, and Craig Williams, its chief commercial officer. Williams was a key driver for Jordan Brand’s success before shifting into his new CCO role with Nike in May 2023.
- Along with eliminating those roles, Nike is promoting Venkatesh Alagirisamy, its current chief supply chain officer, to the chief operating officer position. He’ll oversee technology along with his current duties as part of his new role.
- The leaders of the brand’s four geographies are also joining the company’s senior leadership team and reporting directly to Hill himself.
The backdrop: This latest C-suite shakeup under Hill is the second big one in seven months. In May, Nike promoted Amy Montagne as its new brand president and named Phil McCartney its chief innovation officer. It followed those moves in July by hiring Michael Gonda as its chief communications officer.
The why: There are two significant reasons for Nike’s latest moves.
- First, Hill is flattening Nike’s corporate structure. He took the responsibilities Dogan and Williams were charged with and gave them to Alagirisamy. Instead of having three executives doing overlapping things, Nike will now have one.
- It’s also Hill putting his people in place. Dogan was a John Donahoe hire in 2023 from Amazon. Williams was a Mark Parker hire in 2019 from Coca-Cola and rose through the company’s ranks under Donahoe. Alagirisamy is a 20-year veteran of Nike. Hill’s Nike seems mostly focused on hiring and promoting from within (Gonda is an exception, coming from McDonald’s).
Hill explained the rationale behind these decisions to Nike employees via a company memo.
“It’s significant our brand presidents and our geography leaders are sitting together at the same Nike leadership table,” he said. “Collectively, these changes amount to us eliminating layers and better positioning Nike to have an impact the way only Nike can.”
The big picture: 2026 will be an essential year for Nike. Hill has been working to shape the company in his image since his hire in late 2024. Leadership has been promising that its turnaround will come soon, and there have been early signs that certain behind-the-scenes moves are starting to pay off.
- The company reported sales in its fiscal first quarter rose 1 percent from a year earlier, the first such increase in two years. Nike also announced a new “sports offence” strategy with its earnings, which reorganises the business around its core sports.
- The latest aftermarket data from UBS showed that Nike and Jordan Brand both saw slight upticks in average sales prices by 4.5 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively. While resale prices aren’t a direct indicator of health, they do show growing consumer interest in Nike products.
On the other hand, that 1 percent uptick in sales doesn’t look as significant when you consider that Nike’s sales fell by 10 percent in its fiscal year ending in May. The company’s stock price has dipped by just over 15 percent in the last year, dragged down by the same macroeconomic conditions that have also sent the stocks of challenger brands like Adidas, On and Hoka owner Deckers sharply lower this year.
And while Hill and other executives have consistently talked about major innovation pushes and the prioritisation of sports as benchmarks for the brand’s return to glory, they haven’t sketched out any plans that seem ambitious enough to turn around a company as big as Nike. Many of the biggest announced moves, including this week’s restructuring, seem geared more towards unwinding the ideas of Hill’s predecessor, John Donahoe, than moving Nike forward.
These are necessary steps for Hill’s regime to take. Under Donahoe, for example, Nike restructured its categories by gender (men’s, women’s, and kids) instead of its traditional sports-based categories as part of the brand’s direct-to-consumer strategy, which devalued Nike’s performance-focused product and eroded its status as the most desirable sports brand and led to a sharp decline in sales. The company’s sports offence is a complete reversal of Donahoe’s previous strategy.
Donahoe also stripped down Nike’s relationships with key wholesale partners like Foot Locker, Macy’s, DSW and others. Hill has worked to return Nike’s wholesale business to a reliable revenue source again. It’s already gained a bit of traction, with wholesale revenue up to $6.8 billion in Nike’s first quarter, up from $6.4 billion in the previous year.
There are signs beyond the stock price that patience is waning, however. On The Layoff, an online message board where employees anonymously gossip about their companies’ internal moves, there were several threads with dozens of comments venting frustration about the endless churn and the elusive payoff under Hill. One commenter said:
“Nike keeps reorganising every six months, and it’s always the same story: one step forward and two steps back, like we’re stuck on a loop that never ends,” the comment read.
That’s an anonymous comment and may not represent the mainstream view in Beaverton, but the sentiment is understandable. People — especially rank-and-file employees — want a sense of direction. Hopefully, Hill’s next big announcement will more squarely point towards Nike’s future rather than unwinding decisions made in the past.
On To Greener Pastures?
In a bit of a surprising twist of events, Tyler, the Creator announced that his le Fleur brand will be slowing down drastically after it releases its latest collection later this month.
The news: The rapper announced that Le Fleur’s upcoming season four collection would be its last via Instagram.
- The brand will still launch collaborations, scents, and accessories, but there won’t be any more complete collections.
- The final collection releases on Saturday, Dec. 6.
The backdrop: Tyler launched the brand in 2019. Since then, he’s launched multiple collections and done several high-profile collaborations with premium brands like Lacoste and luxury houses like Louis Vuitton. Big names in hip-hop’s fashion scene like Virgil Abloh and Pharrell Williams have given the brand their blessing. The brand has had a presence in sports with its golf line and it’s launched multiple collaborations with Converse.
What he’s saying: The caption Tyler posted on Instagram about the brand slowing down didn’t exactly give any specific reasoning behind the move.
“I loved these clothes over the years so so so so so much. Every pantone picked, every commercial shot, every sample that came in, it fed my spirit in ways nothing else could. It was a language i wanted to create, but now its time to slow down on communicating,” the caption said.
The rapper just seemed to believe it was the right time to slow things down.
Why this matters: Finding success in launching a brand as creator or influencer is not an easy thing to do. That has especially been the case in hip-hop. There have been so many failed attempts that have fallen by the wayside. For every Pharrell and Billionaire Boys Club, there are always more than a few Andre 3000s and Benjamin Bixby’s.
Le Fleur’s history of success is why it’s so shocking that the brand is through launching collections. There seemed to be so much more ground to cover.
What’s next: While Le Fleur slowing down might represent an ending point for the brand, it certainly doesn’t mean Tyler, the Creator is done with fashion. He’s a creative who will certainly have his pick of opportunities in the fashion world.
- It’s easy to see him taking on a bigger role at a fashion house in the way that Pharrell has done at Louis Vuitton or becoming a sportswear brand ambassador similar to Travis Scott.
- There’s also a chance that Tyler may just launch a new, separate brand with a completely different vision.
I’m not quite sure what might be next for Tyler, but I do think fans of his should be confident that there’s something.
The Weirdest Deal in Sports
Podcasts have grown tremendously over the last decade, but I never thought the day would come that we’d see a podcast get a sneaker deal.
But, as it turns out, 2025 is filled with surprises.
What’s happening: Former NBA star Jeff Teague and his Club 520 podcast have signed a sneaker deal with Adidas.
- The brand announced the deal on X Wednesday with a video featuring Adidas hoops stars like James Harden and Derrick Rose welcoming the podcast to the company.
- It also showed off Club 520 branded apparel and a look at the upcoming Harden Vol. 10 signature shoe.
The backdrop: The Club 520 podcast is an NBA-centric show featuring former NBA guard Jeff Teague and his friends. They bring a comedic angle to the coverage of the league. Teague, himself, used to be an Adidas athlete early on in his NBA career, so there’s certainly a familiarity there.
Yes, but: We’re talking about a podcast, guys. A podcast with a sneaker deal. This feels like one of those “Jumped the Shark” moments.
Be smart: It’s only a matter of time before the sneaker world starts to dig deeper into content. We’ve seen flashes of it with deals like this or the deal that Nike previously signed with streamer Kai Cenat.
Honestly, as weird as it is, this is a bit of a shrewd move.
- These podcasts and streams get millions of viewers at a time on their content. Placing product in that content usually doesn’t hurt.
It backfired a bit in Nike’s case with Cenat, who seemed to be more interested in pushing the boundaries of his deal than actually working with Nike. But that doesn’t mean a move like this can’t be beneficial.
We’ll see how this goes for Adidas.
The Curry Watch
Speaking of James Harden, Stephen Curry’s sneaker free agency tour continued this week with him showing up in a pair of Harden Vol. 10s.
This was weird: For those of you who don’t follow the NBA heavily, Curry and Harden have been rivals (and even frienemies!) for years now. Something like this would be unthinkable in, say, 2018.
Alas. Here we are.
Why this matters: Curry’s free agency tour since leaving Under Armour has been a masterclass in marketing. The sneakers have told a story about something — whether it’s the team that he’s playing against, the place he’s playing in that night or one of his rivals.
It’s nice to see a player acutely aware of why these sneakers are important to people and what the stories behind them mean.
#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
LET’S GET IT!!!
First, the homie Mark came through with these lovely Gel-Nimbus 10.1s from Kith. I love this shoe so much.
Then, the homie Saorise came through with a quick lil double-up. Love these Foamposites especially. It’s foam season, gang.
The homie Jimmy came through with the Christmas KD 6s. CLASSICS, guys. Love it.
Then the homie Kali sent us home with these incredible Golden Gals Dunks. Who said Dunks were dead?!?!?
Tis the season indeed, gang! Good stuff.
Thanks for reading, gang! Hope you enjoyed the newsletter.
Vote for your SOTY here via this Google Form.
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 💯
