Nike could soon face another blow in its effort to revive its brand and reverse a long decline in sales: U.S. tariffs on imports from Vietnam.
Reuters
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce which countries and products he will target with a new round of tariffs aimed at encouraging domestic production and coaxing other nations to buy more U.S. goods.
Vietnam, which runs a $123.5 billion trade surplus with the United States, is a prime target.
Nike is one of several sportswear brands heavily reliant on Vietnam as a production site and higher tariffs would force the company to absorb higher costs or hike its prices at a time when it is already discounting some items to clear inventory.
Nike produced 50% of its footwear and 28% of its apparel in Vietnam in its 2024 financial year, according to its annual report. Rival Adidas, opens new tab is slightly less exposed, relying on Vietnam for 39% of its footwear and 18% of its apparel.
The average U.S. tariff rate on footwear from Vietnam is 13.6%, while the rate on apparel is 18.8%, according to calculations, opens new tab based on January trade data made by Sheng Lu, professor of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware.
“If tariffs are extended there, then Nike’s got a problem,” said Morningstar analyst David Swartz. Nike and Adidas are hardly alone. Vietnam has become a hub for high-tech running shoes, sportswear, and outdoor apparel as brands have sought to reduce exposure to China, opens new tab. Lululemon, opens new tab, Columbia Sportswear, and Amer Sports, opens new tab, which owns Salomon and Arc’Teryx, count Vietnam as their top manufacturing country.
But the potential tariffs come at a critical moment for Nike, which has lost market share of late to competitors viewed as fresher and more innovative, like On and Hoka.
In a quarterly earnings call last month, Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said Nike’s revenue was expected to continue to fall next quarter.
That outlook factored in current tariffs, said Mari Shor, senior equities analyst with Columbia Threadneedle Investments, which holds Nike shares. “But what if it gets worse?”
Some smaller, younger sportswear brands are even more exposed to Vietnam. Fast-growing running brand On in 2024 sourced 90% of its shoes and 60% of its apparel and accessories from the country.
On shoes are already expensive, selling for $130 to $330 a pair, and Samuel Wenger, the brand’s chief operating officer, said tariffs were among the factors On considers when deciding on price. “Our premium brand gives us the ability to adapt our pricing thoughtfully,” he told Reuters.
Average U.S. prices of sneakers have already risen by 25% since 2019, partly because of rising production costs, said Beth Goldstein, footwear industry analyst at market research firm Circana.
Wilbur Ross, who served as commerce secretary in Trump’s first administration, said the president had generally good ties with Vietnam and had no reason to hit it hard with tariffs that would be felt on main street.
“People notice the cost of apparel because they buy it fairly frequently,” Ross told Reuters.
English Premier League Club West Ham United has launched na SS25 collection, part-inspired by its east London heritage, “fusing iconic crests from both historic and modern eras with contemporary fashion trends”.
As sports clothing and sports brands in general become ever more important to every day dressing for both men and women, football clubs have increasingly been aiming to maximise interest from their fans with fashion lines. And these are more than just slapping the club name on a T-shirt as might have been done a decade ago. Nowadays as much designed thought goes into the product offer as it does for any ‘regular’ fashion collection.
Also known as ‘The Hammers’ or ‘The Irons’, the club’s new apparel line is said to be “sleek and casual” and combines different elements of West Ham’s rich heritage, featuring itsCastle Crests from the 1970s and 2000s,Irons iconography mixed with embroidered ‘West Ham United’ emblems and the current crest that emphasises the club’s formation in 1895.
The drop features a range of seasonal colours, including pastel polos, acid wash T-shirts and crest-embroidered shorts, all designed to be loose fit and oversized.
Launched at multiple store locations in Westfield Stratford, the Lakeside mall, stores in Romford and Basildon, and via the club’s website, prices start at £26.
The accompanying campaign photoshoot features the London Stadium andYani Ourabah, a local West Ham United fan with a YouTube presence on football channel ‘Goal Front Three’.
Ergonomically engineered footwear label FitFlop has launched a new exclusive brand outlet in Mumbai, located at Sky City Mall in Borivali East. The new store marks FitFlop’s third exclusive brand outlet in India and follows the launch of its second store in the country at Lulu Mall, Kochi.
Outside FitFlop’s store in Lulu Mall, Kochi – FitFlop
Spanning 48.7 square metres, the new Mumbai store is designed to cater to the growing local community in the area, offering a space focused on customer comfort, accessibility, and service, FitFlop said. The label’s expansion in India is being carried out in partnership with Metro Brands.
FitFlop’s chief commercial officer David Schüttenkopf said: “With 12 freestanding concept stores now operating across the country and four more in the pipeline for this year, the momentum is truly exciting. We’re incredibly proud of this partnership and the shared vision that continues to bring the FitFlop brand closer to consumers throughout India.”
Both of FitFlop’s stores in Mumbai and Kochi offer access to its full product range for both men and women. The UK based brand is known for combining biomechanical engineering with design-led footwear.
“We’re excited to open FitFlop’s third store in Mumbai- this time at the brand new Sky City Mall in Borivali,” said Metro Brands Limited’s chief executive officer Nissan Joseph. “The store brings FitFlop’s latest global design concept to life and introduces an all-new collection that’s high on style and powered by comfort-engineered products.”
Oh dear. UK fashion brands have been named the worst for online experiences with site speed and user experience (UX) letting them down, according to new research of the sector that attracted a £30 million spend alone last year.
Archivo
Fortunately for individual brands, the analysis of 1,000 UK websites across 14 sectors by communications agency Warbox doesn’t name names.
But the research does note that “customers are increasingly abandoning sites with slower speeds and a poor UX, but are willing to pay 80% more for a good online experience”.
The research, revealing the best – and worst – online experiences via Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool and Core Web Vitals, shows the fashion sector’s on-page content takes an average 3.1 seconds to load, compared to second-worst performer (education, 2.5 seconds).
It claims fashion brand websites are slow at responding to interactions, taking an average of 321 milliseconds, compared to the recommended 200, or below.
And it’s the fashion sector’s websites that have the lowest average performance score at 55, noting any reading between 50-89 “needs improvement”, according to Google.
The collected data also gives fashion an overall index score of 385, worse than charity (index score 395), education (399), and marketing/property (both 403).
And the best performers? Despite being let down by fashion, at least the wider retail sector provides the best online experience. It takes the largest piece of on-page content just 2.6 seconds to load, with an average performance score of 66, ahead of the public sector, manufacturing, transport and healthcare.
Mark Fensom, director at Warbox said: “In 2025, if your website’s UX isn’t up to scratch, visitors have plenty of alternatives. Websites do need to look pretty but this shouldn’t be prioritised over functionality or accessibility, otherwise you risk being penalised by Google and visitors.
“The data reveals that fashion websites are slower to react to interactions, which is in part the reason why websites are lagging behind. Speed matters and not just for brands trying to outpace competitors. Slow sites, which I’m sure everyone has experienced, are frustrating especially when you’re in the middle of an action.”
It suggest brands can improve a website by make sure it’s mobile friendly; reduce page bloat by compressing files or shortening scripts; have a clear site structure and intuitive navigation to improve the performance of the most important pages; optimise any AI chatbots or interactive features and test it on a staging site; and with colour contrast a key aspect of accessibility guidelines, retailers should make sure website colours enhance the readability of text.
Entertainment8 years ago