Nike executive resigns due to controversy over son who founded ‘Recell’

An executive of the global sports brand Nike resigned after 25 years because his son founded a ‘reseller’ company that sells his limited-edition shoes and clothing at high prices.

Bloomberg reported on Day 1 that her son Joe Habert used his mother’s credit card to buy Nike shoes and then resell them for a profit, and later founded a company called West Coast Streetwear (WCS), a reseller company.

Nike said there was no problem and said Hebert had informed it of his son’s foundation in 2018.

Nike told Bloomberg that “actions between WCS and Nike, including direct purchases or sales of Nike products, do not violate company policy or constitute a conflict of interest.”

A Bloomberg article described how 19-year-old Joe used bots to run an online resale site, limit purchases, and stock up on famous limited-edition sneakers.

For example, Joe bought a pair of sneakers for $ 132,000 (about 148 million won) and then sold them for a profit of $ 20,000 (about 22 million won).

Joe simply said that he had not received any information from his mother, who worked for Nike for 25 years.

WCS is a major player in the resale market, and in July its value in North America alone reached $ 2 million (about 2.2 billion won).

Nike is in a subtle position in the market. The shoes are made in limited editions, attracting explosive interest and then selling them at a high price, but they can anger consumers and destroy potential purchase intentions.

For example, the act of selling through the company’s SNKRS app, where Hebert was in charge, was also criticized for encouraging abuse by reseller operators like Joe, as hoarding bots.

British reseller Tashin Sabir said that Nike and other companies did not take the necessary steps to prevent such resale, resulting in the product being sold at launch.

He said: “It seems they are not interested in stopping this phenomenon because they are useful in public relations,” he said. “It’s a company that runs a company worth trillions of won.” If you want to stop long enough with their technology, you can. “

Hebert eventually resigned in connection with this.

Critics have also said that reports in this regard could be an obstacle to the future of WCS and its children, who were swept up in the criticism.

One netizen commented, “Thank you mom” under the WCS company image.