Marc Bain

Nike says factory workers should earn enough to pay their basic expenses and have some money left over. But its expansion in Indonesia over the last decade has directly undermined this goal, an analysis by @propublica.org and @oregonian.com found.

www.oregonlive.com/business/202...

“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” according to the document from Meta’s Reality Labs, which works on hardware including smart glasses.

At least one Meta employee thinks it's a good time to add facial recognition technology to glasses because we're too distracted by fascism to effectively protest www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...

Nike says its factory workers make nearly double the minimum wage. In Indonesia, workers say, ‘It’s not true’ The Oregonian/OregonLive spoke with roughly 100 workers in Nike’s second-largest production hub. None said they made anywhere near twice the minimum wage.

For @oregonian.com and @propublica.org: The average worker at suppliers that make Nike’s goods earns 1.9 times the local minimum wage, the company says.

None of the workers I spoke with in Indonesia, Nike’s second-largest production hub, said they made that much.

www.oregonlive.com/business/202...

An Un-MAGA Proposal to Bring Back American Manufacturing Follow the path of Italy, France and Japan.

I'm excited to announce I'm doing a new Bloomberg column about the business of fashion. The first column is about how we can re-shore US garment manufacturing. Instead of mass deportations and raising tariffs, I argue the government should move the industry upstream:

tinyurl.com/reshoringapparel

Nike sells RTFKT: Digital products subsidiary quietly offloaded in December The sale comes as CEO Elliott Hill refocuses Nike on sports and questions persist about Converse’s future after a 30% sales drop.

Looks like Nike quietly sold RTFKT in December. Terms of the deal and the buyer were not disclosed. www.oregonlive.com/business/202...

The Kicks You Wear: The Future of Converse Nike CEO Elliott Hill highlighted Converse’s turnaround as one of Nike’s must-dos for 2026, but would the company be better off passing the brand’s problems onto a new owner?

The Kicks You Wear is back for 2026 today with a new piece on Converse.

According to Nike's 10-Q filing, demand creation for Cons dipped by 44% in the second quarter. That's a HUGE drop.

So what's the big deal? I dive into that and more in today's NL.

www.businessoffashion.com/briefings/sp...

the opening of Werckmeister Harmonies is one of my favorite bits of cinema of all time. RIP.

Exclusive: Helmet Lang on Helmut Lang The elusive arch-minimalist and master brand builder was never a man of many words. In a rare moment of candour, he talks to BoF’s Tim Blanks about his career in fashion and his first and only retrosp...

Helmut Lang speaks www.businessoffashion.com/articles/cre...

The Sneakers That Mattered Most in 2025 The Business of Fashion crunched the numbers, polled readers and spoke with leading sneaker authorities to identify the shoes that defined the market this year – and pointed the way to what’s coming n...

The Business of Fashion is in on sneaker of the year.

My colleague, Lei Takanashi, and I worked to find consensus on the SOTY convo by collecting data, talking with experts, and even asking readers their thoughts. What we found was no consensus at all.

We dive deep into why in our piece.

BoF Sneaker of the Year 2025 This is an audience choice poll for Sneaker of the Year in 2025.

Have you voted for your personal sneaker of the year yet?!?!?!?

We're doing a quick poll at Business of Fashion on SOTY. Let us know your thoughts here, guys! We're excited to hear from you.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Happy Thanksgiving, Mike!

Amiri Named Official Formalwear Partner for FC Barcelona Mike Amiri’s namesake brand is diving deeper into the sports world through a new partnership with La Liga’s FC Barcelona.

Amiri is the new formalwear partner for FC Barcelona.

Details here from Business of Fashion:

www.businessoffashion.com/news/apparel...

The Kicks You Wear: A Conversation With Salehe Bembury on Going Independent A quick chat with Salehe Bembury on his new footwear venture, Spunge, and what the future holds for his collaborations.

Salehe Bembury is one of the creators in sneakers that I've had a lot of respect for.

I got a chance to chat with him about the Spunge launch, what independent freedom is for him and the future of his collabs.

This was a fun one.

www.businessoffashion.com/briefings/sp...

"no more superficial individual expression"

The Economic, Political, and Cultural History of Menswear Menswear expert Derek Guy talks to Jacobin about where Western men’s clothing traditions came from, how they have evolved, and how they're being continually reinterpreted.

I apologize to the editors of Jacobin for having an extremely inconvenient last name to be mentioned in their publication. This is why Richard went into mid-tempo AOR ballads.

jacobin.com/2025/09/mens...

Thank you @dieworkwear.bsky.social

Giorgio Armani, Italy’s Fashion ‘King,’ Has Died The designer was the richest in the world, and the sole owner of the Armani Group that was for many years the most successful fashion company in the country.

the legend Giorgio Armani has died www.businessoffashion.com/articles/lux...

Public media is under threat. Millions depend on the NPR Network every day. Silencing journalism is one way to silence truth and erode the power of the people.

Today, President Trump signed a bill into law that will eliminate $1.1B of federal funding for public media. This devastating act tipped the threat against journalism in America into a crisis.

Millions depend on the NPR Network. Now, we’re counting on you.

Donate here: n.pr/458sOhq

'We are on our knees': U.S. tariffs devastate Lesotho's garment workers The government of the tiny African kingdom of Lesotho has declared a two-year state of disaster, as its once-thriving garment industry unravels in the wake of Trump's tariffs threats.

this is really sad, and one of the clearest examples of how asinine the tariff policy has been www.npr.org/2025/07/20/n...

Sneaker Resale Isn’t the Business It Used To Be Premiums are down across the board and the top brands in footwear are just getting back to being interesting again. Here’s how resellers are navigating these new, murky waters.

Published my first piece at Business of Fashion on the state of the sneaker resale market.

This was a fun one to write.

Nuts nuts nuts

So excited to share that The Kicks You Wear, literally my favorite newsletter out there, by the great @mikedsykes.bsky.social is coming to BoF! Check it out on Mike's substack here if you haven't already — kyw.substack.com — and get ready for more.

Sen. Alex Padilla, who was just forcibly removed from a DHS press conference, is the ranking member of Judiciary’s subcommittee on immigration, citizenship, and border safety, which has “oversight of federal agencies with citizenship, asylum, refugee, and immigration enforcement responsibilities.”

Corey Wiley on Twitter writes: "You don’t get it. Foundational immigration law is morally just and has been established over millennia. Disrespecting these rules and ideals is very offensive to folks who highly value civilized society"

Not true.

I see you're a luxury watch dealer. I'm also interested in watches. Let me show you how free and easy migration has allowed you to earn a living. 🧵

Arrest of Union Leader Highlights Link Between Workers’ and Immigrants’ Rights David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union of California, was arrested while protesting immigration raids on work sites in Los Angeles.

The arrest and apparent injury of David Huerta, a prominent California union leader, at an immigration protest has drawn condemnation from across the labor movement.

LAPD fired rubber bullets at Australian journalist @laurentomasi.bsky.social

Law enforcement is violently targeting press at protests around Los Angeles, from easily recognizable "mainstream" outlets to freelancers and independents. ALL press have explicit legal protections in California. #JournalismIsNotACrime.

This evidence thread may get graphic. 🧵👇