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Nike prices are rising year into CEO Elliott Hill’s turnaround plan
Nearing the one-year mark in new Nike CEO Elliott Hill’s turnaround plan, and at a time of rising tariffs on retail goods made in Asia, the prices on products across core Nike apparel and footwear categories haven been rising.
Across nearly 3,300 SKUs (stock keeping units) analyzed by DataWeave from online channels in the period from September 2024 to September 2025, footwear prices rose 17%, apparel rose 14%, and equipment and protection prices rose 18%.
A month-by-month analysis shows a moderate price increase across all categories in October 2024, and team/league apparel jumping the most, but since then price increases in this category have been at a slower pace. The big move up in prices began in January 2025, when prices for the accessories and equipment/protection categories increased by over 10%, followed by footwear with double-digit price increases (11%). From February to September 2025, prices rapidly increased across many products.
“This steady upward movement shows Nike is leaning on pricing power in its core performance categories, even as external pressures such as tariffs and channel shifts compress margins,” said Karthik Bettadapura, co-founder & CEO, of DataWeave. “The more modest 9 percent lift in team and league apparel indicates consumers in this segment are more price sensitive than in others,” Bettadapura said.
The pricing data suggests Nike is being selective with its price increases, protecting its strongest products while testing where higher prices can hold without losing demand, according to DataWeave.
“In practice, Nike’s pricing architecture reflects a targeted approach, reinforcing brand value in performance while using select promotions to maintain accessibility,” Bettadapura said. “If they sustain this discipline, Nike can balance profitability with consumer perception in a market where shoppers are increasingly attuned to both value and innovation.
In the second half of 2024, Nike suffered a sharp downturn, its steepest sales decline since the pandemic. In September of last year, the company announced Hill’s return as CEO. In June of last year, the retailer had forecast a significant decline in sales, leading the the management change and a plan to focus back on the fundamentals that had long defined the business and made it the market leader in sneakers and athletic apparel.
Price increases were part of the plan, with many products seeing bumps in May, according to previous CNBC reporting.
In its most recent quarter, Nike posted surprise sales growth, a sign the turnaround plan was working, but also forecast weak holiday shopping months, suggested a bumpy road to recovery.
“It’s gonna take a while,” Hill said in an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen on Monday. “It’s not linear. But it is a portfolio, and ultimately the goal is to have the entire portfolio all working together to drive the revenue and the profit that we hope to deliver for all of our investors.”
The company said in its most recent earnings that it expected tariffs to cost it $1.5 billion and hit its gross margin by 1.2 percentage points in its current fiscal year 2026, an increase from the $1 billion and 0.75 percentage point gross margin impact it has forecast in June.
One of the ways Nike, along with other U.S. importers, navigated the tariffs is through frontloading.
According to ImportGenius, which tracked the imports of Nike from January 2025 to October, the company pulled forward imports in three distinct periods: February (3,173 TEUs) to April (4,427 TEUs) before April 2 global tariffs were first announced by President Trump; May (3,622 TEUs) through June (4,690), a periodduring which a temporary tariff truce was announced with China; and a third import wave from July (3,624 TEUs) through September (4,203 TEUs).
Nike’s supply chain is diversified, but with the expansion of the trade war globally, the company is now paying layers of tariffs on its entire supply chain. According to Panjiva, the port of origin of Nike import shipments for 2025 is broken down among a variety of countries: Indonesia (37.9%), Vietnam (25.7%), China (10.4%), India (6.8%), Pakistan (5.7%), Jordan (5.6%), and Israel (2.3%).
On the recent earnings call, chief financial officer Matt Friend cited a variety of headwinds for gross margin, including higher wholesale discounts, higher discounts in Nike factory stores, increased product costs including new tariffs, and channel mix headwinds.
Bill Simon, former CEO of Walmart tells CNBC there have certainly been component price increases that are putting upward pressure on costs of goods sold, the direct costs associated with producing a good, but the level of price increases over the past year suggests other factors at play as well.
“Many companies have been able to mitigate substantial portions of the impact so far,” said Simon. “Others have not been able to do that for various reasons.”
Simon added tariffs should be thought about as being applied to the component parts of products, not on the final retail price.
“For example, there’s no tariffs on profit margin,” said Simon. “A retail sales price for a pair of Nike of $100 would include 50% margin for the retailer (as well as additional margin for Nike). Also, shipping, logistics cost, etc., are not subject to tariffs,” he said.
While Simon stressed that he has no direct knowledge of Nike strategy so can only analyze the pricing within a broader retail context, he said even if the entirety of the COGS were hit, meaning they were unable to mitigate any of the impact, a 17% price increase would seem “excessive.”
“If that’s the case, there is likely some other reason for price increases of this magnitude,” he added.
Under Hill, Nike has been cutting down on promotions as part of his turnaround plan, citing excessive online discounting. Last December, the company said the online business would return to “a full-price model,” but it would be required to first sell off inventory. Friend said on the most recent earnings call that the company continues to take steps to reposition Nike Digital as a full price business, but organic traffic continues to decline double digits. “With a business in the prior year that was more concentrated on classic footwear franchises and sneaker launch, as well as a higher mix of off-price sales, traffic comps will remain under pressure,” he said. “We do not expect Nike Direct to return to growth for Fiscal 26,” he added.
Christina Fernández, senior research analyst at retail research firm Telsey Advisory Group, said Nike has been increasing prices on footwear and apparel, but according to its research, other retail brands have raised prices even more, for example, 50% of footwear maker On’s U.S. volumes saw a $10 price increase in July, compared to $5 increases on comparable Nike products. She added that the overall pricing dynamics in retail remain fluid. Adidas, for example, has not raised priced much yet, according to Fernandez, and regular promotions remain a feature of this time period.
Overall, Telsey’s tracking across a limited sample of 76 sporting goods items since mid-April shows apparel prices have increased 3%, footwear prices have increased 1% and hardlines/equipment prices have increased 7%. But that will trend higher. “We do expect more price increases to flow through the remainder of this year and in the first half of 2026,” she said.
