Nike's SNKRS app blocked 12B bot requests a month — and still lost its core customers

Nike's SNKRS app was the primary channel for limited-edition sneaker releases — Travis Scott collabs, Off-White, Air Jordan retros — a business that generated billions in hype-driven sales. But the app was systematically broken: SNKRS blocked approximately 12 billion bot requests per month, and bots accounted for 10–50% of raffle entries depending on the drop's heat. For the Travis Scott x Fragment x Air Jordan 1 Low in August 2021, Nike said it blocked 3 million bot order attempts in a single release.

The technical failures were paired with operational ones. SNKRS crashed during nearly every major drop — Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 in May 2019, the Air Jordan 1 'Lost and Found' in November 2022, and the Nike Dunk Low 'By You' customization launch in January 2021, which accepted orders the system could not fulfil and then cancelled them en masse. A leaked internal meeting from October 2021 captured executives worrying that SNKRS was losing its most loyal customers.

In March 2021, Nike's Vice President of North America, Ann Hebert, resigned after an investigation found her son had used bots to buy limited sneakers for resale. The scandal exposed that even Nike insiders could exploit the system. In June 2022, Adidas sued Nike alleging that SNKRS, alongside the Adapt self-lacing shoe and Run Club app, infringed its mobile technology patents. The case was settled in August 2022.

In May 2025, Nike laid off 90% of the SNKRS team as part of a 1,400-person technology workforce reduction. Nike's stock had fallen roughly 70% from its pandemic peak. The company insisted SNKRS 'isn't going anywhere,' but the product that once defined sneaker culture's digital future had been hollowed out.