Everyone Wears Nike. No One Admits Why.
My daughter wears it. She doesn’t know why. That’s the genius.
My 12-year-old daughter wears Nike but she clearly has no idea why.
It’s hilarious really.
She shrugs. Everyone wears it. She’s not into sport, not especially into clothes. But the swoosh is everywhere - coats, socks, trainers, bags. If you’re not wearing it, you’re not quite in the group.
We talked about where it started. Who decided Nike was cool? She didn’t know. Maybe the older kids. Maybe social media. Maybe just the way things are. She doesn’t even use TikTok. But she knows Nike is the thing.
And that’s the point. At her age, you don’t need a reason. You just need not to stand out.
Nike doesn’t get picked. It gets absorbed.
No one's pushing it. There's no big campaign. It's just... there. So common it’s invisible.
When I was growing up, you had to make a call. What you wore said something. Dr. Martens meant one thing. A puffer jacket, something else. A record bag across your chest said you were one of the hard crew. You picked a side. You took a risk.
Nike removes all that. It gives you the benefits of cool without the commitment. You don’t need to stand out, but you also don’t want to look like you’re trying not to. It’s a neat trick.
The clothes help. Black trainers. White socks. Minimal branding. All of it skims just under the rules. School-friendly. Parent-friendly. But with just enough signal to matter but without breaking the uniform code.
None of this is accidental
That black-and-white aesthetic doesn’t just look sharp. You can wear a black Nike coat and just subtly look like one of the gang. It gets you into the cool gang without really trying.
And price helps too. It’s not so cheap that it’s a throwaway, but not expensive enough to raise eyebrows.
Other brands haven’t really managed it though. Think about Vans- they had a moment, but it felt too off-duty. Too weekend really. Abercrombie fell off when its idea of cool started to feel a bit smutty. Nike kept it simple and kept it wearable.
And of course, Apple plays the same game
My daughter didn’t want the newest iPhone. She just wanted one that looked right. She didn’t care about the camera. She cared about blending in. She didn’t want the old phone with a home button of course or one that looked like a house brick.
So how does Nike keep pulling this off?
Nike looks rock solid but its hold on teens is more delicate than it seems.
It works because it blends in and it stays just inside the lines. But that also makes it fragile - a scandal could hit hard. Something ugly enough and suddenly it’s the thing everyone wants to not be seen in - that’s not cool guys and away the teenagers fly.
That’s how it usually happens. Fila fell out of step. Abercrombie aged badly. Adidas, still big, feels like something your dad would wear.
But cool doesn’t stick. It gets handed down, year to year. If one group drops it and the next doesn’t pick it up, that’s it they’re finished.
You can already see shifts if you're paying attention
My daughter recently asked me to go into JD Sports and get her a plastic bag. Just the bag. A white one. Nothing in it. Apparently that’s what the cool kids carry their PE kit in.
I asked the guy at the counter if I could buy one. He smiled like he'd heard it before. Handed it over. When I came back later and bought something properly, I asked for another. “That’ll be £100,” he said. Totally deadpan. Perfect delivery.
That’s where cool lives now. Somewhere between low effort and inside joke.
Teenagers don’t buy Nike because they love it. They buy it because it gets them through the day.
No one comments. No one questions it. That’s the point. Silence is part of the design.
What do you think? Can Nike and other brands hold on to this place in teenager hearts?
What’s coming around the corner to knock them off their perch?
In case you missed it…
Don’t forget to check out my post from last weekend.
A little fun with ChatGPT may have showed me a little glimpse into the heart of what the future of AI might be and what the chilling discussion I had might mean.
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JD Sports cool? Unbelievable. I've always thought Puma designs were better than Nike or Adidas. Although Stella McCartney did a great line for them.
It is sad that everyone wants to blend in with bland sportswear for almost every occasion these days. What we gain in comfort we lose in style and creativity.
I just watched the movie Air a couple weeks ago and didn’t realize Nike was at the bottom of the sneaker game. No one wanted them. It wasn’t until they signed Michael Jordan in 1984 after winning over his mom that the brand took off. He didn’t even want to sign with them at first. But that deal turned Nike into a billion-dollar company and it’s been going strong ever since.