Nike to open sole production in Arizona

Goodyear, Arizona – Nike is planning to invest at least $184m in a plant to make its Nike Air soles in Arizona. The Nike Air MI plant will employ 500 people, and is expected to start production in 2020.

It will become Nike's third US manufacturing facility dedicated to the Nike Air models. The other two are in Oregon and Missouri. The Arizona facility will house design, engineering and product creation teams.

Nike added that 50% of each Nike Air sole is made of manufacturing waste. This, the company said, has led to 28.5 kT of material savings between May 2018 and 2019.

'The expansion of Air MI in Arizona helps us keep pace with the growing demand for Nike Air,' said Eric Sprunk, Nike's COO. 'It also greatly increases the size of our US manufacturing footprint… as we continue to accelerate our growth.'