Nike Refurbished - Nike gives selected sneakers a new life

Nike announced in 2021 that they are now also selling used sneakers under the name Nike Refurbished. What's going on there? The entire project was launched by the in-house sustainability initiative Move To Zero . The name of the project, as just mentioned: Nike Refurbished. We took a closer look and answered the most important questions.

The news is sure to give some of you a little heartbeat. Will we now get the finest vintage sneakers from Nike ? Unfortunately it's not quite as romantic.

How does Nike Refurbished work?

If you are no longer satisfied with your sneaker purchase from Nike after 60 days, you can send the shoe back to Nike. Each return is then inspected by hand, processed if necessary and ultimately given a grade. The resale price then depends on the respective grade. There are three categories:

• Like new
  Perfect or almost perfect. Sneakers look like new and have no defects
• Lightly worn
  Excellent condition, minor signs of wear or visual defects
• Production defect
  Products not like new but with slight visual imperfections:
  Stains, scratches, discoloration or faded colors

This is how the process works:

If the shoe fits one of these categories, it goes to a specific store for resale.

What happens if the sneaker isn't good enough for Nike Refurbished?

Nike also has a solution for this. If the shoes do not pass inspection, they can either be donated or they will be recycled and repurposed into soles by Nike Grind. The sneaker will definitely be used again, you can be sure of that.

When and where does Nike Refurbished start?

At the start of 2021, there were 15 stores in the US selling Nike Refurbished sneakers. There are now also shops in Germany, including the Nike Unite Store Berlin NKLN and the Nike Clearance Store in Kerpen. You can find more shops directly on the Nike refurbished page :

Why does Nike sell worn sneakers?

Nike commented on this as follows:

NIKE REFURBISHED EXTENDS THE LIFE OF ELIGIBLE PRODUCTS BY TAKING LIKE-NEW, GENTLY WORN, AND SLIGHTLY IMPERFECT KICKS, REFURBISHING THEM BY HAND, AND OFFERING THEM TO YOU AT SELECT NIKE FACTORY, NIKE UNITE, AND NIKE COMMUNITY STORES.

Our conclusion

Sustainable shopping is becoming increasingly important, especially among younger generations. That is absolutely correct. We think it's good that Nike is now taking on such a cost-intensive project and wants to drive the circular economy. Overall, it's a cool idea, but we're not quite sure if it will be well received. It's not yet entirely clear whether every sneaker ends up in Nike Refurbished or in the shredder. There have already been allegations that this happened in the USA with a GPS tracker in the sneaker. We believe in good things and hope that the project will be implemented in Europe just as advertised by Nike .

If we get more information about Nike Refurbished or get initial experience, we will update the post immediately! You can also find all the news in our Dead Stock App . If you don't have it yet, it's high time you did. Then future sneaker news is just a push notification away.

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