Nike’s footwear subscription service for kids
Nike are attempting to combat one of the most irritating things about buying shoes for small children by launching a brand new platform catered towards children and their fast-growing feet. Whether you have kids yourself, or have bought for them you know that sizing is a perpetual grey area. If you buy for the size they are at that time then they will be growing out of them in 6 months, and if you buy a size up you have to wait to see them wear what you bought. This dilemma is something Nike think they can easily eradicate with their new Nike Adventure Club.
How does Nike Adventure Club work?
The new service is called Nike Adventure Club and will act as a subscription. In which parents can order footwear from Nike and Converse’s extensive catalog – over 100 different sneaker styles. Ranging from sizes 4C to 7Y (that’s roughly from ages 2 to 10) and you can choose from three tiers of subscription service; ranging from four pairs a year to 12 pairs a year. With the ability to flexibly upgrade, downgrade or pause your subscription at any time. The service also keeps the environment in mind as the trainers can be sent back to Nike free of charge where they will then be donated or recycled through Nike Grind. On top of the actual footwear the Nike Adventure Club will also send exclusive games and activities for parents and kids to participate in together. Encouraging a more healthy and active lifestyle.
Could we see this translate into more subscription services for Nike?
As soon as a new service gets announced it is hard not to consider its potential for broader application and this one is no different. Whereby the Nike Adventure Club obviously makes a great deal of sense as it essentially solves a problem – that being fast growing feet – a subscription based service could also be used in a variety of other ways. Adidas have spoken of the potential of their Futurecraft range to come with a subscription component which relies on you returning worn shoes before a new pair is issued to help promote a recyclable model. Something that is very much top of every brand’s ethos in 2019 to produce a more sustainable business model.
Another suggestion would be less of practical and more style related. Everyone wants to get hold of the latest limited releases and on release it is as we all know incredibly difficult to get the pair you desire every time. So why not use a subscription service to guarantee the newest pairs from a particular range with tiered subscriptions. A Yeezy subscription for example, no doubt wouldn’t only be popular but also increasingly lucrative for the brands. Instead of buying by the pair, you pay a subscription in order to gain access to all the products from a particular range. In the same way you pay your Netflix subscription to get all the free movies and TV shows you desire.
Nike Adventure Club is clearly a very noble and helpful service from the brand to help actually make life easier for parents. Yet in reality the applications of the concept of a trainer subscription could change the way we buy footwear for years to come. I personally wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of these types of online trainers subscriptions in the years to come.