Published
Feb 1, 2017
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Nike criticised for product disposal at NY SoHo flagship

Published
Feb 1, 2017

Nike has been under fire today after a citizen found bags of destroyed merchandise outside the Nike SoHo flagship. Ryan Matzner, a NYC resident who was walking by the store, told the press that he found bags and bags of perfectly good t-shirts, sweaters, and sneakers, all purposely cut with a box cutter.


Matzner's snapshot of the bag of discarded goods - Twitter.com/rdm



A Nike spokeswoman told the New York Times, “A small amount of product at our Nike SoHo store did not meet our standards to restock, recycle or donate so it was disposed of.”

This isn’t the first time a big name brand has been condemned for destroying usable merchandise. H&M was under fire in 2010 for slashing the body and cutting the arms and legs off garments before throwing them in trash bags behind H&M locations. Wal-Mart also received slack the same year for disposing of destroyed merchandise in a lot on 35th Street in New York City.

Many brands look to sample sales to get rid of excess merchandise, but there are a number of reasons brands avoid sample sales. For lower-priced brands like H&M, Wal-Mart, or Forever 21, clothes are simply too cheap to resell at a sample sale. On the other end of the spectrum, luxury brands worry that a sample sale could dilute the brand image. 

Unfortunately, destroying garments is what many brands turn to to get rid of unsold merchandise. If the items are destroyed, there is no risk of the merchandise getting into the hands of someone who did not pay full price for them.

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