Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) has designed a new shoe called the Air Native N7, which was designed specifically for Native Americans. Nike determined that American Indians, on average, have a much wider and taller foot than the normal American. As a result, Nike developed the Air Native N7 to be especially wide and have a larger toe box for the foot.
Importantly, Nike has announced that the profits from these shoes will go toward the "Let Me Play" program on Native American lands, which uses sport to foster a healthy and active lifestyle. Sam McCracken, Manager of the Nike Native American Business program said "Nike is aware of the growing health issues facing Native Americans." He also said the company is using this shoe to step up their commitment to the Native American community.
Nike also used features some managers called "heritage callouts" including sunrise to sunset patterns on the tongue and heel of the shoe. Stars are on the sole of the show to represent the night sky. The N7 name for the shoe comes from seventh generation theory, which is used by some tribes to look to previous generations for wisdom and future generations for their legacy.
Nike anticipates selling at least 10,000 pairs, and raising $200,000 for the tribal programs. The shoe will sell at just $42.80 a pair, so it is more of a goodwill and branding effort than a financial opportunity for the company.
This shoe will not be of much benefit to this year's downline for Nike, since the company is just selling the shoe to the Native American community and the shoes won't be available in stores. The goodwill side of this design is likely to be very beneficial in the future to Nike. Nike has a terrific history of strengthening its brand name through these types of initiatives. There is no secret that through developing these kind of relationships with specific communities, Nike is doing itself a huge favor in the long run.
Ventures such as this one show exactly why Nike was named the #5 stock on our list of wide moat stocks last month.
Brand image is a huge thing for a company catering to the consumer like Nike, and this initiative, as weird as it may sound on the surface, helps that image.
To receive a daily RSS Feed from GrowYourFunds simply click here.
» Top 5 Retail Stocks from GrowYourFunds
Today I wanted to continue my top 5 lists by looking at the top 5 retail stocks. Retail is not necessarily an area I would be pouring money into right now, given the possibility that consumers will slowdown quite significantly on... [Read More]
Tracked on: October 2, 2007 9:21 AM | Permalink to Trackback