No Bull Trying to Hire Laid-Off Nike Employees Is All Bull

No Bull is full of bull. Today, the athletic footwear brand tried to make waves with a post on X directed at laid-off Nike employees inviting them to come join the No Bull workforce. Nike is in the process of laying off 2 percent of its global workforce; No Bull saw a social media headline about the job cuts as an opportunity to recruit.

In the post, No Bull, which is located in Boston, gave a lengthy pitch:

“Dear Ex-Nike Employees,

“We are so sorry about your recent news. At NOBULL, we believe adversity builds character: when you get knocked down, you get back up; when one door closes, another one opens – and our doors at NOBULL are always open.

"We are building something really special here at NOBULL, led by serial entrepreneur @RepoleStable and @TomBrady, and we know it’s PEOPLE who build brands and make the biggest difference to the success of the company.

“Congrats on a historic and epic run for both you and @Nike, but even great athletes like Tom Brady and iconic brands like Nike eventually retire!

“You have all played a huge role in the past, but now it’s your chance to join our team and play a huge role in the future – by building the next epic and iconic brand.

“If you’re interested in joining TEAM NOBULL or just need someone to talk to, please reach out to HR@NOBULLproject.com or our summer intern TomBradyIntern@NOBULLproject.com. LFG.”

It sounds like a smart social media play on the surface, but let’s break down why it’s pretty much an utter fail and why you don’t want to work for No Bull.

No Bull is known for being a brand that built its name on CrossFit training shoes. Its shoes are simple: no panels on the upper, 4mm drop on a flat sole, and they come in a boatload of colors and prints. They’ve diversified their footwear portfolio, but most No Bull shoes mostly look the same.

Everything was going good for No Bull, on the outside at least. Until last year when the brand laid off 75 employees, approximately 35 percent of its staff, after CMO Todd Meleny resigned.

No Bull was the title sponsor of the CrossFit Games from 2021 to ‘23. But it looks as if the brand is pivoting slowly away from the sport and training methodology. At the top of 2024, No Bull merged with Tom Brady’s TB12 company, a move that some people might have seen coming. The brand became the official sponsor of the NFL Combine starting in 2023.

It’s totally fine to switch your company’s focus. It happens all the time. But the company was founded on the CrossFit community. It was launched by former Reebok executives Marcus Wilson and Michael Schaeffer in 2015. For those who don’t know, Reebok was the title sponsor of the CrossFit Games from 2011 to '20.

If you look at the No Bull Instagram account, the focus of the content has shifted to HIIT, sports performance, and just everyday gym goers or runners, instead of highlighting sponsored athletes or CrossFit training.

But maybe we could see that coming. No Bull dropped most of its CrossFit athletes recently, an industry source told me. Even Tia Clair Toomey-Orr, who’s won the CrossFit Games a record six times, left No Bull recently for GoRuck. Last year, right before the CrossFit Games semifinals, No Bull laid off its retail teams that would have worked the events, and didn’t show up with retail booths.

According to CrossFit news site The Barbell Spin, when No Bull laid off 35 percent of its workforce, an employee said, “internal communication shared with those let go was that No Bull had grown too fast and poor decisions had been made along the way.”

No Bull riffing off Nike's layoffs for social media clout looks awfully insincere considering how much it's recently reduced its own workforce.

On top of that, No Bull’s shoes are boring. Sure, some people swear by them, but you see less and less CrossFitters wearing them. I’ve trained in them and wouldn’t go back. There’s much better product on the market now.

No Bull seemed like a fun alternative when the world was dominated by Nike and Reebok. But since then, TYR, RAD, GoRuck, Strike Movement, Adidas, Puma, and Inov8 have all jumped in for a piece of the pie. And frankly, No Bull’s shoes feel outdated.

No Bull served a cease and desist to popular CrossFit YouTuber Andrew Hiller in 2022 because he made shirts that said “No Rep” in the No Bull font, playing off a popular saying in the CrossFit community. He wore one of them to the CrossFit Games that year and was barred from entering events and asked to wear it inside out if he wanted to attend.

No Bull feels to me like a brand that’s recently drifted away from its roots, cut significant jobs, and generally proven to be not that exciting. Doesn’t sound like a great place to work. So what might seem like a noble play by the company—appealing to former Nike employees in distress—really is a bunch of bull crap if you can see the whole picture.