It’s been in the business for more than half a century, but that doesn’t mean Nike is done growing in popularity.
The Lyst Index, a quarterly ranking of fashion brand and products, recently crowned Nike the hottest brand on the planet.
The sportswear giant climbed two places to beat high-fashion brands Off-White, Gucci and Balenciaga, which were placed second, third and fourth respectively.
It’s the first time a luxury brand hasn’t occupied the number one spot since global fashion search platform Lyst began its index in 2017.
To compile its results Lyst analyses the online shopping behaviour of more than nine million shoppers a month, browsing and buying garments across 12 000 designers and stores online, reports Mail Online.
A Metro report suggests that Nike may have the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to thank for its recent popularity.
The world’s growing online shopping habits saw the company experiencing a 75% increase in digital sales over the last three months, which accounted for 30% of total revenue.
And while countless apparel brands have suffered huge losses, the brand known for its snug athleisure garments benefitted greatly from global stay-at-home orders.
Orders for Nike loungewear and athleisurewear since April boosted sales by 106%, as demand for its comfiest offerings increased.
Another boon for the brand was their lauded response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the wake of the unlawful killing of George Floyd and the widespread protests which followed, Nike pledged $40 million (R660m) to organisations furthering social justice.
It also adapted its social media to promote anti-racism messaging; in a video liked over 5 million times on the brand’s Instagram, Nike twisted its famous slogan to “Don’t Do It”.
On the high-fashion side of things, in the last few months Nike also ran a massive raffle for access to buy the Air Jordan x Dior sneakers. The raffle for the sought-after sneakers – which have been modelled by the likes of Kylie Jenner – garnered a whopping 5 million entries.
