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And now on to the main event…

On Saturday, Nike staged its Los Angeles edition of Nike After Dark, a race series “powered by women.” The half-marathon began and ended at SoFi Stadium, far from the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown, where ICE protesters were bombed by federal agents with flash-bang grenades and tear-gas canisters. As is customary with sizable Nike events, finishers were each given a medal—a reflective swoosh—strung on a silver chain, and (perhaps less customary) treated to a concert by Doechii, who narrated Nike’s latest Super Bowl commercial and starred in a March 2025 campaign. Nike’s average order value may be lower than the Louis Vuittons and Guccis of the world, but there’s no denying that, like Apple, it operates similarly to a luxury brand. Its marketing is focused on aspiration, its margins are significant, and the company works relentlessly to affiliate itself with expressions of excellence rather than price or convenience. When I ran a Nike 15K on the Toronto Islands, a decade ago, the gift was a fetching sterling silver pendant produced by Tiffany & Co., which is now owned by LVMH.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

For your consideration: Sponsors include Max, presenting the HBO Original THE WHITE LOTUS. Taking place over one eventful week, Season 3 of The White Lotus follows the guests and employees of a luxury spa and wellness sanctuary in Thailand as they grapple with spirituality, secrets, self-discovery, revenge, and death while on their unique journey toward finding peace. Don't miss the series Vanity Fair is calling “SHARP & INTRIGUING”.  Emmy-eligible for Outstanding Drama Series and all other categories. Now streaming on Max.

Saturday night’s event, by all accounts, accomplished its objective: Nike After Dark engaged the high-spending run club generation, which the company had semi-ignored in recent years as it became infatuated with reflecting the culture instead of making the culture; abandoned key wholesale partners after assuming the customer would follow the brand anywhere; restructured the business to be less sports-specific; and changed up the marketing to emphasize lifestyle over performance (a.k.a. winning). That didn’t work. Saturday’s focus on women further underscored a pronounced corporate objective: In order to win over the lifestyle customer, Nike must regain its authority in performance wear—and especially with the fairer sex, who view Nike as old-fashioned as that very term, in a world of Alo, Staud Sport, On, Hoka, Skims, and so many other challenger brands. In some ways, Nike is up against the same predicament as the pure luxury players: Customers are bored. But Nike’s problems, especially in the women’s market, have a lot to do with its particular culture—it can be hard to innovate under the pressure of operating a legacy brand that eclipsed $51 billion in sales in 2024. Alas, John Donahoe, the former eBay executive who was brought on as C.E.O. in 2020, overhauled all the wrong things, taking Nike down a misguided path toward a D.T.C. model. At the end of last year, when longtime Nike executive Elliott Hill was brought back to replace Donahoe, employees harbored hopes of a great restoration—both of the old distribution model, and a return to the love ’em up positive reinforcement that had permeated the workplace culture for decades. Of course, not everything about the old Nike culture was worth reviving, as detailed in a 2018 New York Times exposé that documented the exit of six top male executives—including at least one who was in line to potentially become C.E.O.—following accusations of bad behavior ranging from sexual harassment to the typical boys-club shenanigans. As one person recently told me, for years the mostly male leadership “didn’t pay much attention” to the women working in product development, and everyone suffered for it—including the customer and, eventually, the company.

Hill must unwind the sins of the previous administration—its focus on D.T.C. at the expense of trusted retail partners, heavy discounting, and a sluggish product-innovation road map—and reconstitute Nike’s winning culture without letting the bad habits creep back in. He’s already done quite a bit of what investors want him to do by pushing through inventory, repairing relationships with wholesale partners, and refreshing the marketing strategy. And yet, Nike shares are still down 35 percent from its peak in the past five years. Financials, in this case, could be a lagging indicator. But no matter, winning in women’s is a large part of the equation. They’ve already refreshed advertising (to mixed reviews), put more muscle into events—like Nike After Dark, and Faith Kipyegon’s attempt, on June 26 in Paris, at breaking the four-minute mile—and are working on the product. The first major test will be the launch of NikeSkims, the new, full-fledged brand that will go live this summer. (They promised Spring 2025, but there have been inevitable product delays.) It’s unusual for Nike to announce a partnership, as it did with Skims in February, without concurrently showing a product. For instance, the recent communication about another Nike-Levi’s collaboration was followed up with imagery within a few days. In the case of NikeSkims, though, the partnership is truly mission critical: Nike needs to court female consumers, and Skims, with its $4 billion valuation, is contemplating its exit. This has to work, for the sake of both parties.

Nike is pinning quite a bit on this concept, conceived long before Hill was in charge, but NikeSkims is only one piece of the larger puzzle, from tariff headaches to brand sentiment. Insiders are anticipating that there could be headcount cuts at Nike headquarters by the end of the summer, the depths of which would be determined by the fourth quarter results, slated to be posted June 26. While morale has improved from the Donahoe era, the past nine months under Hill have proven that Nike’s underlying complications are not so easily cured. And Nike’s struggles to woo women are a microcosm of the big-picture situation. Customers have more choices than ever, and Nike is often no longer the first. It was all laid out for me on Sunday afternoon, when I stopped by the Silver Lake location of Renegade Running, a chainlet of new-gen gear shops founded in Oakland, in search of a lightweight running jacket. There were leftover advertisements for Nike After Dark pasted on the windows, and a decent amount of Nike gear for both men and women. But there were plenty of other compelling options as well, including the trail running shoe Norda and a wide range of women’s leggings and bras from District Vision. We’re living in an age of abundance. Later that day, I visited the “Nike Well Collective” store in Pasadena—a small-format concept merchandised with lots of graphic tees—but left disappointed. My mind flashed to all the Nike alternatives that have sprung up over the past decade, which reinforced the notion that Hill has a ways to go in terms of merchandising for this coveted customer base. In the end, my search for a new running shell led me to… Arc’teryx. And finally, to Poshmark, to search for the old, out-of-production version I’d once bought from Nike. Ultimately, Hill’s product needs to be the best product—or at least Nike marketing needs to convince consumers that it’s the best. It’s an incredible challenge, one compounded by the sheer size and complexity of the operation, and the remarkable achievements of the past 50 years. It’s hard to attempt to fix something when it still works pretty well. Hill needs to draw from the successes of the past without harping on them, especially when many of the stakeholders are carrying excess baggage.

Sensoria, a platform for “off-season and archival sample sales,” is a sort of Gilt Groupe/Rue La La for people who shop on Garmentory. Becky Malinsky reminded me of it in her newsletter this past weekend. It’s pretty great. [Sensoria] Speaking of Becky, her latest advice column is about what to wear for an interview, but it’s really about the power of a well-tailored suit. [Financial Times] The world of communications is consolidating further. The Lede Company—which has, in just a few short years, established itself at the dead center of fashion and celebrity representation—just picked up Heather Leeds Greenfield’s Element Brand Group, best known for linking celebs and influencers with very big brands. [WWD] Why French Open champion Coco Gauff’s partnership with New Balance works so well. [SportsVerse] I related hard to Jess Grose’s recent column about the end of Marc Maron’s podcast. I started listening around the same time Jess did—2012—in the midst of my Saturn return, trudging through the only job I ever disliked and unsure whether I would ever reach my absolute potential. When I first tuned in to Maron, I would fast-forward through the intro because I found him irritating. And then he sort of grew on me and, along with therapy and running, listening to him talk through his issues helped me work out mine. I am now perfect. Thank you, Marc. [New York Times] Apparently 1,000 people showed up to the Boy Smells x Interview second annual Pride party, including Mariah Carey. Have you ever done poppers? [Interview] They look very cute. [WBIR] Guys… it’s an Oura ring. [New York Post]

And finally… Happy birthday to Brian, Humberto, and… Danielle! Until tomorrow, Lauren P.S.: We are using affiliate links because we are a business. We may make a couple bucks off them.

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