Top Nike executive resigns after report of her son using her credit card for sneaker resale business
On Thursday, Feb. 25, Bloomberg reported that Hebert’s 19-year-old son was circumventing online purchase limits and buying Yeezys and other newly released sneakers en masse to sell them through his resale business, West Coast Streetwear. According to the report, Joe Hebert used an American Express corporate card in Ann Hebert’s name for West Coast Streetwear. When asked about the connection, he said that he had never received inside information related to his mother’s position at Nike.
According to one of the company’s websites, he founded Portland-based West Coast Streetwear in 2017. As of Tuesday, no sneakers were displayed in its product list on one of its websites, and another of its online shops was down.
Nike has navigated small competitors reselling the brand’s sneakers for higher than retail prices for decades, Bloomberg reported. Even Nike co-founder Phil Knight started the business in 1964 with a $50 loan and sneakers from another maker he sold out of his car trunk.
But the reselling market has become even more commodified since the coronavirus pandemic, with more customers shopping online rather than braving brick-and-mortar stores. Joe Hebert was clearing $200,000 in monthly revenue before last March, but his Discord channel customers grew quickly, and so he launched a cross-country trip with a high school friend to cities with Nike outlets to buy up more product and keep up with demand.
Ann Hebert started working with Nike as a sales representative in 1995 after graduating from Ohio University, according to her LinkedIn profile. She was promoted to her most recent position last June, which involved overseeing end-to-end business operations — including sales, direct, marketing, merchandising, categories and territories — in North America. A Nike release announcing that leadership change said Hebert would be “instrumental in accelerating our Consumer Direct Offense,” an initiative in which Nike redirected sales from retailers to consumers through digital measures that made it easier for the resale market to profit, Bloomberg reported.
The story included a quote from Nike spokeswoman Sandra Carreon-John, who said that Hebert had told Nike about her son’s business in 2018. “There was no violation of company policy, privileged information or conflicts of interest, nor is there any commercial affiliation between WCS LLC and Nike, including the direct buying or selling of Nike products,” she said.
Neither Nike nor West Coast Streetwear responded to requests for comment.
