I look at two big things...what are the kids wearing and what are the athletes wearing. There's also a third issue that may be in the mix.
1. While Nike is still pretty popular with the kids and I've gotten ours everything from hoodies and sweatpants to 270s, Blazers and AFs over the last few years, it's not what they're asking for right now. When it came to recent shoe requests, Hoka, On, and Converse were the more recent asks.
2. While we see Nike being the official uniform brand for certain school provided gear, my athlete doesn't like Nike for sports. When it comes to pants, she likes Mizuno. When it comes to metal cleats, she likes Ringor. For turfs...New Balance. Under Armour and TCK are her faves for socks. Her most recent travel ball uniforms have been Black Star and EvoShield, and she prefers those over her Nike school uniforms. From my running experiences, Nike isn't nearly as popular as the other brands. I've tried on a few pairs during run shop fittings and none of them were comfortable. Their Vaporfly 3 is preferred by many professional marathoners, but when I've been to races, I see a lot of Brooks, New Balance, On, Hoka, Asics, and Saucony.
3. Footwear quality for some of the throwback gear is questionable. I was a huge fan of the Nike Air Max 95s when they first came out in 1995. When I saw that they brought them back as trendy lifestyle shoes, I had to have a pair. They may look a lot like my original pairs and I love that you can do all kinds of custom colors these days, but they certainly don't fit like the original 1995s. They're too uncomfortable for any walking or running like I did with my originals, and they're actually uncomfortable to wear around for casual purposes. I've heard I'm not the only one, so I can only imagine that people looking for nostalgic footwear purchases aren't buying in on these lesser products.