Athleta partners with the world and multi Olympic champion Allyson Felix after Felix walked away from brand giant Nike.
Felix career over the years has been outstanding, winning twenty-five global medals in the World Championships and the Olympics.
Felix was previously in partnership with Nike; however, she saw them as unsupportive during, and since her pregnancy, they were eager for her to return to competing in spite of her undergoing an emergency C-section, requiring ample time for recovery.
Shoe giant Nike has reportedly reworked its sponsorship policies for female athletes. This is after a massive backlash over the summer after star athletes like Alysia Montano, Allyson Felix and others spoke up about their treatment during their pregnancies.
They reworked their sponsorship policies for female athletes with language that protects their pay if they get pregnant. Athletes such as Alysia Montaño, who criticized the company and several of its competitors for penalizing women for getting pregnant spoke up after years of female athletes suffering in silence. Nike’s endorsement contracts currently give the company the right to reduce or pause pay for runners who fail to meet performance guidelines. As the May 12 piece in the Times noted, there are no exceptions carved out for cases of childbirth, pregnancy, or maternity.
Pregnant female athletes over the years have feared to lose their contracts or getting paid less for deciding to have a family.
A female athlete shouldn’t have to have this fear when choosing to have a family. But rather to have companies that understand. This is why athletes such as Allyson have joined brands such as Athleta who believe in being active opens doors to a bigger life.
“Athleta has been at the forefront of empowering and celebrating women for two decades and the brand has always stood for the empowerment of women and inspiring the next generation of girls through sport,” said Athleta’s Chief Marketing Officer Shelia Shekar Pollak.
With the rise of women’s sport and the fight for equality, giants brands such as Nike should see and work with female athletes much closer to making things right for all. This summer, we witnessed considerable investment in the promotion of women’s sport, especially football by brands like Nike. The treatment of athletes across the board needs to reflect what we see these brands preach.
