Dive Brief:
- Jordan Brand is launching Jordan Strength, a training equipment line inspired by basketball legend Michael Jordan, according to a Tuesday press release.
- The collection features dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, an adjustable bench, a soft plyo box and a half-rack with storage.
- The collection will be available online at NikeStrength.com and at select Dick’s Sporting Goods stores starting Oct. 13.
Dive Insight:
With the rollout of Jordan Strength, Nike is extending the brand further beyond its well-known Air Jordan footwear.
Through its new collection, Jordan aims to serve customers with home gyms and top-tier workout facilities alike, according to the company.
Last year, Nike CEO Elliott Hill said the company was making progress on rebalancing its footwear inventory and diversifying its product assortment, which was overindexed with classic franchises including Air Force 1, Air Jordan and Dunk.
In the company’s latest earnings call, Hill said that the company isn’t “living up to our full potential, particularly in Nike Sportswear and Jordan Streetwear, where sell-through remains challenged, impacting both current discounting and future order books.”
Nike expects Jordan Streetwear to continue to be negative this fiscal year, with some improvement expected in the back half.
In Q4, Nike’s overall revenue declined by 1% year over year to $11 billion and remained flat for the full fiscal year at $46 billion. Nike reduced its guidance for the first half of next fiscal year and now expects a drop of between low- to mid-single-digits.
Starting Monday Nike will be booted from the S&P 100, but it will remain on the S&P 500. The demotion “underlines the company’s broader problems and its loss of value as it tries to get the business back on track,” Neil Saunders, GlobalData managing director, told Retail Dive earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Nike has been quietly closing its neighborhood local stores across the country, as part of a larger strategy to “create Nike’s future marketplace,” a company spokesperson told Retail Dive.
