Nike Sportswear

From the moment the first Swoosh hit the track – back when sneakers were used strictly for running and pro basketball stars had to dunk without the benefit of ‘Air’, Nike set out to create products that met and exceeded the demands of every athlete. With Nike Sportswear (NSW), Nike has taken the best of its sport heritage and iconic designs and remixed and improved them through today’s design innovations. Footwear classics such as the Air Force 1 and Air Max 90 have been given a new lease of life – the interiors gloriously re-engineered in supple leather; rolled edges and flush seaming for superior comfort; and laser technology means the aesthetic limits is now practically only limited by the human imagination.

The NSW sportswear range of footwear and apparel are not meant to only enhance performance; they’re meant to look great as well. In designing these new products as well as giving classics a new twist, NSW worked with influential icons such as fashion designer Junya Watanabe, Japan’s streetwear guru Hiroshi Fujiwara and street-art legend Futura 2000 for their aesthetic as well as cultural insights.

Combining its renowned technologies with a fashion sensibility; the NSW range appeals not only to Nike’s core market of sportsmen and sportswomen but also to fans of well-made, functional clothing. This is especially evident in the premium materials used in the apparel line. Case in point, the Athletics West 1977 sweatshirt nicknamed the “AW77 hoodie” produced by Loopwheeler of Japan, a company revered for their high-grade fleece and artisan production methods. One of the only manufacturers in the world that still makes cotton fabrics on antique loopwheel machines, only eight AW77 hoodies can be made a day. This would have been unthinkable for a corporate behemoth such as Nike in the past.

But whatever the methods of production or design, the end goal remains the same as always; which is to create the best product possible and to bring innovation and inspiration to every single person.