Back To Jordan, Vice President Of Footwear, Nike Veteran Wants To Make AJ Cool Again.

Kinty Humphrey is not only the backstage promoter of Jordan Brand, but also first introduced the concept of "sneaker culture". American brand has high hopes for Humphrey's return.

Kinty Humphrey (Gentry Humphrey)

Gentry Humphrey (Gentry Humphrey), known as "Mr. Jordan Brand", has come back.

As an American sports giant Nike's brand, Jordan Brand recently rehired the veteran veteran, who will serve as vice president of the brand's footwear products.

This means that Gentry Humphrey will return to Jordan Brand after 7 years. He shoulders the responsibility of leading the brand out of the predicament.

Kinty Humphrey is one of the most influential industry participants in the field of sports shoes.

The famous sneaker media "Complex" has chosen the most influential 25 player list in the shoe industry. Humphrey ranks tenth in the list, and the stars Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant are all behind him.

Kinty Humphrey (Gentry Humphrey)

In 1994, Humphrey entered Nike.

In just 4 years, he has been promoted from regional sales manager and basketball sales manager to Jordan Brand's behind the scenes chiefs.

Humphrey has been involved in R & D and sales of heavyweight products such as the 4 generation to the 23 generation of Air Jordan series, leading the research and development of a large number of classic shoes, and has been evaluated by the industry as a forward-looking vision.

Until 1998, after Jordan products achieved great success in the basketball shoe market, the product line officially developed into an independent brand Jordan Brand, behind which the promoter was Humphrey.

At the same time, the concept of "re engraving" and "derivative" shoes that are popular in the sneaker culture are first derived from Humphrey's hand.

He is considered to be the first and foremost actor behind the strong market appeal of the brand, helping Jordan Brand to play the leading role in the field of global basketball shoes.

In 2011, Humphrey left Jordan Brand.

Nike Sportswear's marketing director focuses on the development of complex basketball and rugby shoes.

He has done equally well in the new field, more and more.

Appeared in the Nike Sportswear series, has launched Air Foamposite and Penny shoes and other successful cases.

But after 5 years in Nike Sportswear, in August 2015, a very sad news came out, and the veteran figure who had worked in Nike for more than 20 years resigned.

From self startups to competitive products, there is an endless stream of speculation about Humphrey's next move.

However, Nike did not want to lose the veteran veteran.

After the news of the resignation, Nike offered Humphrey a rather attractive contract to retain him.

Later, he began to run the Nike Golf golf series.

However, after Humphrey became senior official of golf brand, the global golf market continued to shrink, and Nike's performance was also poor.

In fiscal year 2016, sales of Nike golf products fell 8.2% to $706 million.

By contrast, Nike's total revenue has reached $32 billion 400 million a year, and golf has become one of the few "blemishes" of us giants.

In August 2016, Nike Golf announced that it would withdraw from the golf club market, focusing exclusively on golf apparel and golf shoes.

This is likely to be an important reason why Humphrey wants to find a better place, but what people did not expect is his next station's return to Jordan Brand, acting as vice president of the brand's footwear products.

The details of the contract between Humphrey and Jordan Brand were not announced, nor did the brand mention the specific plans for re hiring the veteran veteran.

But it is clear that Jordan Brand, who has been swallowed up by market share by competitors in recent years, has high hopes for Humphrey's return.

In September 2017, data from The NPD Group, a retail industry research firm, showed that Adidas went beyond Jordan Brand to North American sports shoes.

The second share.

"With the help of Nike, Jordan's business has been too busy, and now it has slowed down," analyst Matt Powell said in the report. "Jordan is not as cool as it used to be, nor is it selling so fast."

Meanwhile, Dick Johnson, chief executive of Foot Locker, said, "in the North American market, the sales of Jordan shoes are much slower than before."

The trend of the sports shoe market is changing obviously. The sales of professional basketball shoes in the whole industry are in a downturn.

In addition, for the emerging consumers, the Jordan basketball shoes, which are cumbersome in form design, lack the flavor of street life. This brand, which was born in the past by basketball God Michael Jordan, has not been so attractive.

Over the past year, Jordan Brand has stepped up the introduction of more retro style basketball shoes to enhance its fashionable attributes. Last August, Air Jordan 32 was officially released. In the words of Jordan Brand, this pair of sneakers inspired by Air Jordan 2 sports luxury style combines innovative technology with fashionable appearance.

However, compared with previous fanaticism, the market reaction of these new generation boots is generally difficult to help reverse the decline.

Now, the Jordan shoe sneakers are coming back, and the intention of Jordan Brand is clear. They are trying to rekindle the interest of young people in brands.