Due to these tariffs Nike should have had half the manufacturing capacity in the states and half overseas. Under any tariff problem, manufacturing capacity and materials could have been increased here and reduced overseas or the opposite. Highly trained employees at Nike live a life of uncertainty which is a detriment to financial plans and mental health. This model is not working people and you are part of the problem because you are powerless concerning putting pressure to change the way things are. Expect more layoffs, more mental anxiety, more broken families, more divorces, more losses on your 401k. I hope that is a lesson to everyone that things are out of hand because workers have no say on anything. Individualism means, you are SOL.
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Apparently some folks on this thread didn't read PHK's Stanford paper that was the basis for Nike
A tariffed product from another country, shoes, would cost as much as one made in USA.
I think it’s time to admit that the overall personnel changes of CDO and CDA were a mistake. We lost our greatest leaders who built Nike up from the ground. What a disgrace.
You can't compare wages as a competitive aspect between a developed and a in the process of developing country or just getting out of poverty. We must have a wage structure to be able to buy high quality, durable products made here. Someone figured out that the key to profits was manufacture planned obsolescence, turn inventory as fast as you can even if no technology improvement is made, in the mean time transitioning from a manufacture to a service economy. Now, we are entering a war phase, the WTO is over as is. We need to re-engineer the economy because we are destroying the middle class and manufacturing poverty. All data points to that. It is not sustainable as is. It is unprofitable because you are thinking globally. We can't compete against misery wages from countries where the cost of living is a fraction of what it is in our country. We must reinvent the wheel. The current wheel is broken so to speak.
@dv I’m stunned by your statement “our wage structure is flawed”. Holy s$&!, do people not realize wages are higher in the US than most countries in the world because our economy is the strongest and has evolved? Should we suppress wages in manufacturing so we can compete with labor rates in Vietnam? I can get my head around encouraging more manufacturing in industries that are critical from a national security or health standpoint, but T-shirts and sneakers ain’t it. It’s not just “made in the USA” that matters, it’s “what is made in the USA”. Last I saw our unemployment rates are pretty low. And chasing undocumented workers out of the country without a strategy isn’t gonna make stuff better.
It felt like Nike cared more about checking DEI boxes than actually hiring the best people for the job. They were obsessed with building a leadership team that looked like a Crayola box, but didn’t seem to care if those people had the right experience or skills. What’s wild is that, in practice, it was mostly white women who seemed to benefit the most, like they were the ones most oppressed or something. And half of them would straight-up say they don’t even care about sports or sneakers. So why are they the ones leading a company built on sport?
To anonymous mentioning Captain Hindsight.... When I wear something with a Made in America label, it makes me proud. Why? Because that product represents the work of a fellow American and it helped support his family and in turn, make our country greater. It should be engraved in the collective mindset that no dependencies, translates into more freedom. Nothing "Maga" about it, just love for country and to help one another. If people can't afford what we make, our wage structure is flawed!
Salute, Captain Hindsight! Maybe you were the visionary we were seeking all along! I think the simplest solution for Nike right now is just to start printing maga shirts based on your thoughts and opinions.
Do you know anything about local supply chains? Do you know there is a yarn cartel with Unify in this region and we can’t get the same quality of materials? This means Americans will have the choice to buy
- Worse quality product locally made for higher prices
- Same quality product made overseas for higher prices
- No product because everyone’s about to lose their fu--ing jobs and the only people hiring will be Chinese factories opening shop and paying Pennie’s on the dollar in the U.S. still sending money back to China
Clearly you don’t know history. Both Nike and Adi tried to open footwear factories here. Two things
- Adi was all automated so didn’t really mean more jobs for anyone
- Both had to shut it down because there isn’t a labor force who has the work ethic and people didn’t want to pay for how much locally made products cost.
We used to have apparel and sock vendors that made goods in the Carolina’s 20 plus years ago. Those manufacturers shut the doors in the US and fled to Central America.
Bingo. Manufacture obsolescence for the sake of a profit more than taking advantage of technology advances that are real every time. Bear in mind that the additional gadgets that come with new cars cost and arm and a leg to service, re-calibrate sensors, etc. We need to change the profit making business model. It is destroying the middle class that supports the poor and the rich. Game over pretty much. You will see. We need to re-engineer the profit making gig and soon before we lose everything!
Try buying a US manufactured car and see how that will work out on your pocket book. US goods are designed to break down because it’s called profit-growth-capitalism
100% Negative! Years ago, made in the USA provided a product that lasted a long time, extremely well made and demanding a premium cost. It was a matter of pride. Turning inventory trying to sell junk for the sake of a profit bit you in the behind. If one manufacturing area is losing profits temporarily due to geopolitical financial warfare, the other one can help to reduce the losses. You don't need cheap labor unless you want to sell junk under the disguise of a brand that gets counter fit anyway. So you lose anyway. You average the cost and come out ahead if you have a good product. Now, you are sc--wed and discretionary income to get new shoes everyday you please is gone. Let alone the 10 trillion dollars the economy lost in 3 days that includes everybody's 401k due to a person that thinks that golfing on our dime on a day of crisis, is the way to go. It is our fault that this is happening because we have lost the gonads to set these losers straight!
Manufacturing in United States is out of the question when the markets are driven by profits and growth. Does that make sense? You need cheap labor in order to make the profits. Imagine what the product would have to cost if it was manufactured here. Mills all over the US have shut down because operationally it is unprofitable. There is a reason why nothing is manufactured in the US