Pop up shops have been popping up, well, pretty much everywhere. And pop up restaurants. And pop up art galleries. While the trend started long before the current retail downturn, and looks set to continue as companies strive to create interest in their products and services, will creative spontaneity start to look a little bit too planned and evolve into a mainstream retail channel?
posted by MuffinMan on May 6, 2009 - 10 comments

"At Stanford University two sales representatives from Nike were watching the athletics team practise. Part of their job was to gather feedback from the company's sponsored runners about which shoes they preferred. Unfortunately, it was proving difficult that day as the runners all seemed to prefer... nothing" - from Christopher McDougall's forthcoming book "Born to Run" which looks at the story the growth of the $20 billion running shoe industry. Starting form Bill Bowerman's Cortez in 1972 onwards runners have seen a steady flow of innovations to improve performance and reduce injury rates. Only it would appear they may not work. By way of contrast the book includes coverage of the Mexican Tarahumara tribe who run ultramarathons with shoes made from car tyres on their feet.
posted by rongorongo on Apr 20, 2009 - 38 comments

Designer Jeff Staple may have his name on Levis but he really made his name in 2005 when, in conjunction with Nike, he put a pigeon logo on 200 pairs of Nike Dunks. Today they sell for up to $3000. In June The Pigeon made a special appearance on a camera and now The Pigeon returns on 650 pairs of New Balance shoes that are released globally on Wednesday. Nike probably wont be impressed.
posted by meech on Aug 3, 2008 - 49 comments

Hello, McFly?! Don't you know that the McFly 2015's people have been buzzing about for years seem to finally be arriving in a few weeks? Auto-Lacing? Not quite, but there's flywire! Glowing? Well, no. But you could set your wallet ablaze.
posted by cashman on Jun 27, 2008 - 28 comments

Busted! In one of the biggest counterfeit busts in years, a 19-month investigation reached its climax on Tuesday as federal officials conducted early-morning raids throughout the NY metropolitan area, arresting 29 people, seizing more than $230 million in merchandise and ultimately dismantling three operations believed to have imported more than $700 million in fake products over the last 24 months.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Jun 27, 2007 - 147 comments

Nike Air McFly to be released?!
posted by hermitosis on Apr 17, 2007 - 55 comments

Juice "Test Videos"
posted by hama7 on Dec 5, 2006 - 48 comments

Flesh Shoe (via SpoFi)
posted by mr_crash_davis on Jun 28, 2006 - 35 comments

It's the shoes. Yeah, another iPod post. And a Nike post. iPod + Nike, guaranteed to inflame millions.
posted by fixedgear on May 23, 2006 - 46 comments

[NewsFilter] Landing Gear Redux: Another airliner with stuck landing gear--this time a Nike corporate jet--may be forced to make an emergency landing, like that JetBlue airliner back in September. Story developing.
posted by fandango_matt on Nov 21, 2005 - 36 comments

What if Nike never apologized and then got away with it? A few weeks ago Nike stole Minor Threat's classic album cover and with a few tiny changes tried to make it their own to promote a skateboarding tour. Not to give other immoral megacorps any ideas, but...
posted by tsarfan on Jul 6, 2005 - 15 comments

Minor Theft: Somebody at the ad agency for Nike Skateboarding must be a Minor Threat fan -- they recreated one of the band's album covers for the marketing of Nike's Major Threat Tour. Did they ask permission, though? No.
posted by me3dia on Jun 23, 2005 - 73 comments

Nike doesn't want poor people to buy its shoes. Funny, you'd think K-Mart and Nike would have a lot in common.
posted by mrgrimm on May 7, 2005 - 60 comments

If it didn't happen on national television [wmv] (mirror [wmv]) you would have thought it was faked like that LeBron ad.

Well if Wieden+Kennedy isn't already working on it, they surely will be shortly. "... they have a Nike-sponsored golfer wearing a Nike shirt, a Nike hat, Nike golf shoes, using Nike clubs, held in hands covered by Nike gloves, hitting a Nike prototype golf ball that was chipped onto the green, rolled, turned, rolled some more, then teetered on the edge of the cup with that Nike "Swoosh" turning and facing the television cameras for a full 1.5 seconds."
posted by pwb503 on Apr 12, 2005 - 59 comments

Stand Up, Speak Up -- Against Racism (and for Nike) A new campaign against the ugly, very present problem of racism in the game of soccer, with soccer stars like Thierry Henry and Rio Ferdinand. An elegant (if more than a bit tame and unimaginative) new ad by Wieden+Kennedy. The campaign aims to encourage fans to wear interlocked black-and-white wristbands as a symbol of their stand against racism, which can be bought for €2, or £1.50 in the UK.
In every Nike store near you. (more inside)
posted by matteo on Feb 1, 2005 - 32 comments

Cultural Revolution When Nike founder Phil Knight first traveled to China in 1980, before Beijing could even ship to U.S. ports, the country was just emerging from the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution. By the mid-'80s, Knight had moved much of his production to China from South Korea and Taiwan. But he saw China as more than a workshop. "There are 2 billion feet out there," former Nike executives recall his saying. "Go get them!". The Chinese responded (the goal was "to hook kids into Nike early and hold them for life"): sales through the 1990s picked up 60% a year. Here's how Phil Knight did it. Print page for main link here
posted by matteo on Oct 29, 2004 - 8 comments

Marijuana Buzz Linked to 'Runner's High.' How do I begin to pose one suitable question? Will we see tapped-out stoners jogging roadside in Phish-logo sweats and Nikes? Will the DEA outlaw running? Will states enact "medical running" legislation? Will the ONDCP be forced to release new "Now go tell your teammates you were caught getting high from running; they'll understand" ads?
posted by ZenMasterThis on Jan 10, 2004 - 31 comments

This square will soon be called NikePlatz. Nike remakes a square in Vienna. A new sort of spatial theory.
posted by the fire you left me on Oct 13, 2003 - 25 comments

BlackSpotSneaker: Adbusters aims to take on Nike at their own game, by selling unionized, fair wage sneakers with the hopes of gaining marketshare that rival's Nike's multimillion dollar ad machine.
posted by mathowie on Sep 11, 2003 - 60 comments

Chucks News of Nike's buyout of Converse got me thinking about the oldest sneakers around. I don't mean that crusty pair buried in your closet, unless it's (likely for some of us) the Chuck Taylor All-Star basketball shoe. Sure, some of us wouldn't be caught in a pair, but as the choice of legends, the uniform footwear of baby-boomer youth (knock-offs were worn at risk of mild derision) and as a cultural mission statement, this 80-year-old low-tech affair is still chuck-full of game, and still as affordable as that other guy's shoe isn't. Fortunately for the shoe's many adoring fans, the word is that the Star won't be replaced by a Swoosh.
posted by LinusMines on Jul 11, 2003 - 39 comments

Nike Shox NZ: "And he's off like a bull with gas." [Quick Time video]
posted by hama7 on Jan 25, 2003 - 35 comments

Commondreams.org story on a California court decision that Nike's PR blitz about its subcontractors' sweatshops violates a law against deliberate deception (via Blogdex). "Corporations are non-living, non-breathing, legal fictions. They feel no pain. They don't need clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe, or healthy food to consume. They can live forever. They can't be put in prison. They can change their identity or appearance in a day, change their citizenship in an hour, rip off parts of themselves and create entirely new entities. Some have compared corporations with robots, in that they are human creations that can outlive individual humans, performing their assigned tasks forever." Reminds me of this: REESE (slow, but intense) Listen. Understand. That Terminator is out there. It can't be reasoned with, it can't be bargained with...it doesn't feel pity of remorse or fear... and it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until you are dead.
posted by palancik on Jan 4, 2003 - 33 comments

Where can I get a shoe like this?
posted by quibx on Nov 6, 2002 - 51 comments

Nike Can't Just Say It, Court Rules Law: Firms can be found liable for deceptive public statements, justices decide. Critics call the decision a blow to free speech. You've got to love it.
posted by onegoodmove on May 5, 2002 - 15 comments

Not Just a Birthmark. "I was chemically altered at embryonic stages of my life by conglomerate CEOs to display their logo on my forehead. This I am sure of. My parents remain unaware. My life remains affected each and every day. Those viewing my face think only of Nike shoes, even if they fail to recognize it. Who knows when this madness will end, or how far its fingers have reached." (found at Sound the Sirens)
posted by lostbyanecho on Feb 27, 2002 - 4 comments

Nike Air Jordan XVII priced at 200.00. Nike unviels this years prize court shoe that comes complete with metal carrying case and CD. But $200? Thats a wholelota Doritos yo!
posted by Brilliantcrank on Feb 4, 2002 - 54 comments

You know those exploited Nike workers in Indonesia we hear so much about? Good news and bad news: the good news is, a bunch of 'em aren't being exploited anymore. The bad news is, it's because they were laid off.

Local manufacturers blame the soft economy on the WTC attacks, so yes, even this ends up being a WTC post. You cannot escape.
posted by gimonca on Oct 8, 2001 - 3 comments

Timbuk2 is a webshop which lets you build your own messenger bags online. Customatix does the same for sneakers (and I believe Nike does too). What other products are available for customization (and purchase) online in the same manner?
posted by dagny on Aug 30, 2001 - 22 comments

What's that you're wearing, Fidel? Nike's?
posted by dagny on Jul 27, 2001 - 22 comments

Gimmie a N-I-K-E! Okay, so this newest bit of marketing brilliance is just a proposal at this point, but it does raise the question "where will it end"? And considering that the athletes and venues themselves are already covered in logos, slapping a few on the cheerleaders seems relatively trivial.

Of course it's just not in sports. This February those of us in Seattle were treated to the sight of an enormous "Microsoft Xp Operating System" flag flying from the top of the Space Needle. The biggest outrage, to my mind, was the fact that no one in town seemed outraged in the slightest. Have we given up?
posted by Shadowkeeper on Apr 9, 2001 - 14 comments

life cycle of an internet meme: a timeline of the nike "sweatshop" e-mails jonah and i have updated the original sweatshop page at shey.net to also run a sidebar timeline noting the spread of the idea around the world, as tracked through links on the web and stories in conventional media. justin time, too, since adbusters, the nation, and abcnews all put up stories about the e-mails today. and we thought it had peaked.
posted by moth on Apr 2, 2001 - 6 comments

Nike full of hot air. So you thought that those sneakers were going to make you jump higher. All you needed was the new Nike Airs. Ok, we were smart enough to know they don't help, but how come we didn't know that they actually caused injuries.
posted by dancu on Mar 27, 2001 - 0 comments

Want to avoid sweatshop shoes? Buy Nike. So says Peter Singer. Same applies to the other favourite targets of the "No Logo" activists. Which raises a curious irony: what happens when a corporation you've habitually demonised starts listening to to its critics? Is it possible to rehabilitate a Big Bad Brand?
posted by holgate on Mar 26, 2001 - 22 comments

Mini-riots break out over gray Nike shoes while people here discuss marketing items to teenagers. "I'm mad," said one girl "I want my shoes."
posted by gluechunk on Mar 4, 2001 - 9 comments

So Shey tried to order a pair of Nike's from their custom shop with the word "sweatshop" on them. They refused three times, listing a new excuse every time. I smell a great culture jamming project. My suggestion? Let's all go do the same.
posted by fraying on Feb 4, 2001 - 30 comments

Stage musical to be written based on Nike ads...

i think that says it all.
posted by o2b on Nov 13, 2000 - 3 comments

NBC pulls slasher parody ad. Could someone please explain to me how this ad encourages violence towards women?
posted by Awol on Sep 20, 2000 - 35 comments

Just DON'T do it. In findings that Nike admitted were "concerning", the Community Aid Abroad-Oxfam Australia report revealed that, not only were female workers only paid $2 per day, despite legal entitlement to menstrual leave each month, they were forced to pull down their pants in front of the factory doctor to claim that leave.
posted by murray_kester on Sep 4, 2000 - 5 comments

Watch out for me I sue. This is precisely the kind of madness that needs to end...I thought you learned to tie your shoes in 1st grade.
posted by neo452 on Apr 6, 2000 - 4 comments

Nike this weekend will unveil a new 50-second commercial. The first 30 seconds will appear in a TV commercial before Saturday's Dolphins-Jaguars game. The second 20 seconds will be available at the Web site. The ad was created by Wieden & Kennedy of Portland.
posted by luke on Jan 12, 2000 - 4 comments

So Nike has this custom shoe thing online and the whole thing seems ridiculous to me. Luckily, I'm not alone, because someone way more witty than I came up with some great custom shoes of their own. I wonder if Nike would actually produce those if you ordered them? I bet the 'Air 3rdworld' shoes could win Nike a truth in advertising award somewhere.
posted by mathowie on Nov 29, 1999 - 3 comments