Not a single mention of the word fashion. Here in the UK, Adidas Sambas (and similar models like Gazelles and Spezials) have been everywhere for the last couple of years, particularly amongst women and girls, who often have two or more pairs, making the most of the huge number of colours - sorry, “colourways” - available. This is purely for daily wear, btw, rather than athletic/gym use.
those are trends. prior to that, it was nike airforces.
A business like Nike can't build their business solely on trends. Trends are cyclical, they can bring you massive windfalls, or bankrupt you.
Nike was a sports shoe company that forgot it was a sports company and started acting like it was a pure consumer goods company, leaving itself at the whims of fashion trends.
You're right, fashion cycles deserve more attention. I deliberately focused on Nike's structural problems, but you can't ignore that Adidas caught a wave with the Samba revival. The difference is Nike used to be good at riding those cycles too. Air Force 1s, Dunks, Jordans. What's changed is their ability to manufacture and sustain cultural relevance alongside performance credibility. Adidas found a moment; Nike lost the machinery that used to generate those moments reliably.
