Nike has laid off up to 90% of the staff responsible for the SNKRS app, according to a report from House of Heat. The cuts reached across product development, engineering, program management, and launch operations, effectively dismantling the team that built and maintained one of the most culturally significant platforms in sneaker retail.
The remaining staff is reportedly small, and people familiar with the situation suggest that investment in the platform’s future is limited. Some insiders have raised the possibility that SNKRS could shut down entirely within the next 12 to 18 months. Nike has not addressed that scenario publicly.
The company’s stated direction is toward third-party retail platforms, including Shopify and EQL, as part of a broader restructuring of how it distributes products. For a brand that spent a decade building a proprietary consumer relationship through SNKRS, that pivot represents a significant change in philosophy.
What SNKRS actually built and why it mattered
Nike launched SNKRS in 2015 with a relatively clear premise. The app would give sneaker enthusiasts a dedicated space for exclusive releases, digital raffles, and limited-edition drops. What it became over the following decade was harder to categorize.
SNKRS functioned as a retail platform, but it also operated as an editorial product. Users could explore the design history and cultural context behind specific models. Independent retailers were surfaced through the app, connecting the Nike ecosystem with a broader community of specialty shops. The combination of commerce and storytelling turned SNKRS into something that mattered to the people who used it regularly, not just as a place to buy shoes but as a signal that Nike was paying attention to what collectors actually cared about.
Drop culture built routines around it. People tracked release dates, entered raffles, and followed launch events through the app with the kind of attention usually reserved for things people are genuinely invested in. That level of engagement does not happen by accident. It was the product of deliberate decisions made by the team that has now largely been let go.
SNKRS layoffs inside Nike’s broader cuts
The SNKRS reduction is the third significant round of layoffs Nike has executed in 2026. The company cut 775 positions in January, followed by 1,400 more in April, with the most recent wave concentrated in technology departments. Chief Operating Officer Venkatesh Alagirisamy described the April cuts as part of a modernization effort focused on reshaping the technology team and updating manufacturing infrastructure.
CEO Elliott Hill has framed the overall strategy as a turnaround approach designed to address declining sales and sustained pressure on the company’s stock. Hill disclosed the purchase of more than 23,000 shares of Nike Class B common stock in April at approximately $42 per share, bringing his total holdings to roughly 265,247 shares. The disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission positions the purchase as a signal of personal conviction in the company’s direction, even as headcount continues to fall.
The industry context around tech layoffs and AI
Nike’s technology cuts are arriving during a period of widespread workforce reduction across the sector. Meta announced plans to eliminate roughly 10% of its staff, approximately 8,000 employees, with savings directed toward AI investment. Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to around 7% of its workforce, approximately 8,750 workers, as part of a reorganization tied to its AI expansion.
AI was cited as a contributing factor in nearly 55,000 layoffs across industries in 2025, according to data from Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Goldman Sachs has estimated that generative AI could affect as many as 300 million jobs globally over the longer term. Gartner has offered a more measured projection, suggesting that roughly half of companies that replaced customer service staff with AI will rehire human workers within the next year.
What happens to SNKRS now
The app is still live. The infrastructure of people who drove its product roadmap and engineering is not. Stacy Devino, who served as a principal engineer on the SNKRS team, described the situation on LinkedIn in stark terms, characterizing the team as having been obliterated and framing the platform’s development as formative not just for Nike but for digital commerce and brand storytelling more broadly.
Her account gave a face to the numbers. Behind the 90% figure are engineers, product managers, and launch specialists who built something that worked. Whether Nike intends to sustain what they built, or simply run the app at reduced capacity until a quieter decision is made, has not been answered.
