The Sneaker Life Case Study

But, omnisciently speaking, both entities faced severe scrutiny and criticism from United States and international citizens for their capitalistic business practices. Furthermore, a vast number of American citizens, mainly teenagers, had been killed over Nike Air Jordan sneakers because of their high price tag, while the cost to produce the shoes were rapidly declining due to Nike’s unprecedented offshore production. Bill Bigelow’s, The Human Lives behind the Labels: The Global Sweatshop, Nike, and the Race to the Bottom accurately portrays this capitalistic mentality when mentioning, “children as young as 6 are ‘sold and resold like furniture, branded, beaten, blinded as punishment for wanting to go home...’ For pennies an hour, these children work in dank sheds, stitching soccer balls with the familiar Nike swoosh and logos of other transnational athletic equipment companies” (Bigelow, 113). What is most disturbing to fans of Nike and Jordan were their comments and proposed remedies on the matter. Essentially, Jordan did nothing to curtail the number of kids being killed for his shoes and, as far as his affiliation with capitalistic Nike, Jordan did not want to cause any kind of rift between himself and the corporation that made him millions

Stemming away from Jordan personally, it also touches on how the expansion of Nike created issues with regard to race by way of cultural and value-based analysis of black culture and effect that the Air Jordan shoe had on its people. One example of which is shown from the black on black crime that ensued as a result of the marketing of the Air Jordan in the 1990s. Significance in the arena black business is also evident. Obvious significance is shown from the growth of the business of Michael Jordan himself. It shows how a single man can amass wealth starting one-dimensionally as a person with extraordinary athletic talent and transitioning into one who takes the reigns as the leader of his own division of a transnational corporation while still working to his own and his brand's marketability. It's also subtly important to show how the Nike product also spiked the dollar seen by inner city ‘mom and pop' athletic apparel stores, mostly black owned. Chapter 4 touches on the effect of the Air Jordan on inner cities, both good and bad, and even though there was crime and drug money involved with the sales of Air Jordans, it is still hard to ignore the increase of money that resulted as well. Lastly, LaFeber's book provides informational significance of the expansion of global capitalism in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It not only shows how Nike became the worlds largest company in sports apparel but also how the Chicago Bulls organization increased

Just My Two Cents In her book, The Curious Feminist, Cynthia Enloe argues that inner-city boys who aspire to become professional basketball players are convinced that certain brands of shoes will make them better players . She does not substantiate this claim by evidence that shows the presence of this strong belief as well as the reasons behind it. Henceforth I recommend Enloe to support her claim by analyzing this conviction from the amateur basketball players’, the corporate world’s, the professional basketball player's point of view. First, Enloe should conduct a survey in all the inner-city high schools with a good basketball team. This survey will assess whether high school basketball players believe that brand-name shoes give them an extra advantage over their opponents during their game.

In this chapter of Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, he talks about rumors, sneakers and the power of translation. Throughout the chapter he kept with the theme of change and the way that things can change over time. The concept of change and shoes throughout this chapter is evident. Gladwell writes, “They expanded their focus to include not just skateboarding but also surfing, snowboarding, mountain biking, and bicycle racing, sponsoring riders in all of those sports and making Arwalk synonymous with active, alternative lifestyle”( Gladwell 194). Many people ask why do they have to produce so much more to compliment everyone in every sport or just for everyday wear? Gladwell explains how companies expanded their mind to appeal to everyone's

He began by discussing the incomprehensible recovery of then-terminally-uncool hush puppies shoes in the midst of a few of hipsters in Manhattan’s cutting-edge regions in the 1990s, a development which soon extended across the United States and resulted to exponential increases in the company’s sales. Using this sensation as an introduction to the book’s methodical theme, the author states that he will recognize, dissect and give details on the mechanisms by which certain trends occur, while others fail.

The primary target market of TOMS is males and females between the age of 19-24 that want to combine the creativity of being a trend-setter with the satisfaction of being socially responsible. This age range is a part of what is known as Generation Y, or the Millennials. Generation Y has brought a trend of social awareness and activity. From 2002 to 2005 the number of people volunteering went up 25%. This generation is all about giving back to the people, so Toms allows this group to give back by purchasing their shoes. TOMS has also done its homework on this group as well. Utilizing social media, TOMS reaches out to over 488,000 twitter followers, 280,000 Facebook fans, and several thousands of YouTube users. TOMS understands that generation Y prefers hands on involvement. In order to make that happen, TOMS fans are allowed to take part in a yearly One Day Without Shoes movement to understand what it is like to be shoe-less. In addition to the giving back and the social movements, TOMS shoes let young adults be expressive in their style. The plain shoe design makes way for creative minds to manipulate the shoe as anyone may please. TOMS is mainly focused in the U.S., but the shoes are available in over 30 countries globally

For my specific discourse community I am studying Nike and they community of followers they have built up around their organization, but first it is important to have a good grasp on what exactly a “sneakerhead” is because they are Nikes specific target audience for limited edition shoes. With the rise of sneaker culture and sneakerheads, there has been a museum exhibit in the Brooklyn Museum to pay tribute the rise of sneaker culture (see Figure 1), there are many different sneaker shows that travel across the United States and globally, such as SneakerCon to give a space for sneakerheads to buy, sell, trade, and talk about sneakers (see Figure 2-5), and there has also been a documentary made to give a detailed look at what sneakerheads are like and how they interact with each other. In short, the documentary discusses a very popular question from within the sneaker community which is, “‘To Rock or Stock?’ Sneakerheads will do almost anything to get their hands on a unique pair of kicks, going to such extreme lengths as hiding in trash cans to score a pair of Retro Jordan 11s to camping for days in sub zero temperatures for the latest Nike Foamposites. How did sneakers become as prized as collectable art? From the shores of Cali to the congested streets of Tokyo, Sneakerheadz examines the cultural influence of sneaker collecting around the world and delves into a subculture whose proud members don’t just want to admire art, they want to wear it” (Synopsis). With unique Jordans releasing just about every Saturday and a growing desire for the shoes with the continued growth of the sneaker community, when a limited release pair comes out, people will do whatever it takes to get their hands on a pair. As a response, Nike corporate has come up with certain strategies to best create hype around the limited launches and they have also created security protocols which are

“I knew I couldn’t crease them, my friends couldn’t afford em, four stripes on their adidas.” He felt like he was “on top of the world.” “And then my friend Carlos’ brother got murdered for his fours, Whoa.” A tragedy is seen after one of his brothers friends were murdered over a pair of shoes. That is where perspective comes into view and how shoes don’t make you cool because they are just shoes.

I read this article which was about sneakers culture. The article was created by Patrick Johnson and Staff Writer. This article benefits people who are new to the sneaker culture or who is trying to get into the sneaker game. It tells you what you’re getting yourself into and what addiction people have over some shoes. It benefits companies too because the companies are making their money and they don’t care if you get hurt or end up getting arrested.

Three key issues contributed to the disappointing sales. First, internal organizational challenges prohibited the growth of the line. Rigid

1. A decision to retain an in-house arm of agency Weiden & Kennedy by Nike exemplify the concept of organizational design by allowing Nike use the agency’s creative designers to focus solely on Nike work, giving them un-parallel access to executives, researchers and anyone else who might provide Nike advertisers with their next inspiration for marketing greatness before listening to any other organization. Having the agency in the building is having them at their disposal at anytime they need them and also the agency will have to consider them first incase of any new ad or good idea discovered by the agency or when Nike needs to salvage a problem with the help of the agency. Thus, the agency at their finger-tips serves great advantages

New Balance was founded by William J. Riley in 1906 in the city of Boston. Riley started by making arch supports for customers who had to spend all day on their feet. Over time the building of arch supports led to the creation of his first running shoe in 1925. As part of a local running club, Riley capitalized on an opportunity to improve running shoes of the time and his designs became widely popular. His new running shoes became so popular that by the 1940’s that production spread from running to many other sports. Then the expansion of the manufacturing significantly increased as he realized a need to running shoes with more selection for wider feet, and

Report on the Case Study Nike This report has been produced to provide an insight into the consumer decision-making process, buyer behaviour factors that consumers of Nike are influenced by. The report also details recommendations based on the findings. 2.0 Summary = =

Nike’s management understands how important a relevant strategy is in the global environment, as Don Blair, Nike’s CFO, stated “...we are refocusing our efforts, increasing our investments in innovation, using our voice for stronger advocacy and looking at how we incubate new, scalable business models that enable us to thrive in a sustainable economy.”

Mythology to society is just ancient past, but essentially it’s not. It’s thriving and very alive. Take a trip to your local mall and check the footwear department of any sporting store and there you’ll find the goddess. The name Nike characterizes the goddess who exemplified victory on the battlefield. In retrospect, if persons were asked the name Nike, Greek mythology is least expected to arise. The name Nike is now renowned as the most iconic brands around the globe. Though, not many people know the story it all began selling shoes from the trunk of a car. The crazy idea that emanated from Phil Knight that grew to become the global phenomenon today. This study will give insight into the creation, growth, and evolution of Nike.