{"id":886800,"date":"2026-09-10T10:46:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/886800\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T10:46:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:46:32","slug":"nike-is-collapsing-yes-it-went-woke-but-thats-not-why-its-going-broke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/886800\/","title":{"rendered":"Nike is collapsing. Yes it went woke, but that\u2019s not why it\u2019s going broke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opinion<\/p>\n

\"StephenStephen Brook<\/a>Special correspondent, The Age<\/p>\n

Updated September 10, 2026 \u2014 3:50pm,first published 3:47pm<\/p>\n

Updated September 10, 2026 \u2014 3:50pm,first published 3:47pm<\/p>\n

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This week there\u2019s been era-defining upheaval in the capitalist cultural zeitgeist: sportswear icon and behemoth Nike has suffered such a loss in market value it\u2019s set to crash out of the top 100 companies on the US stockmarket. To which I say \u2013 good.<\/p>\n

The corporate megalodon has lost more than $US200 billion ($277 billion) in value since its record high of 2021 \u2013 a share price rout of nearly 80 per cent that one investment newsletter dubbed \u201ca collapse for the history books\u201d. It was worth about $US280 billion, it is now less than $US60 billion.<\/p>\n

\"AA pair of Air Jordan 1s, from 1985, which were worn by Michael Jordan.AP<\/p>\n

Some people have eagerly sheeted the disaster home to the company\u2019s controversial embrace of plus size, trans and woke values. This is false.<\/p>\n

But I am celebrating. My animosity to the brand was hardened by Nike\u2019s decades of ruthless, macho alpha corporate culture \u2013 famously paying the designer of its iconic Swoosh logo just $US35 (although some years later it gave her 500 shares now worth millions); the allegations of Asian sweatshops; child labour; tax avoidance, \u201ctechnology doping\u201d at the Tokyo Olympics (guidelines were changed after Nike\u2019s Vaporfly shoe was found to boost performance). Oh, and the company infuriated The Beatles by using John Lennon\u2019s anthem Revolution in an ad campaign against the surviving band members\u2019 wishes.<\/p>\n

But I am really celebrating because I have harboured an intense dislike of Nike ever since schoolyard taste arbiters told junior me that Nike and its win-at-all-costs ethos was to be lauded, embraced and, above all, purchased.<\/p>\n

Frankly, Just Do It and 1980s American cultural imperialism never inspired me. Besides, what\u2019s wrong with Dunlop Volleys? I am proud to this day that I have never made any Nike purchases.<\/p>\n

\"NaomiNaomi Osaka steps out at the Australian Open wearing an outfit inspired by jellyfish with a touch of butterfly. It was designed by the player, couturier Robert Wun and Nike.Getty Images<\/p>\n

To be fair, it is incredible that when Nike was formed in the 1960s, jogging as a leisure pursuit did not exist. Running was for serious track and field athletes only. Co-founder Bill Bowerman brought jogging to the States from New Zealand, of all places, and helped cement jogging (and Nike) in the global fitness boom. When Forrest Gump ran across America and through 1970s history in the film, he ran in a pair of Nike red, white and blue Cortez.<\/p>\n

The film Air starring Ben Affleck tells the story of how the firm hired nascent basketball star Michael Jordan in 1984 \u2013 Jordan preferred Adidas and Converse \u2013 and changed sports marketing, cementing the popularity of sneakers globally.<\/p>\n

\"Nike\u2019sNike\u2019s founding fathers – Phil Knight, a former University of Oregon runner (right) and Bill Bowerman, his college coach (left) in 1999.AP<\/p>\n

However, the excellent business podcast Acquired\u2019s special episode on Nike details how the company masculine arrogance meant it missed the 1980s aerobics boom, which Reebok sales topped.<\/p>\n

Cultural warriors point to the downfall beginning in 2018, when the company launched ads featuring former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who had kneeled during the US anthem. This was bold and visionary \u2013 and got up a lot of people\u2019s noses. Nike stock fell but sales rose and the campaign dominated the discourse for weeks.<\/p>\n

\"NikeNike Mind 001 and 002 performance shoe. <\/p>\n

But just six months earlier, Nike had been engulfed in a massive MeToo scandal, when female employees complained about harassment and sexism after years of inaction. It forced a massive executive exodus. A year later, Nike\u2019s elite running group the Nike Oregon Project fell apart after separate doping and abuse scandals.<\/p>\n

While some said the price collapse was a result of woke ad campaigns using trans-identifying influencers who were born biological males to sell women\u2019s apparel, angering women campaigning to protect women\u2019s sport, the stock fall had more to do with over-reliance on online distribution over retail sales, Trump tariffs affecting imports from its Asian factories, and a big drop-off in the Chinese market.<\/p>\n

After Nike pulled back on retail sales, newer brands such as New Balance, Arc\u2019teryx and HOKA took up the shelf space. So did On Running, backed by former tennis star Roger Federer, who invested in the brand after dumping Nike when it threatened to cut his endorsement deal. Adidas might be considered cooler, it is still half Nike\u2019s size.<\/p>\n

And while the shareholders don\u2019t like Nike, huge swaths of the public still do. On Friday the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers take to the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the first National Football League competition match played in Australia, they will do so in Nike supplied uniforms, (for which the apparel brand pays a reported $US200 million each year for the privilege).<\/p>\n

As the company\u2019s bosses look hopefully towards a reset and revival, it\u2019s worth considering that only a brand of Nike\u2019s size and strength could do a deal like that. And as it looks to the future, it still has about 500 million people use its mobile apps for shopping, fitness and running club. I am just not one of them.<\/p>\n

Stephen Brook is The Age\u2019s special correspondent.<\/p>\n

The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"StephenStephen Brook<\/a> is a special correspondent for The Age and CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously deputy editor of The Sunday Age. He is a former media editor of The Australian and spent six years in London working for The Guardian.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opinion Stephen BrookSpecial correspondent, The Age Updated September 10, 2026 \u2014 3:50pm,first published 3:47pm Updated September 10, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-886800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}