We Noticed: More Footwear Price Increases Coming; UNBOUND Gravel Live Broadcast
With the rapid fire professional schedule as of late, along with the ongoing hydration / fairing rules adjustments, you’d be forgiven if you thought nothing else was going on from a news perspective. And yet…here’s what we picked up on in our scrapbook this week.
Nike the Latest to Increase Pricing, Citing Tariff Policy
The largest sports footwear brand in the world is adjusting prices anywhere from $2 to $10 on a rolling basis.
Nike has started to phase in these price increases across their own stores, with an adjustment to MSRP for retailers in the works. The company will adjust prices on a sliding scale based upon their current MSRP as well as category. The full slate of increases should be expected to hit by July, when the Fall wholesale catalog is fully online.
Critically for footwear, shoes retailing between $100 and $150 today will see price increases of $5. Shoes that retail for over $150 will see an adjustment of $10. Kids footwear is exempted from the policy.
Apparel and equipment, meanwhile, will see more “strategic” pricing changes within the $2 to $10 range, according to sources.
Nike joins Adidas as having officially announced their increases, with most other footwear brands expected to follow suit.
Free, Live Streaming Coverage of Life Time UNBOUND Gravel Coming
For the first time, Life Time’s UNBOUND Gravel event will feature free live coverage of the elite men’s and women’s races.
The roughly seven hour long live broadcast will begin at 10:00 AM local time on Saturday, May 31st, with a recap of the action thus far before switching to live, on-course presentation. Coverage will be live-streamed on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel, and will remain on the air until the conclusion of both races and respective post-race interviews.
Commentary will be provided by Bill Elliston, Payson McElveen, and Meredith Miller sitting in the commentary box, while Nat Ross and Lauren Hall will be providing live updates from out on the course.
Kimo Seymour, Life Time Senior Vice President of Media & Events, said, “At Life Time, we’re focused on elevating the sport of cycling at every level, and bringing live, free-to-stream coverage…is a major step in that journey. With real-time storytelling, expert commentary, and a global audience tuning in, we are committed to making this iconic race more accessible and engaging.” The live stream team is our very own friends at BCC Live who not only do most Ironman broadcasts but they also did the first ever full live broadcast of gravel race in North America at Gravel Worlds last August in Lincoln,NE.
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Curious if they’ll be able to pull it off this time. Last time they had live coverage at unbound, it was plagued by connection issues
Same company that does all the North American Ironman Broadcasts
Is there an equivalent of Trakker ?
Updated the story to add some clarity
With the tariff stuff, and considering the types of shoes New Balance still makes in the US and UK. I wonder if they’ve thought about onshoring more manufacturing. Have more control over your supply chain should be top of mind and bringing back these skills to our economy is important, especially when your premium on these shoes is already so high.
The primary issue that NB (and other brands, for that matter, who have sought to move production to the US) has typically had, especially in pure run, is that the midsole is the limiting factor. Lots of their core run product is assembled here, with uppers manufactured here, but midsole / outsole / etc. usually is coming in from off-shore.
Environmental and or product sourcing concerns was what was often cited by run brands when asked.
Consider that the chemical compounds are developed by US chemical companies. This stuff can all be made here if executives want it to be. Considering how much more an Italian Diadora shoes is vs a Chinese manufacture oned, it’s probably just time to invest here. Otherwise we’ve in this place where major industrial manufacturers strip their tooling and sell their real estate. See: Boeing F22 and C-17.