With just two months to go before the FIFA World Cup kicks off, design issues have emerged with the Nike shirts to be worn by several teams in the tournament, including the USA and Canada.
Soccer’s biggest event, hosted jointly by the US, Canada and Mexico, gets underway on June 11 with the opening match in Mexico City.
During international matches played since Nike unveiled its World Cup kits on March 16, several soccer players were seen with shirts bulging at the shoulder.
Prominent Spanish football journalist Alejandro Mendo raised the issue with his 14.6 million followers on X.
“You’ve all seen the unwanted shoulder pads on the Nike shirts for the World Cup,” he said. “What seemed like a minor aesthetic detail has turned into a global controversy.”
Sharing images of international players with bulging material at the shoulders, Mendo added: “Nike acknowledges the problem. These aren’t isolated cases, but something structural in the design.”
Soccer fans have also reported similar issues with their versions of the shirt, with one posting on Reddit: “Its actually a complete joke.”
Showing off his Canada shirt, the fan added: “The way the shoulders are sewn together just make them bunch like this no matter what. This is a stupid, STUPID design.”
Business Insider contacted Nike for comment and didn’t get a response on Saturday.
Some 48 teams have qualified for the tournament, the highest number in its history. The final takes place at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19.
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Nike plans to cut 775 jobs at its distribution centers in Tennessee and Mississippi.
The layoffs aim to streamline operations amid supply chain and tech enhancements.
Companies, including Amazon and HP, have cited tech advancements among the reasons for recent layoffs.
Sportswear giant Nike is set to cut hundreds of jobs as it consolidates its US distribution center operations.
The company said it plans to let go of 775 employees across Tennessee and Mississippi, citing efforts to “streamline” operations. Nike operates warehouses in both states.
“We are sharpening our supply chain footprint, accelerating the use of advanced technology and automation, and investing in the skills our teams need for the future,” Nike said in a statement to Business Insider on Monday.
The move is a part of CEO Elliott Hill’s larger comeback plan, known as the “win now” strategy, which aims to return Nike’s revenue to growth. Hill took over the sportswear giant in October 2024 as it faced significant challenges, including declining sales and increased pressure from rivals.
Nike made previous cuts in 2024 and last year, reducing its corporate workforce by 1% in 2025 as part of its realignment plan under Hill. The senior leadership team also saw a shake-up in 2025, with Nike eliminating the chief technology officer and chief commercial officer roles, among other changes.
In its statement, Nike said it’s taking steps to move faster, serve consumers better, and reduce the complexity of its operations footprint. The company had about 77,800 employees worldwide as of May.
The latest cuts come as concerns that AI will replace human workers grow stronger, with companies like HP and Amazon citing AI-related efficiency as a factor in recent workforce reductions.A recent study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that AI’s skills overlap with over 11.7% of the US labor market.
The company said it expects the reduction to support its “path back to long-term, profitable growth.”
Nike CEO Elliott Hill inherited an uphill battle when he took over at the sports giant in October 2024.
Since then, Hill has made changes — both big and small — to the company as part of its turnaround strategy. After retiring from Nike in 2020, the former president of consumer and marketplace returned to guide the company amid declining sales, sluggish growth, and increased pressure from upstart rivals.
During the quarter preceding Hill’s start, Nike’s revenue declined 10% year over year to $11.6 billion, following flat growth in the 2024 fiscal year. Nike shares jumped about 8% on the day Hill’s appointment was announced in September.
The Nike veteran didn’t waste time launching his strategy when he took the helm, reevaluating the existing practices and adjusting them as needed.
“We lost our obsession with sport,” Hill said on a December 2024 earnings call. “Moving forward, we will lead with sport and put the athlete at the center of every decision.”
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Last week, during the company’s most recent quarter, Hill told investors that the comeback “won’t be a straight line.”
Here’s what Hill has been up to in 2025.
Hill kick-started his turnaround plan
Nike’s “win now” strategy — Hill described it on last week’s earnings call as Nike’s “immediate response to our biggest challenges and opportunities” — focuses on five key areas: culture, product, marketing, marketplace, and in-person presence.
The plan leans on a sports-driven reset that has “realigned” about 8,000 employees around its core sports categories, the company said. Those categories include running, basketball, football, and training, as well as sportswear.
The idea is to put the athlete “at the center of everything that we do,” Hill said in a March earnings call.
The running category is leading the effort and reflects the direction Hill is steering the company. Nike said its running business grew by more than 20% last quarter, which ended in November, marking the second consecutive period of comparable growth.
Nike’s senior leadership team got a revamp
Hill shook up Nike’s leadership this year.
In May, he restructured its consumer, product, and brand leadership to focus on three areas: consumer and sport, marketing, and product creation. As part of that overhaul, Nike’s former president of consumer, product, and brand retired, and Hill promoted four other Nike insiders to senior roles reporting to him: president of Nike (Amy Montagne), chief innovation, design, and product officer (Phil McCartney), chief marketing officer (Nicole Graham), and chief growth initiatives officer (Tom Clarke).
Hill also hired a new communications chief this year, Michael Gonda.
And he made another round of changes in December, eliminating the roles of chief technology officer and chief commercial officer. At the same time, Nike established the role of chief operating officer, which reports to Hill. The new job’s function is to “integrate technology more seamlessly into our sport offense,” Hill said in a note to employees that Nike released publicly. Venkatesh Alagirisamy, a 20-year veteran of Nike, transitioned into the role on December 8.
As part of the shake-up, general managers in all regions now report directly to Hill.
“It’s clear how important it is to stay closely connected to what’s happening on the ground, from intern to CEO, and every role I’ve held in between, I’ve felt that way,” Hill said on last week’s earnings call.
He began mending relationships with wholesale partners
Hill said Nike’s ties with wholesalers such as Foot Locker and Dick’s Sporting Goods had frayed amid its aggressive shift toward direct-to-consumer sales.
Since Hill’s return, he said he’s been mending those relationships. For example, Nike is back on Amazon and has struck partnerships with smaller retailers, such as Urban Outfitters and Aritzia.
Nike’s wholesale revenues increased 8% year over year to $7.5 billion during its most recent quarter, which ended November 30.
Hill pulled back on promotions and raised prices
Hill said that Nike would strive to provide a more “elevated” experience for consumers, speaking in a January interview with Fortune. He said Nike had become “too promotional” on its own site.
“Being premium also means full price,” Hill told Fortune. “We’ll focus on promotions during traditional retail moments, not at the consistent levels we are today.”
He said in March that Nike Digital, which includes its website and app,ran zero promotions in North America in January and February, down from over 30 during the same months in 2024. The cutback on promotions came alongside “surgical” price increases Nike made to mitigate tariffs in 2025.
He gave the House of Innovation concept store a makeover
The House of Innovation is Nike’s six-floor flagship store.
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Nike’s 68,000-square-foot House of Innovation is the blueprint for its stores. It’s a six-story flagship store that opened in 2018, showcasing the company’s most advanced products. The first floor is dedicated to running, and the rest of the sprawling store is organized by sport, gender, and age.
Hill has frequently pointed to the revamped store in his first year as a model for Nike’s move to sports-driven retail layouts.
“It’s an immersive sport experience, and the refresh has already led to double-digit revenue increases,” Hill told investors in September.
Nike did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
