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Nike's New CEO Plans to Go Back to Basics in Brand Overhaul Effort

The Nike swoosh logo is seen outside the store on 5th Ave in New York, New York, US, March 19, 2019. (Reuters)
The Nike swoosh logo is seen outside the store on 5th Ave in New York, New York, US, March 19, 2019. (Reuters)
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Nike's New CEO Plans to Go Back to Basics in Brand Overhaul Effort

The Nike swoosh logo is seen outside the store on 5th Ave in New York, New York, US, March 19, 2019. (Reuters)
The Nike swoosh logo is seen outside the store on 5th Ave in New York, New York, US, March 19, 2019. (Reuters)

Nike's new CEO Elliott Hill warned of a long road to sales recovery for the sportswear giant, but the veteran executive's plan to turn the spotlight on sports like basketball and running, allayed some investor worries.

The company said on Thursday it was expecting third-quarter revenue to drop to low double digits after the embattled sportswear seller's quarterly results beat market estimates.

Hill, in his first public address as CEO on the post-earnings call, said Nike had "lost its obsession with sport" and vowed to put it back on track by refocusing on sport and selling more items at premium prices, Reuters reported.

"The recovery is going to be a multi-year process, but he(Hill) seems to be going back to the roots, back to Nike being Nike," said John Nagle, chief investment officer at Kavar Capital Partners, which owns Nike shares.

"(Hill plans to shift focus) away from some of the streetwear and fashion that had taken over the brand, the heavy discounting and the neglect of retailers. Just taking it back to what worked," Nagle said.

Hill, who was with Nike for more than three decades, returned as CEO in October to revive demand at the firm that has been struggling with strategy missteps that soured its relations with retailers such as Foot Locker.

Earlier this month, Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon said Hill was "taking the right actions for the brand" and the retailer was "working closely" with Nike to emphasize newer sportswear styles, including Vomero and Air DT Max.

"(The retailers) they want us to get back to being Nike, and they want us to have the unrelenting flow of innovative products... and they want us to get back to delivering bold brand statements that help drive traffic," Hill said.

The company's market share dwindled as rival brands, including Roger Federer-backed On and Deckers' Hoka , lured consumers with fresher and more innovative styles.

Hill also highlighted that a lack of newness led Nike to become too promotional and said he plans to shift to selling more at full price on its website and app.

"With another half year of franchise management coupled with investment to reinvigorate the brand, we believe the next four quarters could be the worst of the margin erosion and earnings per share reductions," Barclays analyst Adrienne Yih said.

At least seven brokerages cut price targets on the stock with some analysts pointing to the lack of a clear timeline for Nike to return to growth.

Shares of Nike, which have lost about half of its value in the last three years, were down nearly about 2% in early trading on Friday.

Nike's forward price-to-earnings ratio for the next 12 months, a benchmark for valuing stocks, was 27.53, compared with 33.47 for Deckers and 32.32 for Adidas.

"A rudderless ship now has a rudder, and a sailor who knows how to drive it," said Eric Clark, portfolio manager at the Rational Dynamic Brands fund that owns Nike shares.

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Fashion

Margot Robbie, Oprah Watch Blazy Transform Chanel with Color and Craft

Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2026 collection of French-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2026 collection of French-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
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Margot Robbie, Oprah Watch Blazy Transform Chanel with Color and Craft

Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2026 collection of French-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2026 collection of French-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 09 March 2026. (EPA)

Chanel 's Matthieu Blazy is still building. Six months into his tenure at the Parisian stalwart, the designer staged his second ready-to-wear collection at Paris Fashion Week Monday, where brightly colored cranes rose from a holographic floor — a deliberate signal that the construction is ongoing.

For Parisians who have spent years staring at the real thing above Notre-Dame cathedral, the set was perhaps less dreamy than intended.

The audience inside the Grand Palais suggested the foundations are solid: Margot Robbie, Oprah, Jennie, Kylie Minogue, Lily-Rose Depp, Teyana Taylor and Olivia Dean all turned up to watch the next floor go on.

Blazy took his cue from a quote from Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel: “We need dresses that crawl and dresses that fly.”

The collection was structured around that tension — plain against spectacular, function against fantasy — with a discipline his sprawling debut last October sometimes lacked.

The opening looks were austere by design. Black knit zip-ups, tweed blousons and boxy overshirts arrived with little more than four gold buttons to signal they belonged to Chanel.

In the vast runway space, they could read as underwhelming. But Blazy’s point was architectural: the suit, he said, is “the first brick” — and everything else rises from it.

That logic tracks to the founder.

In her apartment on Rue Cambon, a wall is covered in gauze painted gold — something poor made precious.

Chanel built a house on that idea, borrowing from everyday dress and elevating it. Blazy is doing the same with her codes, stripping the suit to a knit shirt jacket or pressed-tweed blouson before rebuilding it in silicone-woven fabric and metallic mesh.

The collection’s most provocative move was its silhouette. Blazy pulled waistlines dramatically low — belts slung to mid-thigh, pleated skirts starting where blazers ended.

The references were retro flapper filtered through a modern lens: drop-waisted twinsets, patchwork dresses with floral embroidery, vivid patterned knits with a twenties pulse.

A furry coat in bold geometric color could have been worn in a chic part of London's Camden.

Whether the ultra-low waistlines will land with the well-heeled clients who pack Chanel’s front rows is another question. Selling a radically new proportion to women with deep loyalty to the house is a different challenge than winning critical praise.

The final stretch answered that concern with force. Sequined plaid suits arrived in dazzling color. Beaded coats glinted with star-chart embroidery. Metallic mesh was woven to mimic tweed motifs, and several models wore pastel-tinted hair to match their looks.

Fabric flowers burst from bodices. Trailing ribbons, layered ruffles, and insect-wing detailing turned the runway into something closer to spectacle than commerce.

Blazy cast wide — teens through to women in their fifties — and let the show breathe, with a runway circuit that took models the better part of five minutes. He framed it all with seven pared-back black and cream looks, as if to say: whatever else changes, the Chanel you know isn’t going anywhere.

If this second outing holds — on the penultimate day of fashion week — Blazy has found something rare at a heritage house: a way to honor the founder’s voice without simply echoing it.

Fashion

Hugo Boss Posts Annual Profit Above Expectations

The logo of German fashion company Hugo Boss is seen at a store in Vienna, Austria, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
The logo of German fashion company Hugo Boss is seen at a store in Vienna, Austria, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
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Hugo Boss Posts Annual Profit Above Expectations

The logo of German fashion company Hugo Boss is seen at a store in Vienna, Austria, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
The logo of German fashion company Hugo Boss is seen at a store in Vienna, Austria, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)

German fashion group Hugo Boss reported a higher than expected annual operating profit on Tuesday, despite a challenging market environment.

The company reported earnings ‌before interest ‌and taxes (EBIT) of ‌391 ⁠million euros ($455 million) ⁠for 2025, up from 361 million euros a year earlier, and above analyst's average forecast of 379 million euros in a company-provided ⁠poll.

"2025 once again highlighted ‌the ‌rapid transformation of our industry, shaped by ‌technological innovation, evolving consumer preferences ‌and ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty," Chief Executive Officer Daniel Grieder said in a statement.

Luxury groups ‌have been struggling with tighter consumer spending, with the ⁠sector ⁠hit by slowing demand for fashion and accessories particularly in the US and China.

The premium fashion retailer said it will propose a dividend of 0.04 euros per share for 2025, compared with 1.40 euros a year earlier.

Fashion

Stars Hit Paris Runways, but Fall’s Real Trend Was Dressing for Hard Times — and Real Life

Models present creations by designer Victoria Beckham as part of her Fall/Winter 2026/2027 Women's ready-to-wear collection show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, March 6, 2026. (Reuters)
Models present creations by designer Victoria Beckham as part of her Fall/Winter 2026/2027 Women's ready-to-wear collection show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, March 6, 2026. (Reuters)
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Stars Hit Paris Runways, but Fall’s Real Trend Was Dressing for Hard Times — and Real Life

Models present creations by designer Victoria Beckham as part of her Fall/Winter 2026/2027 Women's ready-to-wear collection show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, March 6, 2026. (Reuters)
Models present creations by designer Victoria Beckham as part of her Fall/Winter 2026/2027 Women's ready-to-wear collection show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, March 6, 2026. (Reuters)

The celebrities came first, as they always do at the Paris runways.

After Oprah Winfrey stole the show in the opening stretch of the nine-day week, Naomi Watts and Kai Schreiber were at Balenciaga. Rooney Mara, Diane Kruger, Alexa Chung, Elizabeth Olsen and Yseult turned up at Givenchy.

Sarah Paulson and Tracee Ellis Ross watched Celine. Chappell Roan was at Vivienne Westwood and then at McQueen, where Myha’la and Sophie Thatcher were also there. Chanel was still to come Monday, and Louis Vuitton capping the season Tuesday.

But this week was about more than the front row.

Paris Fashion Week ’s biggest houses are in reset mode, and the designers leading them are trying to answer the same hard question: How do you dress people when the world feels dark, loud and unstable?

First came clothes built to shield: high collars, wrapped coats and strong tailoring.

Then came the silhouette: a sharper line, as designers moved away from years of oversized dressing and back toward shape.

The third trend was glamour that looked less polished. Hair was messier, makeup was smudged, clothes felt rougher and the mood was darker. Luxury no longer looked sealed off from real life.

Armor for anxious times Balenciaga led the first trend.

In his second show, Pierpaolo Piccioli built the collection around darkness and the search for light, working with “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson on a set tied to the series’ return.

The mood pushed the collection toward unease.

On the runway, that became balloon bombers, cocoon backs, portrait collars and face-framing necklines that made the body look guarded.

Even the softer draped dresses kept that mood: these were clothes for a hard world.

Givenchy pursued a similar path and made it more personal. Sarah Burton’s third show felt like the one where her point of view clicked.

She was not proposing one ideal woman, but many women and many ways of being strong, with exact tailoring, strong coats, peplum hips, velvet, shearling and evening looks grounded in real life.

Burton's collection was about how women put themselves back together in the world they are living in. That idea gave the clothes force. They were polished, but still connected to it.

Junya Watanabe pushed the idea furthest, turning gloves, motorcycle gear and emergency blankets into couture-like forms.

McQueen did the same, with Seán McGirr talking about paranoia, perfection and the strain of always being seen. His slashed leather trousers, low-slung minis and chainmail-like textures suggested exposure, but also defense.

The second big trend was silhouette.

After years of volume, slouch and oversized ease, Paris is moving back toward the body.

Celine made that shift most clearly. Michael Rider’s third outing felt like a designer settling into his idea.

He wanted clothes for living in. His coats and suits sat closer to the torso. His trousers kicked out in cropped flares. His menswear came in long, narrow overcoats that looked crisp rather than inflated.

Rider also suggested that the long dominance of oversized dressing may be breaking.

His version of sharpness was not stiff or nostalgic. It had ease, but it also had character.

Classic clothes came back with a little edge: smaller details, stranger proportions, a more exact line.

That made Celine a clear mood-setter.

Paris runways were after presence, just no longer through sheer size.

You could see that shift elsewhere, too. Burton relaxed the strict hourglass she established earlier at Givenchy, but she did not give up shape.

Piccioli used collars and cocoon backs to frame the figure rather than bury it. McQueen’s low-rise minis and neat boots pointed the same way.

The season’s line was stronger, cleaner and closer to the body. After years of volume, Paris was asking for something more exposed. Stand up. Be seen. Take shape.

The third trend was less polished glamour.

Designers still wanted beauty, but they wanted friction too.

Rider evoked the messier inner lives beneath beautiful clothes.

Piccioli used shadow to keep darkness close.

Burton filled Givenchy with distinct female characters instead of one polished ideal.

Paris repeatedly rejected sterile luxury. Taken together, the strongest shows suggested a week less interested in escape than in resilience. The best designers were not trying to make the world disappear.

They were trying to arm women for it.