Following today’s release of Nike’s figures for the three months ending 31 August 2026; Sharon Iles, senior apparel analyst at GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform, offers her view: “Nike’s revenue fell 4.3% to $11.2bn in Q1 FY2026/27. Although this was in line with the company’s guidance of a low-to-mid single-digit decline, it shows the turnaround still has some way to go after a year of broadly flat sales. Revenue for the Nike brand fell 3.6%, dragged down by double-digit declines across Nike Sportswear, its lifestyle range, and the Jordan brand. Converse continued to struggle, with sales falling 28.1%, as the brand and its designs lost relevance with shoppers, who have moved on to more fashionable options. Profitability held up better than sales, with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) edging up 0.3% to$907m, helped by lower warehousing and logistics costs and reduced wage-related expenses.
“Nike now expects revenue to fall by a high-single-digit percentage in FY2026/27, making it clear the decline will deepen over the rest of the year, as it is deliberately reducing the supply of Nike Sportswear and Jordan products and cutting back on discounting to support full-price sales. To support its recovery, Nike has announced Pace, a new restructuring plan to accelerate the progress of its Sport Offense turnaround, through which Nike aims to cut costs over the next five years by simplifying its organisation and creating a more flexible supply chain.
“North America was the only region where the Nike brand grew in Q1, with constant currency revenue rising 2%, as Nike’s efforts to rebuild its relationships with retail partners such as Foot Locker continued to pay off. Constant currency sales in Asia Pacific and Latin America were flat, as the addition of new online partners in Southeast Asia helped keep demand steady in the region. EMEA sales fell 5% as Nike lost fashion relevance with customers in the region. Greater China remained Nike’s most troubled region, with sales falling 26%, as the brand continued to lose ground to local competitors such as ANTA and Li-Ning, which have been quicker to respond to local sports trends. Nike is now resetting its approach in China, having appointed its first Greater China Vice President of Local Product Creation in July 2026. From January 2027, Nike will also stop most of its wholesale partners in the region from selling its products online, as this has fuelled heavy discounting that has weakened the brand. Instead, Nike will sell online only through its own official stores on Tmall, JD.com and Douyin, as well as its website and app.
“Footwear remained a challenging category, with reported revenue falling 6.2%, as Nike continued to lose ground to long-term rival Adidas and fast-growing brands such as On and Hoka, having fallen behind them on innovation and style. Apparel revenue rose 2.1%, supported by demand for national team football shirts during the FIFA World Cup. Nike’s direct-to-consumer revenue fell 8.2%, as the company cut back on online promotions and moved more of its business back to wholesale partners, which lead to wholesale revenue holding broadly steady, slipping just 0.5%.”
