Posted on 05/24/2025 8:27:49 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
America's most popular shoe is coming back to Amazon.
After a five-year hiatus, Nike shoes, clothing, and accessories are returning to the e-commerce giant.
The athletic brand swiped its products from the platform in 2019, as part of a push to sell more directly to consumers.
Consumer interest has slumped, with sales dropping a staggering 9 percent in March, amid increased running shoe competition.
Hoka, Brooks, and Saucony are all gaining sales in the athletic sneaker industry after spending millions of dollars on branding deals with running clubs and community events.
Nike, which has cut back on small-scale sponsorships, has been shedding market share to the upstart competitors.
To minimize the losses, Nike is reinvesting in its corporate relationships. It has also announced a deal with French department chain Printemps and a pop-up agreement with Urban Outfitters.
But social headwinds persist against its US sales: the company is facing backlash from American conservatives that have criticized its marketing campaigns as 'woke.'
Nike has gone through a wave of changes as it hopes to recapture market dominance.
In September 2024, the shoemaker announced that Elliot Hill would be taking over as the new CEO. Hill started with the company as an intern in 1988.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Same.
Reeboks are fine with me.
My experience was about the same. My only pair of Nikes, back around 1980, nearly crippled me. After that I went to New Balance, except for a pair of Adidas that were great but of course they quit making them. Quit running in the mid-90s because of my knees, but I can still walk pretty well.
Back in the day, the sneakers to have were Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars. Back then, they were made in the U.S. Since I couldn't afford full price, I'd buy irregulars.
I’ve been looking for some Keds. I have a very old vintage pair of Keds but the soles are wearing out. Whatever happened to the plain old shoes? I can’t find any plain ballet flats either.
Those are the only athletic brand shoes I wear. I but them straight from their website where they have any color and any size I need. Amazon was always limited with colors and sizes.
That used to be the case for me. I was a big fan of New Balance's cross-trainer shoes. Their 10 4E shoes used to fit me like a glove.
But somewhere along the way in recent years, their 4E shoes became too narrow in the toe box. Very uncomfortable. Actually, a lot of shoes have become narrow in the toe box.
As I am now on my last pair of New Balance shoes that I started wearing last month (purchased 4 years ago as discontinued stock), I have been searching for a replacement shoe manufacturer.
I will not buy anything Nike. They chose Colin Kaepernick over Betsy Ross for crying out loud. Losers!
I still have a 40-year-old pair of black low-top Chucks around. Obviously I don’t wear them these days.
Red Wing is the best.
.. are still overpriced foreign slave labor made pieces
of mostly petroleum-based products.
What’s “humiliating” about it? They tried something, it didn’t work, they reversed course. That’s perfectly logical and sensible in my book. They’re still certainly selling sneakers. They didn’t do any kind of “Bud Lite” insanity off a broken diving board into an empty pool like InBev did.
“I like Hoka shoes and am on my second pair.”
Me too. Love them.
I won’t buy anything made be Nike. I’ve been that way for at least 10 yrs now.
for walking around shoes I like New Balance, a good American made brand.
That impression wasn't just from rumor, its principal source was Nike corporate itself. Calling it "woke" implies that it is of recent vintage; it isn't. Somebody at corporate finally realized that political polarity wasn't selling shoes (cue Michael Jordan on the subject). It took long enough.
Check their shoe labels some time. The last pair of New Balance shoes that fit my feet properly were made about 5 years ago, and they were made in Vietnam. Their recently made shoes, with the narrower toe box even in their 4E sizes, are made someplace else.
all my children wore red keds.
They were so cute!
For me it was a bit earlier when they signed Michael Vick. I won’t bash their products as I had a few sneakers over the years and they were ok. They aren’t however a monopoly and there are plenty of alternatives. It’s the same with Levis and a few other leftist companies. Plenty of options. I have no illusions that they are pure either but those companies that go out of their way to be leftist are easy to avoid.
Whatever happened to Zips?
“US Keds”
and “PF Flyer”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.