Nike has stopped sponsoring college swim teams, leaving the highly competitive team-apparel space entirely to focus solely on its stronger consumer business. A Nike spokesperson said, "We recently made a decision to refocus our swim business and as a result of this, college teams that wore Nike swim were released of any contractual obligation to Perry Ellis and Nike. We don’t anticipate new Nike swim sponsorships with colleges moving forward." Nike licenses its swimwear line to clothier Perry Ellis Int'l. Perry Ellis VP/Marketing Christopher Montella in a letter told coaches that Nike and Perry Ellis have “reevaluated the way we will engage the swim community,” and teams were no longer obligated to wear Nike apparel and could not use the Nike mark on newsletters, websites, meet programs or any other forum. According to a May survey of swimwear purchasers conducted by Sports Marketing Surveys and commissioned by USA Swimming, Nike enjoys strong brand awareness and good sales among casual fitness swimmers, but it trails Speedo and TYR in the eyes of members of USA Swimming and Olympians. In '08, Nike stopped competing for sponsorship deals with Olympic swimmers.
