Life Cycle of the Nike Shoe
The final Nike shoe in the store is the end result of a long process that has made Nike produce some of the best and most popular shoes available. The life of a shoe begins in the first stage: Research and Development, where an initial idea for a shoe is eventually developed into a potential product. Nike is known for spending up to 3 years in this stage, allowing them to perfect their designs and therefore, achieving a high level of customer satisfaction. One example of this is the revolutionary midsole cushioning system that Nike first put in the Nike Air shoes. The next stage of this lengthy process is to create hype or in other words, begin to market this new product. They accomplish this by using their trademark slogan, Just Do It, their swoosh logo, very expensive sponsorships with teams and athletes such as Tiger Woods and Emmy Award-winning commercials. The next step is manufacturing, done primarily in sweatshops located in developing countries, of which I have written about on the working conditions page. The shoe is then packaged with a variety of materials such as plastic and cardboard. Following this, the shoe is transported with the use of a variety of mediums such as boat, plane and truck to Nike's 20 000+ retailers around the world, including 700 of its own shops. Nike also has offices in 45 countries. Because of this incredible presence of Nike in thousands of stores and hundreds of countries, Nike amassed $10.2 billion worth of footwear sales in 2009, a number that has constantly increased. This dominance among footwear brands allowed it to have 17% of the global footwear market share at the end of 2010 (keep in mind this is all footwear, not only sports and running shoes). In the sports apparel market (shoes, clothing etc.) Nike is even more dominant with a 33% global market share. The next stage of the shoe's life cycle is consumer use. A pair of shoes are used for roughly 300-400 miles, though this is decreasing as fast fashion is making people replace their shoes at a quicker rate. The last stage is the final disposition of the shoe, which is when (at least in most cases) shoes are thrown out without a second thought, adding to landfills. Nike has reduced the amount of shoes that go into landfills through their Nike Reuse-A-shoe program. As you can see, a pair of Nike shoes has its own story from the initial idea to its final disposal.
Components of the Nike Shoe
Nike as a shoe maker is different from its competitors in the sense that it has constantly revolutionized athletic shoes with innovations such as the midsole cushioning system and water-based solvent. However, Nike's shoes today are very similar to its competitors such as Adidas and Reebok, as they have all copied these popular innovations. Athletic shoes all have three major components: the top of the shoe, the middle of the shoe and the outsole. The top of the shoe is essentially the opening for the foot and the area around the laces, which is made of fabric and features Nike's logo. The middle of the shoe or the midsole, is the inside of the shoe. It provides cushioning for the foot and is made of a variety of materials including polyurethane, phylon, phylite (rubber + phylon) and EVA, a flexible foam-like material. The last part of the shoe is the outsole, more commonly known as the sole. It is made out of a blend of synthetic rubber compounds and is changed based on the sport the shoe is meant for (for example, soccer shoes have cleats).
