The Art of The Turnover
How Nike's Relentless Layoff Cycle Cost Them One of Football's Most Iconic Trademarks
Last week, Nike faced a peculiar kind of opponent. Not adidas on the pitch. Not Under Armour in the quarterly earnings call. Not even a scrappy startup with fresh ideas and venture capital.
This adversary was Total90 LLC, a limited liability company based in Louisiana that now owns the legal rights to one of Nike’s most legendary football brands... the Total 90.
You read that correctly. Nike... a company with approximately 77,800 employees worldwide, a market capitalization hovering around $100 billion, and one of the most sophisticated intellectual property portfolios in corporate America... simply forgot to renew a trademark registration. The Total 90 (T90) mark, which adorned the boots of Ronaldinho, Wayne Rooney, Roberto Carlos, and Fernando Torres for nearly a decade, lapsed in 2019. Total90 LLC swooped in, registered it in 2024, and promptly sued Nike for trademark infringement over recent T90-themed releases.
The timing? Catastrophic. Nike is preparing a major T90 comeback for the 2026 World Cup, with a runway provided by a high-profile collaboration with Palace that heavily leans on “P90” branding and T90 imagery. Unless Nike reclaims the mark or reaches a settlement, they could face real limitations on future retro and lifestyle releases tied to the T90 name.
But there’s s deeper story, the one that gets glossed over in the trade publications and legal blogs... this isn’t really about one trademark. It’s about what happens when a company prioritizes short-term cost-cutting over long-term institutional knowledge. It’s about the hidden costs of constant restructuring. It’s about employee turnover as a business strategy, and how that strategy inevitably turns over on itself.
Welcome to the art of the turnover.
The Layoff Machine
Let’s establish the pattern, because it’s breathtaking in its consistency.
But first, understand... this isn’t new. This is Nike’s playbook, refined over 15+ years.