Good old-fashioned drama is not limited nor exclusive to Kim K and her family! No, the sneaker industry has its fair share of sneaker-related DRAMARAMA! Sneaker brands have to deal with all different kinds of situations. And, the bigger the brand, the bigger the drama. So, you can imagine how much drama the two GIANTS – Adidas and Nike – have to deal with! But, since the Swoosh is currently on the sneaker throne, we’re here to dissect the Nike SCANDALS!
With a long list of sneaker collaborations, limited-run sneakers, and a Swoosh recognized all over the world, Nike dominates.
But, the Nike scandals range from Satan blood to sweatshops, from backdooring to sneaker reselling; and so much more! Here are a few of the juiciest types of melodrama that Nike dealt with throughout the years! Here’s how to handle drama better than the Kardashians themselves!
Inside the Nike Scandals
SWEATSHOPS
In 1991, American labor activist Jeffrey Ballinger published a report on Nike’s factory practices in Indonesia. He exposed one of the latest Nike scandals that shook the industry! A college student in the U.S. developed a film called Behind the Swoosh to talk about Nike’s inhumane production practices.
- Below-minimum wages (around $1.25 per day)
- Child labor
- Horrible working conditions
- Long working hours
- Health hazards
In 1996, a magazine featured a picture of a young Pakistani boy (about 12 years old), sewing a Nike ball. This just fueled the Nike scandals and their tolerance to child labor. So, how did the Swoosh deal with it?
In 2007, Nike provided a list of its 700 factories all over the world to provide complete transparency! Today, Nike is certified under the Fair Labor Association Workplace Code of Conduct. But, they’re rumored to still pay poverty wages! With annual revenue of $44.538B, you’d think they’d afford to pay people decent wages.
RESELLING
This might be one of our favorite Nike Scandals! Does Swoosh really want to be a part of the resale market?
Nike’s VP Ann Hebert resigned on March 1st, 2021. Right after Bloomberg Businessweek published a story about her 19-year-old son’s sneaker reselling business. People had all kinds of questions of nepotism and unfairness. Of course, his mother was Nike’s VP! We had no idea whether or not she was giving him some kind of advantage!
Even football players want in on the resale! Thirteen North Carolina football players once got suspended for at least one game for selling their PE Jordan 3s!
Here’s how Nike handled things! The CEO stated that they will do an audit of its launch process to return trust to their consumers. Plus, updating their policies to make things more clear when it comes to friends and family. But, this scandal just goes to show how much sneaker reselling is important. So, if you wanna know more about becoming a sneaker reseller, click on the button below.
SATAN SHOES
Real blood. Nike scandals keep getting better and better!
This scandal includes Nike suing Lil Nas x Brooklyn art collective MSCHF because of a controversial pair of Satan Shoes! It contained a drop of real human blood in the soles! The $1,018 retail price for the bloody Nike Air Max 97s was quite the talk! They made 666 pairs and they were SOLD in less than a minute!
Nike claims trademark infringement and did not authorize production. The coolest scandal was put to rest.
These are the three most interesting Nike scandals that are worth mentioning! Of course, there is always the issue of sneaker bots! But, we feel like that’s a “scandal” that Nike won’t be able to handle anytime soon. With the best bots doing their job on a daily basis, we feel like Nike’s PRs are gonna have to find better ways to deal. Sorry, Nike!