a period of declining sales and increased competition from emerging players like Hoka.  Since taking the reins, Hill has been unpacking the baggage his predecessor left and implementing a reinvention plan dubbed “Win now”. The key components of “Win now” include rebuilding wholesale retail partnerships, shaking up leadership to bring fresh voices to the brand and cleaning up the distribution of several oversaturated styles, including Air Force 1, Jordan 1 and Dunk, to introduce ‘newness’ to the product offering.  So far, Hill’s moves have shown mixed results. In June, Nike reported a double-digit sales decline for the last fiscal year. Sales were down 12 per cent in Q4, to US$11.1 billion, and net income plunged 86 per cent, to US$200 million.  Hill commented: “While our financial results are in line with our expectations, they are not where we want them to be…Moving forward, we expect our business to improve as a result of the progress we’re making through our Win Now actions.” Nike’s shares rose about 15 per cent on June 27, reducing the year-to-date loss to under 5 per cent. However, the consensus amongst multiple retail experts and growth strategists is that Nike faces challenges in its effort to regain its former glory.  The company is due to report its Q1 FY26 results on September 25. What’s going on with Nike? As Global Data MD Neil Saunders told Inside Retail, “Nike has problems on several fronts.” Saunders noted that in core markets, particularly North America, Nike is suffering from a more constrained consumer and a relative inability to inspire and interest shoppers. “A boredom factor has settled over the Nike brand, and the spotlight is now firmly on other labels, especially in terms of fashion and design,” Saunders said. “It has also lost ground in key categories such as running, where others have the lead in terms of technical functions and forms.” He added that Nike is also on the back foot in markets like China, where overall market growth has slowed. “There is also some anti-US brand sentiment creeping in, which is unhelpful and difficult to resolve,” he pointed out.  While Nike’s efforts to cover a broader range of sports are helping to address the issue of product variety, Saunders noted the company still needs to ramp up its design and marketing.  “It needs to work much harder with retailers to ensure the prominence of its products, particularly in sneakers, where it has lost a lot of ground. Additionally, there are certain categories, like women’s apparel, where it needs a complete reset,” he argued. “The other issue for Nike is that it remains the most significant brand in sportswear by a large margin. This means new growth does not come easily, and that market share must be constantly defended from other smaller players. It also underlines that Nike is a very relevant brand and, despite its problems, has a firm base from which to build.” Saunders acknowledged that developing new products to introduce ‘newness’ into the market and launching marketing campaigns to drive customer interest are not initiatives that can be achieved overnight. “To be fair, Nike has already sped up timelines for both things,” he said. “However, it is also clear that while the sales deteriorations may lessen over the course of the next fiscal year, there will be no immediate relief from them.” Melissa Minkow, CI&T’s global director of retail strategy, is somewhat more optimistic about Nike’s prospects under Hill.  “I’ve been really happy with Hill’s leadership. His renewed focus on wholesale strategy as well as product and marketing approaches aligned with the targets leadership wants to see. (A strong women’s presence as well as harkening back to its heritage) has been effective,” she told Inside Retail. “This upcoming year is going to be a challenging one for footwear in general due to tariffs and steep competition, but I think Nike is in a far better position than it has been in a while to forge ahead.” Nike’s fight for cultural relevance  Naomi Omamuli Emiko, founder and owner of TNGE, a marketing agency and a growth studio built to accelerate beauty and wellness brands, said it remains to be seen whether Hill can return Nike to the centre of culture. “Nike is not only fighting for sales but also for symbolic relevance in an era where performance is being redefined by wellness, lifestyle and community,” she told Inside Retail. Emiko commended Hill’s renewed focus on sport and repairing wholesale ties. However, if these are the only areas of improvement, she said, the company risks achieving “short-term correction but long-term ineffectiveness”. “They don’t yet address Nike’s real risk, which is the erosion of its emotional monopoly over what it means to be an athlete, especially among Gen Z, who see creativity, mental health and individuality as core to performance,” Emiko elaborated. “To truly reclaim leadership, Nike needs to evolve from being the loudest voice in the room to the most trusted presence in the conversation.  “That means re-engineering the brand narrative beyond product drops and athlete deals, and onto platforms that make performance feel personal, playful and very much post-elitist. Nike excelled at selling mythology, and now it needs to sell meaning. The shift cannot come from clearing inventory or doubling down on Jordan 1s alone, but needs to include the re-owning of the cultural interface among ambition, identity and community  – with edge and a great deal of empathy.”