Indiana Fever point guard Caitilin Clark is not just widely regarded as one of the best basketball players in the world, she is also good for business. Nike shoes with Clark’s branding had a historic launch earlier this week, CEO Elliott Hill said in an earnings call on Thursday.
The Nike Caitlin 1 went on sale across the world on Thursday, selling out within hours.
This was the retail giant’s largest ever launch for a signature women’s shoe, Hill said.
“We activated the largest women’s signature shoe launch in Nike’s history, the Caitlin 1,” Hill told investors Thursday.
Aside from selling online, the shoe also went on sale at 5,000 stores across the world, which is twice the average for a Nike basketball signature shoe, he added.
Nike, which established early dominance in the basketball apparel space with launch of the Air Jordan in 1984 in collaboration with basketball legend Michael Jordan, has seen its women’s basketball segment skyrocket in the last few years.
Nike Basketball has grown its women’s signature business nearly 500 per cent from 2022 to 2026, Hill said.
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Clark, the 2024 Rookie of the Year, is not the only WNBA star selling shoes for Nike. Three-time WNBA champion A’Ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and 2024 WNBA champion Sabrina Ionescu of New York Liberty also have successful shoe lines with Nike.
On Thursday, Nike also launched the Shai 001s, a branding partnership with Canadian NBA star and 2025 NBA champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who plays with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Aside from the boom in women’s basketball merchandise, however, Nike had a tepid sales forecast.
Nike’s quarterly sales fell about four per cent to US$11.21 billion in the first quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of US$11.32 billion.
China, historically a profit-driver for Nike, has shown particular weakness in recent quarters as international rivals and domestic sportswear groups gain traction. Investors remain focused on any signs of improvement, which analysts say will hinge in large part on local product innovation.
Adding to the company’s challenges, French soccer star Kylian Mbappe ended a two-decade-long partnership with Nike in September and joined Swiss-based rival On.
Nike is deepening its restructuring as its woes in the Chinese market intensify. The company announced a plan to cut more jobs and shake up its global business divisions after the sportswear giant projected a surprisingly steep drop in full-year revenue.
— with files from Reuters
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