Nike the globally renowned sports company announced that it is vacating the space from the elite swim-wear market. This strategic decision has been taken as part of the company's long-term growth plan.
A company official commenting to a email request from fibre2fashion stated that “Nike has made a strategic decision as part of the company's long-term growth plan to focus efforts against its successful swim-wear business at the retail level.”
He added by saying that 'We will continue to supply coaches and collegiate institutions under Nike sponsorship with competitive Nike swimsuits including Nike Swift Swim that won a combined 15 Olympic medals and set 15 world records since its debut in 2003, but we will not invest in next-generation swim innovation which is not in line with our stated category growth strategy.”
A few years ago the company had announced that it would focus on six key categories as part of its strategy for growth and to reach US $23 billion by 2011. These categories are football, basketball, running, men's and women's training and sportswear.
Nike competes among others with the likes of Speedo which is the market leader and TYR for a slice of the performance swimwear market.