Nike, Nike, Nike!
The Nike obsession remains real, powering the people, Nike's ComplexCon comeback, corporate game play, Nike's push into value, timing of the DH chop plus a Swoosh-shaped croissant
The Era of Headlines Playing Off Elliott’s Last Name Is Upon Us: CEO Elliott Hill’s reign has begun at Nike, and everybody is extra keen on observing all the tea leaves pointing at a new way forward for the brand, so what follows are some items that appear to be signaling changes ahead. Planning for many of these items began before Hill was announced as CEO, but it doesn’t matter because all the credit and blame goes to him from this point forward!
For the photo above, Hill wore a pair of Nike Pegasus Premium, a shoe releasing in spring 2025. Hill has said his favorite shoe is Nike’s Epic React, though clearly he made a choice to wear a new, up-and-coming shoe.
If I had one piece of advice for Hill and his team it would be to ignore all the outside experts, especially financial analysts, who over the past few years have grown increasingly brave when it comes to confusing their considerable expertise when it comes to numbers with the ability to provide advice on how to create a hit shoe, which is really difficult and involves a lot of talent and no small amount of good timing and luck.
Analysis: Good luck, Mr. Hill, a lot is riding on your management of Gulliver as he awakens from his slumber.
People Think I'm Obsessed With This, But I'm Okay With It: Complex’s well-source reporter Brendan Dunne reported that Nike and Martine Rose were slated to collaborate on the brand’s Air Max Craze, a 2001 running shoe. Not long after, the publication issued a retraction, writing that Nike and Rose were collaborating on an Air Max silhouette but not the Craze.
When I mentioned this development on X, @eldenmonitors reported that Nike is bringing back “4-7 pairs” of the shoe in 2025. X user @sneakerfiles then chimed in and said that he, too, had heard Nike was Rose were collaborating on the Air Max Craze. For an added twist, a third X user said that he had evidence (which he shared with me) that the style code Complex cited to describe the Martine Rose shoe was actually for a sweatshirt.
This exchange, if anything, reminded me that any leaked Nike info still generates a huge amount of chatter on social media, a dynamic that speaks to the brand’s enduring power.
The obsession with knowing what Nike is doing before anyone else does is not new! It dates back to pre-internet days when buyers and Nike workers would hand off catalogs for coming seasons to creative leads for brands sharing the same ecosystem of customers. Reflecting the power of Nike to move the market, brand creatives would then proceed to create products to coordinate with Nike’s shoes and apparel.
Analysis: The back and forth over Rose’s shoe may reflect last-minute changes being made under the new regime or, more innocently, it’s possible that last-minute adjustments are commonplace and it just so happened that this one leaked out into the public.
How Do You Do, Fellow Kids: Nike followed up on its summit with Black sneaker boutique and business owners a couple weeks back with an event that mainly included prominent Black voices within the culture. Invitees visited the Portland campus—in many cases for the first time—and were able to visit the brand’s famous on-campus store and also view archives and see upcoming launches. The event was said to be in response to Nike inviting a prior group of influencers—described with some cynicism by outside observers as a white sneaker summit—to the campus.
The invite list was allegedly organized by (all handles are from X) @afrikancaesar and included: @mrunloved1s, @heskicks, @djsneakerhead, @brandon1an, @zsneakerheadz, @mjo23dan, @geenokicks, @jumpmanbostic, @jay_shoefanatic and @biglex729. (They’re also all tagged in the Instagram post above.)
My details are very surface-level (in other words pulled from X) only because visitors’ images were limited to the outside of buildings and it appears NDAs also put a lid on what they could say about the event. It appears no women were invited, but Nike as of late has been opening its campus to a lot of different outsiders, so I may have missed events that were more female inclusive.
Analysis: Nike is attempting to connect with outside communities in a way it never has before, perhaps pivoting away from a more arrogant or if you will secretive approach. Creating more open relationships with the brand’s most ardent supporters is a new approach, perhaps reflecting a younger leadership less enamored with a top-down, all powerful style of leadership.
Maybe Calling It A Comeback In This Case Is Appropriate: Nike appears to be returning in a big way to ComplexCon 2024. The event has been dubbed CactusCon in a nod to Travis Scott’s participation as a performer and event curator, and Scott’s headliner status is meaningful because he’s been a collaborative partner with Nike since 2017 and seven years later, his launches with the brand remain extremely meaningful.
Nike claimed major floor space at the first two ComplexCon’s in 2016 and 2017, but drew back significantly in 2018 when it chose instead to support Scott as a partner at Astroworld. The event was discontinued in 2021 after 10 people died during a performance by Scott, and since then, Nike quietly has tip-toed back into ComplexCon albeit with minimal booths. With Scott pivoting over to ComplexCon, it would make sense that Nike would join him in a bigger way.
Looking at the list of exhibitors, it should be pointed out that the list is overflowing with prior and current Nike, Jordan and Converse collaborators and creative partners including Ambush, 032C (as an agency partner), Rick Owens, Cactus Plant Flea Market, Futura Laboratories, Mowalola, Fragment, Sami Miro, Awake, Neighborhood, Patta, Who Decides War, Undefeated, New Era, Hidden NY and NBA. There’s also Alexander Wang, which is showing at ComplexCon for the first time. The label has never partnered with Nike, but there were rumors it was going to back in 2011.
I have no inside information whatsoever, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Nike does something of a whole-show take over with collaborative items with multiple designers.
Analysis: It feels like Nike is in all ways trying to take a more grassroots approach to marketing, and having a much bigger presence at ComplexCon would signal that.
Team Building Games Your Whole Team Will Hate: One of the first changes to occur after Elliott Hill’s first day as CEO was announcing Tom Peddie, who had returned to the company earlier this year, as general manager of North America. The role had been held by Scott Uzzell, who was described as deciding to leave the company.
What’s interesting is that Nike tapped Craig Williams, president of geographies and marketplace, to provide a quote for the press: "Tom’s outstanding relationships with our retailers and deep experience developing an integrated marketplace will be critical to accelerating our future success. I’d also like to thank Scott for his dedication, passion and leadership during his six years with Nike and Converse. We wish him every success in the future."
Analysis: It’s intriguing to me that Nike chose Williams to make the announcement rather than Heidi O’Neil, who is president, consumer, product and brand. O’Neil is not a popular person these days because she’s viewed as the face of Nike’s failed direct-to-consumer approach. Whether she can survive this regime change will be interesting to see.
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