Nike profits from black culture. But it helps further the culture, too.
‘’Nobody wins when the family feuds.’’ - Jay-Z
Well, apart from Kanye West who famously left Nike and Mark Parker behind to join adidas in 2014 in a $10 million dollar deal, which has since seen the ‘’Yeezy Jump Over The Jumpman’’. Following the success of the initial deal, an expanded one was announced in 2016, titled ‘’Adidas + KANYE WEST’’. The name change suggests adidas were happy to have Kanye’s name on the door, where Nike apparently were not.
Last year NPD Group reported that adidas has overtaken Jordan Brand for №2 spot behind Nike in U.S. trainer sales (and the U.S. is the world’s biggest trainer market) NPD Group’s Matt Powell described it as ‘’an achievement I never thought I would see in my lifetime’’. Such is the dominance of Nike’s brand.
Although Nike is still ahead of the Three Stripes, adidas is catching up at pace. Its footwear segment is growing steadily, with 360 million pairs of shoes produced in 2016, the highest figure to-date.
So, what’s behind the BOOST?
It’s the combination of a mega comfortable product, contemporary marketing, and collaborations (Basically Nike of old). Adidas has become the ‘’must-have’’ brand for generation Z, much in the way Nike once was for Generation Y, which has the bigwig’s in Oregon quaking in their VaporMax’s.
Now while the pendulum swings, and the competition rises, Nike leverages the creativity and pop appeal of black culture.
Thirty years ago, in 1985, Nike execs, in search of a way to cement the company’s hold on the athletic apparel market, eyed a top Chicago Bulls draft pick out of North Carolina. His name was Michael Jordan. Nike pursued Jordan to make the most lucrative celebrity sporting endorsement of the time, offering him a $500k contract stretched over five years and stock options. (A precursor to LeBron’s whopping $1B dollar lifetime deal with the Swoosh.)
The first Air Jordan sneaker, released in 1985, retailed for $65, and moved $70 million worth of product in less than two months. The rest is history.
Son of Mars — Nike expanded the shoe into its own range of Jordans for commercial release.
Nike is behind some of the most iconic, legendary black sporting icons. Michael Jordan. LeBron James. Serena Williams. Kobe Bryant. Ronaldinho. Tiger Woods. Nike even continued to support Woods following the well-publicised 2009 breakdown of his marriage — not because of their benevolence, but because of the one-ironed dominance of the golfing apparel market. They even made a pair of Jordan’s for Spike Lee’s ‘’Marz Blackmon’’ character in his seminal noir piece — ‘’She’s Gotta Have It’’.
You will find many black faces in much of Nike’s marketing collateral. Nike has succeeded, in making itself synonymous with black athletic achievement and black excellence. Since 2015, Nike have launched ‘’Black History Month’’ which was endorsed by some of the company’s biggest spokesmen — LeBron, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant.
Nike is for the culture, even if it is a business strategy. The company is highly aware of its position amongst the black community. Nike know they will always make money from the black community. If my mum was buying a pair of trainers, she would most likely buy a pair of Nike’s. Yes they make perfectly good trainers for my mum’s needs. But there’s an element of trust that goes into the purchase — and this is something Nike has built over time with the black community through its marketing and advertising campaigns — trust. It’s the deals, the near-inevitable investments, in new black sportsmen and women, that has built this relationship.
Now fast forward to 2017 and Nike are feeling the heat from Adidas and need inspiration. They sought Virgil Abloh the founder of Off-White and a Nike evangelist. Abloh used to design his own Nike trainers in art school, send them to Nike, and get no love.
‘’I used to draw Nike’s in school, and thought that these were good enough ideas that we should send them to Nike. Send them to the Nike address and you’d get like this rejection letter. Jump to 2017 and to be able to do this project, is kind of super surreal’’ — Virgil Abloh
Now that he’s an established designer in his own right, however he is collaborating with Nike and putting his own industrial spin on his favourite Nike silhouettes.
This is a real-world example of the classic struggle-to-success story that Nike loves to advertise. But the irony of the story is, it’s self-referential - Nike created it. Virgil Abloh was born in 1981 and was a teenager in the nineties. Times of Peak Jordan. The birth of sneaker culture and streetwear. Abloh described Jordan as ‘’A superhero who didn’t follow rules or regulations’’ Abloh was influenced by the Air Jordan frenzy of the late eighties / early nineties. His role as a fervent consumer of the product impacted his opportunity once in control of the product. Abloh raised his game on the standout design of the collection. The Air Jordan 1 is the best of THE TEN. It is not a coincidence.
Abloh’s efforts were heralded by sneakerheads everywhere, winning gold on Highsnobiety’s sneaker of 2017 list, won gold and silver on Complex’s. Abloh had re-imagined an icon and bettered it.
Of course, Abloh’s mainstream success cannot be attributed to Nike, but the evidence is clear. Nike inspired Virgil. Virgil revered Nike. Nike had a strong cultural affinity with Virgil. When he finally got his chance to work with them, he did not disappoint. ‘’THE TEN’’ is undoubtedly the biggest success of the designer’s career and has given him incredible exposure and an even bigger platform to create from. Following its success, another collaboration is in the works in 2018.
Nike has recently tapped stylist Aleali May to create her own pair of Air Jordan 1’s. The collaboration is the first from Nike curated by a woman to release for men and women.
Ibtihaj Muhammad
Nike has also launched a hijab for Muslim women to compete in, giving them the opportunity to compete and perform comfortably in.
Team USA Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, who’s featured in Nike’s campaigns showcasing female Muslim athletes, mentions the ‘’many times’’ she had been carded for starting falsely — because there was no alternative to wearing a child’s hijab — which obstructed her hearing while competing until Nike made one. Classic Nike. Tapping into an under-represented market segment, with political undertones, to leverage. But then again, which other company is willing to just do it? This is a use case entirely in keeping with Nike’s own mythology - and for a company named after a Greek goddess - you’d better believe myth and myth making is at the heart of all they do.
Nike is a business, not a factory for nurturing talent. They see a gap in the market, and they profit from it. But it would be reductive to look at Nike’s long history with black athletes and black creatives as just profiteering. Look at Abloh’s example. He sent designs he believed we’re good enough for Nike, only to be rejected. He had to go away and build his own brand before he was ready to work with Nike. Nike pushed him to improve. It is a win-win situation. Nike has acted as a standard for black creatives, with the cultural capital rebuilt time and time again.
Nike offers the perfect opportunity to be globally recognised and viewed as a best-in-class talent. But the most important thing is association with Nike doesn’t need introduction or justification. You get it straight away. And this shorthand of understanding is something invaluable to black athletes and creatives. Though it may be invaluable, it still isn’t perfect.
As a creative myself, I can see why Kanye didn’t work out with Nike in the end. He wanted to build something bigger than Nike — off Nike’s back. Which they would not allow. So he jumped ship to join a team more malleable and freeing. Kanye’s shift was the ultimate play for any ambitious black person. Being in an environment either of their own creation or being backed financially with contractual binding to ensure their ideas come to life.
But, just because Kanye has more say at adidas, doesn’t mean his counterparts are Uncle Tom’s for having to work within restrictions.
A similar example in LaVar Ball, the famously outspoken father of Lonzo, LaMelo and LiAngelo, has created his own brand of basketball shoes — Big Baller Brand— to offset the creative and financial control of brands like Nike. His sons will have had Nike execs scrambling but they play exclusively in BBB shoes. And I think this is the right way to do it, if you don’t want the added Nike perks. Make your own. What the Ball brothers will miss though, is being part of a collegiate community, part of an established legacy. But I guess LaVar’s whole logic is to create a new empire.
Nike doesn’t only pluck the profitable. They seek those who are eminent in their fields, those who are creating and producing the different, those who can inspire, be inspired and who can influence. It just so happens that most of these people, are black.