Hidden away at Nike’s headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, is a dedicated team tasked with preserving artifacts important to the brand’s history. But despite the nature of their work, time stops for no one – and even they are subjected to the challenges that the retail world faces.
The team, called the Department of Nike Archives (DNA), collects and catalogs items ranging from Olympic memorabilia to more than 200,000 pairs of shoes, including the very first Air Max sneakers.
The archives are not open to the public, but researchers and designers can visit them. However, glimpses of the team’s work can be found online through articles covering the brand’s earliest developments and reflecting its current position in the market.
According to Nike, the department’s role is to “find inspiration from the past to imagine the future.”
Unfortunately for DNA, the future looks like a smaller team.
In accordance with Bloomberg The team has been hit by the brand’s multi-year cost-cutting plan, which will remove $2 billion from the business, according to sources.
On December Earnings ReportNike CFO Matt Friend outlined cost-cutting measures that will include “simplifying our product mix, improving supply chain efficiencies, leveraging our scale to lower marginal costs of operations, increasing automation and speed in our use of data and technology, optimizing our organizational structure , reducing layers of management and expanding our procurement capabilities.”
A few months later, Reuters said the brand plans to cut 2% of its more than 80,000 employees. By June, about 740 positions will be cut in what management called the “second stage of impact.”
Even though Nike may be the world’s largest sportswear brand, the headwinds facing other retailers remain strong.
When the company announced cost-cutting measures last year, Friend explained: “We are seeing signs of more cautious consumer behavior around the world in an uneven macroeconomic environment.”
Nike did not immediately respond to Fortune request for comment.
2024 brought slightly better news for the brand, which reported revenues were “up slightly” in March at $12.4 billion for the quarter.
Inside the vaults
While few people know all of Nike’s archives, fashion and beauty outlet Coveteur received a sneak peek in 2018.
As a result, Serena Williams fans learned where the tennis star’s famous black leather and denim ensemble she wore for the 2004 US Open went after her match, as well as Maria Sharapova’s dazzling black tennis dress.
Other archives include Brazil’s 2016 Rio Olympics jersey and the very first Air Max sneaker released in 1987.
The archive also includes new innovations such as the Nike VaporMax, which is an extension of the Max Air running shoe that features a springy platform for comfort and performance.