Nike has a fresh-faced new hire starting Monday.

Elliott Hill begins his tenure as Nike’s new chief executive following last month’s announcement that his embattled predecessor, John Donahoe, would be departing after more than four years in the role.

News that Hill — a Nike lifer who began as an intern in 1988 before retiring in 2020 as head of commercial and marketing operations for Nike and Jordan Brand — would return and become CEO sparked a wave of jubilation among a number of current and past Nike employees. Former Nike historian Scott Reaves said on LinkedIn that a few people, himself included, shed actual tears of joy. Analysts who had begun speculating openly about Donahoe’s future welcomed the news as well.

But while Hill enters the job with a great deal of good will, he also faces an imposing challenge. Nike finds itself being outperformed by a resurgent Adidas and a host of smaller, specialised challengers like On and Hoka as it tries to wean itself off its over-reliance on a handful of retro styles and prove to shoppers and investors alike that it can still create exciting new products. Hill may have the buy-in of analysts, investors and the wider Nike community, but he now confronts the job of actually delivering on those expectations.

“Elliott Hill is the perfect candidate for the turnaround and beyond. He is extremely capable and well regarded,” said sneaker industry analyst Matt Powell. “But there are no quick fixes here.”

Hill will have to tackle several critical issues currently hamstringing Nike’s business. Here’s where he needs to start.

Set Expectations Low

Hill is in a position akin to the one Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden found himself in when he parachuted into the company’s top job in January 2023, following its decision to terminate its Yeezy business. Adidas was facing a crisis that it knew would take work — and time — to resolve. Like Gulden, Hill has one advantage in that he played no part in the last three years of Nike’s downturn and is untainted by those associations.

But at every opportunity Hill will also want to emphasise to investors that the brand is back at square one, curbing any expectations of a rapid turnaround and buying himself and his management team time to craft a strategy without the pressure of meeting immediate financial targets.

Nike has already started laying the groundwork. On a recent earnings call, chief financial officer Matthew Friend told investors the company was withdrawing its initial full-year guidance, which projected the brand was headed for its worst financial performance in 26 years, and would instead issue quarterly guidance for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends in May 2025. Friend said it would give Hill the flexibility to reconnect with employees, evaluate current trends and strategies and devise a plan. Nike also postponed the Investor Day it had slated for November.

“[Setting low expectations] is also good for a company’s internal teams and regular employees, because they are empowered to do what’s right for the long term and not bound to quarterly targets where they need to rush and hit numbers that are good for the P&L but are not necessarily good for the long-term brand equity,” said Erwan Rambourg, global head of consumer and retail research at HSBC.

By giving conservative quarterly guidance, Nike can also help to build positive sentiment once it starts recording small wins under the turnaround plan, Rambourg added, citing Adidas’ approach to issuing low guidance before recording earnings beats in its last six quarters.

Innovate, Innovate, Innovate

One of Hill’s top priorities must be proving that Nike hasn’t lost its ability to create exciting products in both the performance and lifestyle categories. It won’t be easy. Considering how much Nike speaks about “innovation” in press releases and on earnings calls, there has been little evidence of it over the past few years.

The company has instead become known for churning out retro basketball sneakers like the Jordan 1, Air Force 1 and Dunk in endless iterations that diminished their cachet and left consumers fatigued. Now, as it tries to rein in distribution and clean up the marketplace, sales are taking a hit.

“Naively, management didn’t understand that pulling back [on Jordan 1s, Dunks and Air Force 1s] would mean the brand would do a lot less business,” said Powell. “A lack of new and fresh products has also slowed recovery.”

In key performance categories like running, the brand has increasingly been outflanked by competitors when it comes to bringing through and marketing new technology. On used the Paris Olympics this summer as the perfect stage to show off its new LightSpray “spray-on” manufacturing technique which allows for the creation of ultralight one-piece uppers for its latest racing shoes, while Adidas’ $500 Pro Evo 1 supershoes (worn by marathon silver medalist Tigist Assefa and Pharrell Williams for his opening ceremony duties) got valuable airtime too. By contrast, Nike had little new product to point to.

It’s a long road ahead. Analysts at Bernstein have said Nike’s stagnant innovation pipeline is unlikely to show signs of revival until the first half of 2026, at the earliest.

Get Sneakerheads Back on Side

Winning back the attention of sneakerheads is a two-fold issue. Part one, already in motion, is removing oversaturated styles from the marketplace.

Part two, which has proved more elusive for Nike, is coming up with new styles and marketing new technologies which get people talking again.

Models such as the casual Air Max Dn and the Pegasus 41 running shoe have not sold as well as Nike had probably hoped since releasing earlier this year, especially in the key North America market, BMO analyst Simeon Siegel said in a research note earlier this month. The lesson to be taken from these launches — both billed as new and futuristic innovations — is that consumers can’t be fooled into thinking something is fresh and exciting just because Nike markets it as such. In reality, both shoes were mere iterations of Nike features which have existed for years, or in the case of the Dn’s updated “Air” technology — decades.

Hill, unlike his predecessor, has time on his side. But he needs to show that Nike at least has effective and genuinely new ideas on the way — or even old ones that it can give a fresh spin. Key to Adidas’ recent comeback has been the way it has reinvigorated the Samba. It’s debatable whether Nike has any archival silhouettes it can scale to the same level of popularity as those it’s now pulling back on, however, increasing the pressure on Nike to come up with novel ideas.

One positive note is that Hill will be able to rely on veteran sneaker designer Frank Cooker — known for his work on some of Jordan Brand’s most hyped sneaker collabs and special projects — who announced his comeback in September after leaving the Swoosh in 2018.

Keep Retailers Happy

Nike’s radical DTC pivot over the past several years alienated some of retail partners and shrank its coverage of the marketplace, creating openings for competitors to fill the gaps left on store shelves. Hill will need to continue the work started under Donahoe of rebuilding Nike’s wholesale partnerships and getting Nike back in front of customers wherever they want to shop. Meanwhile, the return of Nike veteran Tom Peddie (who, like Hill, retired in 2020) as vice president of marketplace partners was met positively by retailers in July. On the eve of Hill’s arrival as CEO, Peddie was promoted into the role of vice president, general manager of Nike’s North America business.

But again, it won’t be a simple task. On this month’s earnings call, CFO Friend admitted orders from retailers for spring 2025 were flat compared to last year, calling them “a little lighter than we had planned.” Lukewarm interest from retailers could be a sign of both a lack of exciting products in Nike’s innovation pipeline and also the continuing struggle to recapture the space it abandoned in retailers’ stores.

Nike’s weakened standpoint when it comes to wholesale is not only a problem for its balance sheet, experts say.

“These aren’t just sales channels — they’re cultural touchpoints that influence trends and communities,” said Howard Yu, professor of management and innovation at IMD Business School. “Elliott must rebuild those relationships.”

Since 2013, BoF has gathered together a global community of fashion’s most influential people — based on their leadership, creativity, innovation and impact — across eight categories: Designers, Executives, Media, Retailers, Entrepreneurs, Creative Class, Models & Muses and Catalysts.

This year, Neft Vodka has partnered with BoF to platform three new members of The BoF 500 to explore how their creative careers and success are evolving in the industry. “I truly believe that art makes life richer, and when you come across an artist in any field that is talented, innovative and unique, it often opens your mind to a new perspective and entices you to engage with that artist’s vision,” Paul Robinson, chief creative officer at Neft Vodka, told BoF in a recent interview.

The first in the creative class to be profiled is creative director and artist for Chicago-based brand Joe Freshgoods Inc. — Joe Robinson.

In 2014, Robinson partnered with Terrell Jones, Vic Lloyd and Desmond Owusu to establish Fat Tiger Workshop, a store that would become a cornerstone of Chicago’s streetwear scene. Here, Robinson developed his brand, which evolved into Joe Freshgoods Inc.

The designer soon garnered attention for his ability to weave personal history and cultural references into a brand narrative, creating collections that resonate deeply with streetwear enthusiasts in his hometown and around the globe. In 2020, he collaborated with New Balance on the first in a series of popular tie-ups that centred storytelling and established him as one of the top creative voices in the sneaker industry.

Beyond his success in fashion, Robinson has been committed to giving back to his community through his Community Goods initiative, a nonprofit focused on arts education for students in underserved Chicago neighbourhoods, which also brings attention to artists of colour. His work, both in fashion and philanthropy, continues to make a significant impact, solidifying his status as a trailblazer.

Now, BoF sits down with Robinson to discover how harnessing creativity played a vital role in his commercial success.

How is your creative practice evolving and what is driving that process?

When it comes to my creative process, the number one priority is to make sure that I’m still moving with purpose. I worked so hard to get to this point and it’s been so exciting to have grown organically over the course of the last 15 years. So, whether it’s a new deal or another opportunity, I always try to make sure that the younger version of me is still excited about this.

Ultimately, I’m driven by community. I’ve reached that point in life where I’m not going to say I’ve made it, because there’s still a lot of work to do — but I’ve surpassed a lot of the things that I wanted to do when I was a kid. As long as I’m making sure that I’m still upholding those values and staying true in doing what I want to do, I can be impactful to community.

How do you maintain an authentic creativity that connects with consumers?

Ultimately, it’s all about being able to build community within your brand. I love brands who know who their consumers are — they realise they have a certain market that really loves them, and they just lean into that.

Sometimes, people blow up and you don’t really know how they got there. I’m not one of those designers or brands that deletes my whole Instagram for a rollout. I think it’s cool to see a brand that you follow where you can track their backstory.

The number one priority is to make sure that I’m still moving with purpose.

It’s like the “one fan a day” theory. Even for me, I stopped caring about who doesn’t know I exist and shifting that to care about the people that know I exist. I try to get better for those people.

What skills do you believe are most valuable in your profession in today’s market?

I like to be very transparent with my consumer base. I’m from the Midwest; I didn’t finish school; I just worked really hard and each year, I climbed very slowly. It’s something a lot of people can identify with, that slow grind and not being in one of those major fashion hubs — like Paris, London, New York or LA. I think I speak more so for the individual that had to work their way up to the top, whatever that looks like, and people like that.

How has your work and the presentation of your products evolved?

I’ve been doing this maybe 80 percent of my life. I started this thing when I was 13 or 14 years old. I’d say this became a real business over the last six or seven years. Just finally being able to have a budget and a brand that really believes in my journey and story has been pretty cool. Especially having this platform to speak for Black people in a positive light, it’s been so valuable to supply Black and Brown experiences via these stories.

Within the last three to four years, because I have brands and a bigger team that believe in my vision via marketing, I’m able to fulfil a lot of the things I wanted to do. Visually, in my opinion, we’ve been one of the best brands in terms of storytelling.

What advice would you give those looking to enter the industry today?

First, you’ve got to ask yourself why you want to be in this industry. What is your purpose? Before you come up with cool clothes or runway concepts — identifying your purpose is key. After that, you need to set the groundwork, think to yourself how long you want to be around. Because, some brands, they make it really big and sell it off in like five years.

When it comes to this brand building, it’s about knowing your community and knowing who your target audience is and then really driving that home — everybody could be going left, but let me go right — let me figure out how to attack this appropriately.

Then, it’s storytelling. Right now, the economy is kind of mellow. People are really watching what they buy and with that comes an influx of a lot of brands. It’s important for you to move with purpose and make sure you’re giving people something that they’re appreciating.

What innovations in the industry excite you?

It’s not necessarily an innovation, but an observation I’ve made recently is the old school ways in which brands are communicating with their customers. We’re in this age of nostalgia. Whether it’s an email blast, text messaging, or Discord is a good one — I like that brands are really building community and finding cool ways to connect with their core audience.

What does your selection for the BoF 500 mean to you?

It means a lot. I feel like because I’m not based in Paris or Milan, I’m left off certain things. I told myself a couple of years ago, as long as I’m able to have a business, pay my team, buy a house and be happy — lists are very subjective. But, the cool thing, particularly in this last year and a half, is that people have finally been noticing.

Even if more and more people are catching on late, it’s cool that I’m finally getting my flowers. I really feel like I’m just in the door and now it’s my goal to leave that door cracked open a little so other people can come in behind me.

I’ve always wanted to make this list, and it’s an honour to be around so many distinguished innovators that have been included on it over the past few years.

This is a sponsored feature paid for by Neft Vodka as part of a BoF partnership.

The owner of the Mulberry fashion brand has rejected an increased £111 million ($144.9 million) bid from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group to buy the British luxury handbag maker, saying it has “no interest” in selling its shares.

Challice, a group controlled by Singaporean entrepreneur Christina Ong and her husband, Ong Beng Seng, which owns 56% of Mulberry – giving it the power to block any bid – called on Frasers to ditch plans to take over, saying it came at an “inopportune time” for the struggling brand.

The statement came after Frasers Group, which already owns 37 percent of Mulberry, increased its offer for the rest of the group to 150p a share late on Friday after an earlier £83 million bid – worth 130p a share – was rejected by the company earlier this month.

The offer from Frasers, which owns Sports Direct, House of Fraser department stores, Evans Cycles and the Flannels luxury streetwear chain, came after Mulberry said it needed to raise cash after it tumbled to a £34 million pre-tax loss in the year to the end of March, after a slide in sales.

Frasers, which lost £150 million on the collapse of the Debenhams department store chain where it was a shareholder, said it had made the bid for Mulberry as it would “not accept another Debenhams situation where a perfectly viable business is run into administration”.

The Mulberry board said last month that it believed the recent appointment of Andrea Baldo as chief executive, along with the emergency £10.75 million share placing, “provides the company with a solid platform to execute a turnaround”.

On Sunday, Challice welcomed Frasers decision to participate in the fundraising round in which the Sports Direct owner bought £3.9 million of new Mulberry shares.

However, it said: “Challice has no interest in either selling its Mulberry shares to Frasers or providing Frasers with any irrevocable or other undertaking with regards the possible offer.”

It pointed out that Frasers would be unable to take over Mulberry without its support, and said: “Challice hopes that by making its position clear, Frasers will be encouraged to announce that it does not intend to make an offer for Mulberry.”

It said it was “very supportive of the company and its current management team” and believed in the long-term value of the Mulberry brand.

“Challice believes that it is an inopportune time for Mulberry to be sold and particularly regrets the distraction that the possible offer is bringing to the company and its management team at this time.”

Mulberry – founded in 1971 by the entrepreneur Roger Saul and his mother, Joan, is best known for its leather goods, particularly women’s handbags.

In recent times it has struggled to compete against bigger international brands, especially since the post-Brexit ending of shopping tax breaks for tourists to the UK.

Thierry Andretta, who led Mulberry from 2015, oversaw a push to take it upmarket, but the arrival of Baldo, who previously ran the fashion label Ganni and was involved in a turnaround at the Italian streetwear brand Diesel, is expected to herald a shift back to a broader appeal.

By Sarah Butler

Learn more:

Mulberry Wants to Go It Alone, Rejects Frasers Takeover Bid

Mulberry Group Plc has rebuffed a 130 pence-a-share takeover bid from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, asserting confidence in its new CEO’s ability to revitalise the brand.

Hyères, FRANCE – Dolev Elron won top honours at the 39th International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories in Hyères, in the south of France.

An Israeli fashion designer based in Stockholm, Elson currently works as a menswear junior designer for Swedish brand Acne Studios. His menswear collection presented at Hyères entitled ‘Casual Turbulence” featured wave-inspired shapes with a focus on denim.

On the eve of the ceremony, Elron said winning “would be beyond all my expectations” The designer impressed the fashion jury presided by Courrèges creative director Nicolas di Felice with his extraordinary craftsmanship and clear point of view.

To create his patterns, Elron uses digital software to deconstruct and twist iconic everyday garments like 5-pocket jeans or perfecto jackets while maintaining their functionality.

The Hyères’ festival came as the fashion industry seeks to chart a way forward amid slowing sales in key regions, as well as navigating creative confusion. Major trends like streetwear and luxury logomania have waned, giving way to a more sober, heritage-focused aesthetic at many high-end brands. Others have doubled down on attention-grabbing viral designs.

More than ever, finding the balance between uniqueness and commercial viability is key. Elron managed to do so by updating denim—a timeless favourite. Though he focuses on menswear, he said his clothes “should be for everyone, also for women.”

Igor Dieryck, last year’s Hyères winner has also been working to back up creative concepts with top-end execution and wearable product. He closed out the festival’s runway show with a collection produced using his prize winnings as well as support from Chanel’s Métiers d’Art craftsmanship division.

Dieryck works in the menswear studio at Hermès, and recently launched a capsule knitwear collection with Galeries Lafayettes. Dieryck said it was a “valuable exercise” designing at a lower price point and larger scale for his collaboration with the French department store. “When I design clothes, I hope people will wear them and feel something in them,” Dieryck said. “If an idea is super nice but unwearable, find a way to make it wearable.”

This year’s fashion jury focused on “the make, craftsmanship, clarity and sincerity,” of the designers’ collections, Courrèges’ Di Felice said.

Virality, on the other hand, was viewed with scepticism. “You can definitely feel how social media has changed the face of fashion,” said Di Felice. Attention-grabbing designs can boost brands’ visibility online, but can be “dangerous” for craftsmanship, he said.

Nevertheless, a viral collection that won the jury’s honourable mention was that of Tal Maslavi, an Israeli designer whose layer-cake derby shoes have won him social-media buzz and were an audience favourite. Aligning with his collection’s theme “Sugar Rush,” the models walked his show to the sound of wrapper and chewing noises.

Romain Bichot, a La Cambre graduate who works in the studio at Balenciaga, won the Chanel-sponsored Prix 19M des Métiers d’Arts and the Prix L’Atelier des Matières. Texas-raised Logan Monroe Goff won the Mercedes Benz sustainability prize with his “Asphalt Cowboy” collection.

London-based designer Chiyang Duan won the grand prize for accessories for his collection that included twisted ski masks, glasses and tool cases. Clara Besnard, who deconstructs and reassembles eyeglasses into sculptural forms, won the Hermès accessories prize with a windswept-looking scarf confected from leather belts in collaboration with leatherworkers from the French house.

Executives from Spanish footwear brand Camper, whose creative director Achilles Ion Gabriel presided the accessories jury, issued a special prize to Camille Combremont for a unique, solutions-oriented point-of-view inspired by camping gear.

The photography jury was presided over by Spanish photographer and artist Coco Capitán. Arhant Shrestha from Nepal won the Photography Grand Jury Prize. Basile Pelletier from France won the American Vintage Photography Prize with the UK’s Thomas Duffield receiving special mention.

Disclosure: Simone Stern Carbone’s housing during the festival was provided by Villa Noailles, the architectural landmark and cultural centre that hosts the event.