Ann Herbert resigns from Nike after 25 years

Nike’s general manager and vice president of the North America division, Ann Herbert, has resigned from the retailer following a report indicating her son was taking advantage of her position to run a sneaker reselling business. The report indicated Herbert’s 19-year-old son, Joe, was using a credit card in her name to buy sneakers for his reselling business.

After last week's report uncovering her son's sneaker resale business, Nike VP and employee of 25 years Ann Hebert left the company on Monday.

“Ann Hebert made the decision to resign from Nike,” the brand said: https://t.co/u8BxgWBpW9 pic.twitter.com/LPZZIUMirF

— brendandunne (@brendandunne) March 1, 2021

The reselling market for sneakers is massive thanks to sneaker fanatics known as sneakerheads willing to pay high prices for rare or collector sneakers. Joe was a young ambitious entrepreneur but used questionable business practices as his mother has ties to the biggest sneaker companies in the world.

Joe started his reselling business, West Coast Streetwear (WCS LLC,) spending more than $100,000 on his mother’s credit card to buy limited-edition shoes and reselling them for profit. Joe claims that business is booming for West Coast Streetwear and revealed he has connections with retailers for steeper discounts that he resells at a higher price for booming profits.

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Joe’s business questions Herbert’s integrity whether she used her influence to benefit her son’s business that can be considered a conflict of interest and possibly trading inside information. Joe acknowledges that his mother is the North American Nike manager and her position was high enough in the company that she could be removed for his business venture.

A Nike representative confirmed Ann Herbert previously disclosed relevant information about WCS LLC to Nike in 2018 and resigned after serving the company for over 25 years. Herbert started her career at Nike in 1995 working various sales roles with top positions including head of Nike’s Asia Pacific and Latin America divisions, the head of Sales in North America, and was named the head of North America last year in June.

Herbert was responsible for helping to accelerate Nike’s direct-to-consumer strategy and growing less reliable on wholesale partners such as retailers and sporting goods outlets. Nike is focusing on a new strategy of being more reliant on sales through their own website and stores to reach customers.

Two weeks ago, Joe Hebert was busy upgrading his sneaker resale business to an even larger warehouse space. Now he’s gone silent, offering no comment on my @bw cover story or his mom’s abrupt resignation after 25 years at Nike. https://t.co/hLEnxcXgK3 pic.twitter.com/7C5uDmKE9M

— Joshua Hunt (@viajoshhunt) March 1, 2021

Ann Herbert has yet to comment on her swift exit from Nike and West Coast Streetwear has also declined to comment. Reports indicate Joe Herbert was working on upgrading his sneaker reselling business by moving to a larger warehouse space for West Coast Streetwear but has maintained silence since his mother’s resignation and the official website for West Coast Streetwear is currently offline with an e-mail update option.