The 2024 summer Olympics are right around the corner, and many sportswear brands are scrambling to make sure they're ready.
The Olympics aren't just a source of potential national pride; they also provide a large theater to display new product lines and capitalize on potentially popular merchandise.
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One such brand aiming for a renewed enthusiasm is Nike (NKE) , which has been working hard behind the scenes to ensure it's ready for prime time in just a few short weeks.
Nike, which has notoriously struggled in recent months as other up and coming brands continue to nip at its heels, plans to use the Olympics – which runs from July 24 to Aug. 11 – as an opportunity to showcase just why it's reigned as the top shoe brand for so long.
“We’ve done more to advance running than any brand in the world over the last 50 years and we continue to lead with elite runners,” Chief Executive John Donahoe said earlier this year. “Innovation has always been what’s marked Nike in running, as in other categories, and so we’re not just going to copy what other people do.”
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And innovation can't come at a better time. Top sporting goods CEO Régis Schultz, who runs Europe's JD Sports outlet, recently critiqued Nike for falling behind and boring customers.
"They stopped a little bit bringing in new stuff,” he said during a spring call, cautioning, "shoppers get bored very quickly."
Nike is trying some new things
So Nike has taken the criticism in stride and has vowed to try a couple of new approaches.
For one, its CEO has been on the offensive, reassuring investors and customers at nearly every turn that Nike has big things planned for the not to distant future.
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Donahoe said this spring that the company has been working on a “bold, disruptive” plan and will release some new products to renew excitement over the brand.
“We realigned our company, and over the last year we have been ruthlessly focused on rebuilding our disruptive innovation pipeline along with our iterative innovation pipeline,” he said. “So the pipeline is as strong as ever.”
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Donahoe has also been critical of remote work, telling CNBC that a dispersed work environment has hurt the brand.
“But even more importantly, our employees were working from home for two and a half years,” Donahoe said. “And in hindsight, it turns out, it’s really hard to do bold, disruptive innovation, to develop a boldly disruptive shoe, on Zoom.”
Nike pulls back on one experiment
But at least one bold new plan will not continue.
Nike will discontinue its odd and pricey self-lacing shoes, which it first introduced in 2019, after a few years of mixed reception for the product.
The shoes, called the Adapt BB sneakers, retail for around $350 and use an autonomous lacing system called FitAdapt, which users can control through an app on their phone.
The sneaker is marketed as a basketball shoe, but look like they belong more in a music video or movie about space travel.
Nike confirms that it is no longer working on any auto-lacing Adapt projects.
— Sneaker News (@SneakerNews) July 3, 2024
The Adapt App will be removed completely by August 2024. pic.twitter.com/Lz4IvIkZPS
"After five years, we’re retiring the Adapt App and removing it from the Apple and Android app stores, globally, on August 6, 2024," Nike said in a statement.
"If you already have the Adapt App installed, it should continue functioning. You'll still be able to enjoy changing lights, lacing your shoes, setting personalized fits, gesture detection, and smart commands," Nike added.
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