STREEThing

Nike Sportswear takes the greatest of Nike’s 36-year-old sports heritage and adds the latest design and technical innovations, resulting in a range of products that are instantly recognizable as Nike icons, but updated to the highest levels of performance and style. Within the Nike Sportswear line is a pinnacle capsule collection called NSW, the apex of what Nike Sportswear represents: product steeped in sports but pushed to the cutting edge of engineering, craftsmanship, and modern design.

What happens when you give designers access to the greatest sports innovations, past and present, and allow them free rein to remix iconic designs with the groundbreaking new technology? Imaginations run wild. Products born under the NSW label blend high-tech and high-style in ways that venture into the realm of the sublime.

Nike Sportswear launches with eight iconic Nike products which includes: the Air Force 1, the Windrunner, AW 77 Hoody, the Nike Dunk, Air Max 90, Eugene Track Jacket, the Cortez and NSW Tee.

We are thrilled to see Nike incorporating cutting-edge technology with strong heritage with design from past, present and future for the NSW range. Take a look at their latest Fall ‘08 collection which was showcased during their NSW range in Beijing. The event was attended by Nike’s top executives, influencers and media from all over the world.

We are honoured to speak to some of the top influencers like Eddie Cruz (UNDFTD), Tetsuya Nishiyama (WTAPS) and Hifofumi Kiyonaga (SOPH/ F.C.R.B) about their views on the NSW range. Do not miss this!

FULL FEATURE AFTER THE JUMP

Here are some of the highligths from the upcoming NSW Fall ‘08 collection

Air Max 90 Flywire

Taking the concept of lightweight innovation to the highest level possible, Nike Sportswear also releases the Air Max 90 Flywire in Fall 08, a cutting-edge version of the iconic Air Max that puts a premium on reduced weight in the upper. Built on the same retooled platform as the Air Max Current, the AM 90 Flywire fuses technology developed for Nike’s highest performance track shoe, the Zoom Victory Spike, into the design.

A material that is paper-thin, yet extremely supportive through high-strength thread overlays, Flywire is a revolutionary development that is on its way to becoming one of Nike’s most groundbreaking innovations. By stripping down upper materials to a bare minimum, only adding cables where needed for support, Nike footwear like the Hyperdunk basketball sneaker is becoming lighter than ever previously imagined without compromising durability, integrity or support

Air Max 90 Current “Infrared”

Also releasing in Fall ‘08, the overall look of the Air Max 90 Current retains the integrity of the original AM 90, radiating from the iconic signature visible Air unit, but upon closer inspection, this new creation has all the markings of a Nike Sportswear product: It’s instantly recognizable as Air Max 90, but hybridized with the Air Current dynamic fit system and Free 5.0 technology to improve the function and feeling of the shoe.

The Flywire Windrunner

The Flywire Windrunner is considered NSW’s signature piece, a true remix of past, present and future innovations. It features gossamer-thin Japanese nylon, single layer ribbing on the wrists and waist, a digitally printed chevron (versus adding a seam), and of course a network of Flywire cables across the shoulders that adds strength and a distinctive graphic element to the piece. “By choosing semi-transparent fabric,” Jarrett continues, “we have created a garment that is not only physically light, but visibly light as well.” The Flywire is arranged in a pattern of four Flywire threads on the right and left chest, four lines on each shoulder, and two sets of four lines on the back, representing 080808, the opening day in Beijing this summer.

The Dunks

For Fall 08 Nike looks to the Beijing games for design inspiration, building a collection anchored around the colors of the five rings while referencing the Octagon that is central to the theme of the Fall 08 Nike Sportswear collection. We have seen some of the Octagon-inspired dunks for coming Fall ‘08 collection.

For this Dunk, a tightly knit pattern of tiny colored octagons—the graphic motif Nike has chosen for Beijing—is digitally printed on the canvas in a trompe l’oeil fashion, fooling the eye into seeing the iconic blocking of the original dunks. The optical effect of these “octadots” makes the shoe appear blurred or farther away by creating the illusion of it being out of focus.

AW77 and Loopwheeler

“AW 77” stands for Athletics West 1977, the first subsidized track club in the United States backed by Nike. A heathered grey hoody was designed to be used for Athletic West. Recognizing the timelessness of this iconic piece, the apparel team chose to re-invent it for the NSW collection by putting it through the filter of Nike today.

In order to create the best fleece, Nike teamed up with Loopwheeler, a premium Japanese fleece manufacturer that still produces fabric on vintage machines called “loopwheels.” The partnership between Nike Sportswear and Loopwheeler has indeed yielded a new range of “future heritage” apparel for Nike.

Alongside producing the iconic AW 77 Hoody, Nike and Loopwheeler have also teamed up to create a family of fleece products for Fall 08. Inspired by an archival Athletics West running singlet, the 3-Panel Crew integrates the vintage running uniform’s three-panel design, classic Swoosh Pinwheel graphic, and original Athletics West logo across the chest. Another heavyweight sweatshirt called the Loopwheeler Crew incorporates the Athletics West name but writes it using Loopwheeler’s typeface and placement, hybridizing the two logos in the spirit of Nike Sportswear’s mix-and-mash design mission

Air Force 1s

With Nike Sportswear, Nike pushes the quest for innovation even further from both a performance and cultural perspective. This coming fall we will see the release of (pic from left to right) Rasheed Wallace 1 World AF1 High, AF1 Pedro Winter aka Busy P (Ed Banger’s creative director) and AF1 Bird’s Nest which is inspired by Beijing Bird’s Nest stadium.

What do they think?
Many influencers such as Hiroshi Fujiwara, Paul Mittleman, Eddie Cruz (Undefeated), Hirofumi Kiyonaga (Soph/F.C.R.B), Michael Lau, Tetsuya Nishiyama (WTAPS) along with top Nike executives were all present at the event at the launch of NSW.

We would like to thank Eddie, Hirofumi and Tetsuya for taking time to share their views on the NSW range with us.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 12:17 am and is filed under Nike NSW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.