Nike announced Tuesday it will no longer make clothing under disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong’s former foundation brand, now called Livestrong.
The decision ends a years-long professional relationship that began in 2004 and helped Mr. Armstrong’s foundation – originally called the Lance Armstrong Foundation — raise more than $100 million for cancer causes through sales of the Livestrong apparel line, The Associated Press reported.
This is just the latest in a long line of hits to Mr. Armstrong, who admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs during his Tour de France competitions.
Nike said it will stop producing the Livestrong brand after the 2013 holiday season, AP reported. The foundation will receive the full contract payments that go through 2014, AP said.
Livestrong officials, meanwhile, shook off the lost contract with an announcement that charitable operations would continue and that the organization remained strong.
“[The Foundation] is deeply grateful” to Nike, officials with the Livestrong said, in the AP report. “Together we created new revolutionary ways of thinking aobut how non-profits fuel their mission and we’re proud of that.”
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Mr. Armstrong started his foundation in 1997 under the name of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, but was pushed off the board in October after his doping scandal grew. The group then changed its name to Livestrong.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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