Nike Release Policy, Leaked Document on Nike Rules for Dropping Shoes
Written by SOURCE on March 1, 2023
Nike has updated its rules for how retailers in North America carrying its most coveted shoes are allowed to release them, according to a confidential document from the brand that was viewed by Complex. This latest version of Nike’s North America product launch policy, from this month, spells out what the brand’s partner accounts are and aren’t allowed to do when it comes to selling Nike products.
“Nike and its [marketplace partners] must distribute launch product through an orderly process that avoids marketplace disruption, inventory diversion, and reseller profiteering,” the policy reads.
The updated Nike North America product launch policy was distributed to retailers toward the end of February.
In a statement to Complex this week, Nike confirmed that it had made changes to the policy.
“Nike recently updated its product launch policy in North America (U.S. and Canada) to ensure a consistent approach to marketing, distribution, and sale of launch product across marketplace partner channels,” the brand said. “Nike takes consumer experiences and protection extremely seriously and has updated its product launch policy to support orderly distribution and prioritize authentic consumer access to Nike product.”
Many of the guidelines in the launch policy are not new or particularly revealing—there are stipulations around not selling to resellers and preventing bots from compromising launches, for example, that reflect Nike’s public-facing stances. Still, it codifies exactly how stores in North America are expected to handle general release and more limited edition drops.
