Just Another Nike Blog

 NIKE, Inc. has released its Impact Reports for two decades, shifting to an annual cadence three years ago. The reports are evidence that hard work matters. Each report details the work of NIKE, Inc.’s teams. As our 11th edition, this report affirms the belief that redefining human potential is possible. In many ways, NIKE, Inc.’s Impact Reports chart the company’s transformation. Part of the importance of being transparent about corporate governance is taking on the obligation for sharing the complexity of change. Embracing this responsibility can serve as a catalyst within a business, and in all its associated industries. The NIKE, Inc. FY20 Impact Report represents an inflection point. It addresses and assesses NIKE, Inc.’s 2020 targets, which were set in 2015, and sets new corporate targets for 2025. The report serves to imbue trust and communicate the company’s journey with competency and compassion.  With that in mind, Virginia Rustique-Petteni, VP, Purpose Communication...

 NIKE’s journey began in 1964, with a handshake between a runner and his coach. As our company has grown, so has our belief in NIKE’s role and vision for impact in the world. Today, we’re proud of our long history of helping to create a brighter future. Nike is a brand of hope and inspiration. We believe in the power of sport to bring out the best in people, and the potential of people to bring out the best in our world. Ultimately, everything we do is grounded in a greater purpose: to redefine human potential – in the game and around the globe.  For our team at Nike, FY20 proved how much our people and purpose matter. It showed the difference that our voice and our actions can make. In the face of our society’s most pressing challenges, we embrace Nike’s unique opportunity to lead the way.  https://news.nike.com/news/fy20-nike-inc-impact-report-ceo-letter

 As part of its Black Community Commitment, Nike, Converse, and Jordan Brand are partnering with the National Urban League (NUL) by donating $1 million to the organization. NUL brings a legacy of helping Black Americans and other underserved communities through education and job training, workforce development, housing and community development and entrepreneurship to achieve economic self-reliance. “The National Urban League has been championing the elevation of Black lives and empowerment of Black communities for over 110 years,” says Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of National Urban League. “With NIKE, Inc.'s investment, we’ll be able to both get more people to work in living wage jobs soon after incarceration and expand homeownership opportunities for Black individuals and families across the United States.” The $1 million investment is split into two distinct areas: $500,000 will help fund programming for the NUL Urban Reentry Jobs Program, which helps formerly incarcerated ...

  Florida A&M University Athletics announces a six-year partnership with NIKE, Inc. to make Nike its official athletic footwear, apparel and equipment provider. Beginning July 1, 2021, Nike will supply Florida A&M Athletics with footwear, uniforms and apparel, extending a relationship that began more than 20 years ago. The FAMU men and women’s basketball teams will be outfitted in LeBron James signature-branded uniforms, apparel and footwear, including colorways designed specifically for the university. "Nike has long supported Florida A&M Athletics, and I’m committed to lifting up HBCU’s, so I was happy I rocked a pair of the PEs in-game and showcased a piece of what’s to come for the men’s and women’s basketball programs,” says James about the shoes he wore during his March 2 home game. The partnership expands Nike’s focus in deepening its relationships with HBCUs, working together with schools who share a long legacy in developing the next generation of global chang...

 As part of its combined $140 million investment in addressing racial inequality, NIKE, Inc. is granting $1 million to Goalsetter, the only youth financial literacy platform in the United States that is led by a Black female entrepreneur. Founded by Tanya Van Court, Goalsetter uses digital platforms to engage youth and help them better understand financial well-being, while saving for their future — all through fun games and support from celebrities, musicians and athletes. NIKE, Inc. is proud to support Goalsetter’s efforts, along with the work led by its other strategic partnerships with Black Girls CODE, NAACP Empowerment Programs, LDF, announced in 2020, and Black Girl Ventures, announced in 2021. “Nike is propelling a historic moment by helping to change the way America educates a whole generation of kids — using culturally-relevant, game-based content to excite and engage them, and start them on a path to financial freedom,” says Tanya Van Court, CEO of Goalsetter. Goalsetter...

 NIKE, Inc. has acquired Datalogue, a leading data integration platform start-up based in New York. Datalogue is Nike’s latest acquisition to enable its consumer-led digital transformation. "Our CDA strategy focuses on accelerating how we connect with consumers to better serve them personally at scale," said John Donahoe, President and CEO, NIKE, Inc. "The acquisition of Datalogue builds on our digital momentum by enhancing our ability to transform raw data into actionable insights in real time and across the enterprise." Founded in 2016, Datalogue has built cutting-edge and proprietary machine-learning technology that automates data preparation and integration. With this acquisition, Nike will be able to integrate data from all sources — including the company's app ecosystem, supply chain and enterprise data — in a fast, seamless, easily accessible and standardized platform.  Datalogue's team will be integrated into Nike’s Global Technology organization. ...

  Expanding the NIKE, Inc. Black Community Commitment to support organizations focused on social justice, education and economic opportunity for Black Americans, Nike announces a new partner focused on economic empowerment, Black Girl Ventures. The $500,000 investment from NIKE, Inc. will support Black Girl Ventures in its efforts to provide Black and Brown women-identifying founders with access to community, capital and capacity-building to support entrepreneurship. This contribution builds on the commitments to Black Girls CODE, NAACP Empowerment Programs and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) announced in July 2020. “Nike’s funding will help us grow our reach through new chapter development, increase our technology infrastructure to better serve Black and Brown leaders through our proprietary crowdfunding platform and increase our brand visibility through storytelling campaigns curated by Black and Brown women,” says Shelly Bell, founder and CEO, Black Girl...

  NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) today reported fiscal 2021 financial results for its second quarter ended November 30, 2020. Second quarter reported revenues were $11.2 billion, up 9 percent compared to prior year and up 7 percent on a currency-neutral basis* driven by growth across all geographies, led by Greater China reported revenue growth of 24 percent NIKE Direct sales were $4.3 billion, up 32 percent on a reported basis, and up 30 percent on a currency-neutral basis, with double-digit growth across all geographies NIKE Brand digital sales increased 84 percent, or 80 percent on a currency-neutral basis, with triple-digit growth in North America and strong double-digit increases in EMEA, Greater China and APLA Diluted earnings per share for the quarter was $0.78, up 11 percent Inventories declined 2 percent versus prior year and have returned to healthy levels globally “NIKE’s strong results during a dynamic environment show the power of staying on the offense,” said John Donahoe, Pre...

 Nike: Better is Temporary, a landmark publication from Phaidon, is an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes exploration into Nike's internal design philosophy.  The book's title is drawn from a conversation with Nike’s Chief Design Officer, John Hoke, who explains, “I fundamentally believe that the central thesis of Nike is ‘The best is temporary at best.’” Placing industry-defining innovations and globally-recognized products alongside previously unpublished designs, prototypes, insider stories and more, the immersive visual survey reveals how Nike’s foundational dedication to “listening to the voice of the athlete” fuels its dogged pursuit of progress. Author Sam Grawe combines exclusive access to Nike’s World Headquarters with insights from Nike creatives and executives to delve deeply into an ethos-driven design formula that is as ephemeral as it is influential. The book opens with an introductory section on Breaking2, then lays out in five thematic chapters Nike’s focus on pe...

 Adding to Nike House of Innovation, Nike Rise and Nike Live concepts, Nike introduces Nike Unite. Built to help locals connect more closely with sport, Nike Unite creates new in-and-out-of-store experiences, rooted in serving people the most valuable sport destination in their community. Read on for what to know about Nike’s latest retail concept.  Intended to reflect the community, Nike Unite doors carry local flavor. Nike Unite exists to serve and celebrate the people in each local community, and each store is designed to be a reflection of their heart and spirit. Consumers are welcomed by an in-store community wall highlighting the store team and local partnerships, and design elements throughout the space also look to tell the story of the community. From local landmarks to hometown athletes, the design allows the local residents to feel represented in the space.  The products in each Nike Unite door are also reflective of what the community is interested in: locally...

BAYOU BOYS

 The America SCORES New York Coaching for Change Academy gives young girls like Karla (far left) the opportunity to coach and mentor kids in their communities. The curriculum is taught virtually, so members of the inaugural cohort like Makeba (far right) are able to learn firsthand the nuances of leadership in a digital space. In 2020, the International Day of the Girl celebrates young girls seeing themselves as generational changemakers. If they view themselves as leaders who are able to improve their communities, they feel holistically empowered to lead in all areas of their lives. In sports, coaches are often the change-making leaders behind a team’s success. But if young girls are the next generation of coaches, they need to learn how to be leaders now. Leadership development is as deliberate as training is for an athlete. Whether through a league partnership like Game Growers in the U.S., an athlete-led vision like the AntetokounBros Academy in Greece or in forums like the Gur...

  BEAVERTON, Ore., Sept. 22, 2020 — NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) today reported fiscal 2021 financial results for its first quarter ended August 31, 2020. First quarter reported revenues were $10.6 billion, down 1 percent on a reported basis and flat to prior year on a currency-neutral basis* NIKE Direct sales were $3.7 billion, up 12 percent on a reported basis, and up 13 percent on a currency-neutral basis, with growth across all geographies NIKE Brand digital sales increased 82 percent, or 83 percent on a currency-neutral basis, with double-digit increases across North America, Greater China, and APLA and triple-digit growth in EMEA Diluted earnings per share for the quarter was $0.95, up 10 percent Inventory rose 15 percent versus prior year but decreased 9 percent versus prior quarter “Our results this quarter continue to demonstrate NIKE’s full competitive advantage, as we strengthen our position in the midst of disruption,” said John Donahoe, President and CEO, NIKE, Inc. “In this ...

 Four-time Olympian and Bowerman Track Club coach Shalane Flanagan reflects on her transition from athlete to coach — and what motivates her as she brings her best to serving her athletes and the Nike Run Club community. Shalane Flanagan on coaching 0 Flanagan puts members of the Bowerman Track Club through their paces. (Photo Credit: Cortney White) Why not me? It’s a question I asked myself often as a professional athlete. Running 130 miles a week, training at altitude and living away from family for months at a time, you need a deeper purpose. You need something that gets you out the door on the days when you don’t feel like heading out, and something that drives you to keep digging deep in the hardest workouts — day after day, week after week, buildup after buildup. For me, it was a vision of success that would pop into my head midway through mile repeats, or in the quad-shredding late stages of a hard tempo run. I would visualize breaking past the pack on Boylston, or breaking ...

In this place 

 Mothers are the ultimate endurance athletes. Nike’s first dedicated maternity collection, Nike (M), supports women during all stages of pregnancy and beyond.  An example of Nike's universal design philosophy, Nike (M) is created by combing through pregnancy data findings with analytics from more than 150,000 comparison scans of non-pregnant women against those of pregnant women. Throughout the design process, designers also gathered detailed feedback on fit, feel and function from nearly 30 female athletes who were pregnant or postpartum. "The more we listened to expecting mothers and postpartum mothers, the more we learned, reworked and innovated through inclusive design," says Carmen Zolman, Nike Senior Design Director for Apparel Innovation. "It's the project of a lifetime to work in lockstep with all kinds of mothers to bring to life a capsule that truly supports women's relationship with sport during such a transformative time in their lives." Disc...

  Nike stands in support of NBA and WNBA players and athletes across the sports community in their response to the senseless shooting of Jacob Blake. We remain committed to addressing the issue of systemic racism experienced by the Black community.

  The Made to Play Coaching Girls Guide — created by Nike and We Coach, with additional support from Youth Sport Trust in Europe, the Middle East and Africa  — equips all coaches with tools that can help make sport fun for girls.  By age 14, girls have dropped out of sport at twice the rate of boys. The open-source coaching guide shines a light on barriers that are specific to girls and offers insights on how to remove them or to help girls overcome them. It is prepared using research from the Women’s Sports Foundation and Nike’s Coaching Through a Gender Lens report. This research shows that when girls like their coaches, they are more likely to love playing and keep playing as they get older. The Made to Play Coaching Girls Guide equips all coaches with tools that can help make sport fun for girls.  “Leveling the playing field for girls is a challenge – and it’s been made even harder by the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Jorge Casimiro, Chief Social & Community Impac...

  NIKE, Inc. celebrates the right to vote on the 55th anniversary of the historic Voting Rights Act by joining with Time to Vote, a nonpartisan effort to increase voter participation in U.S. elections. NIKE, Inc. encourages all eligible U.S. employees to register to vote and is committed to ensuring every employee registered to vote has the access, opportunity and time where needed to cast their ballot.  “At NIKE, Inc., we believe every voice matters and every vote counts. Regardless of their political affiliation, from education and registration to engagement and participation, Nike will work to support them,” said Hilary Krane, NIKE, Inc. EVP, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel. “It feels especially appropriate to make this commitment on the 55th anniversary of the day that our country removed barriers that prevented Black voters from casting their ballots." “At NIKE, Inc., we believe every voice matters and every vote counts. Regardless of their political affi...

On June 5, NIKE, Inc. committed $40 million over the next four years, on behalf of the Nike, Jordan and Converse brands collectively, to invest in and support organizations focused on social justice, education and economic empowerment to address racial inequality. Dismantling systemic injustice requires urgent action, sustained engagement and collaboration with partners that are doing transformative work to achieve this goal. To help advance these efforts, NIKE, Inc. today announced three new partnerships with national organizations dedicated to ending systemic racism and working to evoke long-lasting change: the NAACP Empowerment Programs, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and Black Girls CODE. Each of the organizations will receive a $1 million grant. NAACP Empowerment Programs, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and Black Girls CODE will each receive a $1 million grant. These initial partners are part of NIKE, Inc.’s commitment to dr...