Being a collector, I decided way in the beginning that I was not going to rock Nikes, this was back in the late 90s and I stuck to that decision with no problem, simply because I made two exceptions, I would go on rocking Js and Max 1s, and till now the only swosh that can be seen on my feet are the ones on the Max 1s and the ones on the J 1s.
My decision was mainly related to how Nike's production lines were bases in low-income countries where they took advantage of cheap labour and at some point, there was even talk of child labour, which turned out o be one of Nike's suppliers in Pakistan, that decided to do it to meet the demand, and Nike dealt with the situation by terminating their contract. Just like most in the industry, Nike was able to grow quickly using the model of outsourcing production to a network of suppliers in parts of the world where costs were lower, other companies followed the same model, but Nike was the one that became the target of protest groups, my older brother is the one that opened my eyes to this movement, he was a Reebok guy, and still is, and we protested, simply by not buying from Nike, I missed a lot of kool sneakers in the process, but stuck to it, for many years I would make sure all my friends a fellow collectors knew how a felt about Nike and that was it.
Today we hear of people burning their Nike shoes as a form of protest for Nike's latest Ad campaign featuring Collin Kaepernick, Kaepernick is an NFL player that made headlines after first seating in a game in 2016 during the playing of the U.S. national anthem as a form of protest against systematic oppression, equality and social injustice, racism and injustice in the criminal system, oppression of people of color in the United States and to not show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color, he got many supporters and many hatters. I find this new form of "protest" silly and ineffective, in fact, Nike's online sales still jumped 31% after the Kaepernick campaign, even though most of these images show cheap Nikes, they already gave Nike some money by the time they decide to burn your shoes and.
Today I still don't rock Nikes, not because I'm protesting, I just grew out of them and have not found new models that appeal to me, for example, I prefer the Converse vs OffWhite collabo, do not like any of the Yeezys, have the Kanye West vs Luis Vuitton Boat shoes, still buy Js and Max ones, and if anything I will buy the classics that I had before I stopped rocking Nikes, like the Unlimited.
