When the most decorated 100-metre sprinter ever stepped to the line for a final time, she told herself what she knew: that she was prepared, powerful and this race was hers—for her. The next handful of seconds were to honour everything that had brought her to this moment.Green, yellow and black hair whipping behind her—a self-proclaimed "daughter of the soil", who chose to wear the colours of her nation's flag for her final finish—gold-hued&nbsp;nails splayed in front of her, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-celebrates-shelly-ann-fraser-pryce" target="_blank">Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce</a> exploded off the blocks in the World Athletics Championship final in a capacity-filled Japan National Stadium in Tokyo. She ended her 100-metre career in the same way she began racing 18 years ago in Japan—with fierce speed, strength and composure. It was a bold tribute to Jamaica, the nation whose unyielding support has carried her through two decades at the top of the sport.In her decades of dominance—from becoming the first Caribbean woman to win Olympic gold in the 100 metres in 2008, to returning as World Champion in 2019 after giving birth to her son, Zyon—Shelly-Ann has embodied the power of duality.&nbsp;The ability to have longevity in athletics's shortest, most intense discipline; exuding femininity and self-expression in a physically demanding sport; proving motherhood and greatness can coexist.What athletes everywhere, and especially young girls, can take from Shelly-Ann's lead: the courage to run your own race, on your terms. To trust that setbacks don't define you, only your response to them. And the assurance that, if you believe in yourself and work with discipline, harmony is possible. Dreams and family, career and legacy.For that and for the now 276 incredible races and finishing line moments, thank you, Shelly-Ann.Below, go behind the scenes of the GOAT's final meet days in Tokyo.

The shoes. The hair. The finish. At the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Shelly-Ann, a five-time world champion, ended her career her way.

Sofieke van Bilsen is a 29-year-old Dutch photographer with a passion for storytelling through imagery. She is the in-house photographer for the German women's national football team, and was team photographer for the German Olympic Team in Paris 2024. She works closely with Nike athletes such as Faith Kipyegon, Eliud Kipchoge and Sifan Hassan.In her photography, she aims to create compelling visual narratives, focusing on the deep connection between emotion and athleticism. She strives to capture the raw moments behind the scenes, the untold stories of the journey and everything in between, bringing the spirit of sport to life.Sofieke's personality creates instant connections with people, and she is loved by the athletes she works with. Her relaxed and enthusiastic personality complements an incredible skill level and the ability to work in high-pressure environments for athletes.

Sofieke van Bilsen

Photo essay

Icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Ran Her Final 100 Metre On Her Terms

Over the course of his career, LeBron James has shared his passion for the game globally, partnering with Nike to travel throughout Greater China during his offseason, galvanizing a nation in its love for basketball and hoops culture. Just as LeBron's career has evolved through different eras, his tours have represented different values over the many times he's visited since 2005. Below are some of his most memorable moments in the country.

2005–2009

LeBron began his debut tour in Beijing in August of 2005. He was invited to watch the awards ceremony of the Nike Battlegrounds tournament, but he'd depart as more than just a spectator. From the moment he stepped down in China, he believed his tour could become a cross-cultural exchange rooted in a shared love of hoops and a mission to inspire the next generation of young players in China. "Basketball is not only a sport, it's also a bridge that connects people", he said.&nbsp;"This is a great learning experience for everyone. I hope I can continue to help grow the game globally and inspire the youth in China to reach their dreams".

LeBron's legacy in China is woven into special China-specific iterations of his signature footwear. In 2007, LeBron James appeared alongside NIKE, Inc.'s then-President & CEO Mark Parker to debut his Nike Zoom LeBron V "China" colourway.

LeBron returned to Beijing in 2009 after his MVP season, where he enjoyed a hero's welcome. As part of his trip, he donated equipment and provided scholarships for the Zhenhua School, a school for the children of migrant workers in suburban Beijing.

To celebrate his season, LeBron was presented with an exclusive pair of the Nike Air Max LeBron VII, featuring a Shenyang-inspired design dubbed "Loyalty" created by the local artist Ray Lei, and a Shanghai-inspired design dubbed "Family", created by the local artist Sic.

2011–2015

LeBron embraced his role as a global ambassador for the game, focusing on the opportunity to inspire China's young players. In 2011, his tour expanded to eight days over four cities, promoting grassroots basketball through a series of skill clinics and tournaments.

In 2012, with a fresh gold medal to pair with his championship ring, LeBron James made a triumphant arrival in Beijing to kick off a four-day tour as part of the&nbsp;Find Your Greatness campaign. "Greatness is defined by how much you want to put into what you do", said LeBron. "Greatness comes with victory. It also comes with being able to come back from adversity".

In 2013, LeBron returned to China with plenty to celebrate: his second straight NBA championship and MVP awards for both the regular season and the Finals.

In 2014, LeBron James was the first mentor to announce the roster for the Nike RISE, designed to help players raise their competitive game and improve their skill.

In 2015, Nike RISE 2015 evolved with LED Courts and motion-tracking drills to create a pinnacle training experience, teach the fundamentals of basketball and push the boundaries of sports training.

An emotional finale saw four players chosen to represent China at the World Streetball Championships.

2016–2019

After winning another NBA title in 2016, LeBron entered Guangzhou to a massive championship parade, the streets flanked by tens of thousands of fans, many of them in Cavs #23 jerseys. It was a signal for just how widely James's legacy had expanded throughout Asia.&nbsp;His More Than an Athlete campaign inspired young players to see basketball as one of many tools for affecting social change.

After a warm welcome from thousands of fans, he spent most of his time in Beijing working out with and coaching members of the Chinese Junior National basketball team.

Visiting primary schools throughout Beijing, LeBron shared his personal basketball experiences with young athletes, emphasising the role that hard work, dedication and self-belief played in his path to success.

In 2018, the first day of his "More Than an Athlete" tour in Shanghai began with a panel discussion with students at the Shanghai Theatre&nbsp;Academy, and ended with a park shootaround. Hundreds of fans gathered outside the court to watch him play, hoping to catch a glimpse of the icon.

This month, LeBron flew to China for his "Forever King Tour", his 15th in the country and marking the 20th anniversary of tours in Asia. There, he joined some of the world's most passionate hoopers and basketball fans, reiterating his commitment to giving back to the game across the world.

Over the course of his career, LeBron James has shared his passion for the game globally, partnering with Nike to travel throughout Greater China during his offseason, galvanizing a nation in its love for basketball and hoops culture.

Journey of an icon: 20 years of LeBron James in China

Hours of powering up steep ascents and navigating gnarly descents. Whipping mountain winds, glaring direct sun and biting evening temps. Getting mentally right with the fact that the next aid station is far, far away. Ultra trail running can sound like a gruelling, relentless sport reserved for the wildest, most hardcore athletes among us.According to our <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-acg-all-conditions-racing-department" target="_blank">All Conditions Racing Department</a> runners—six of whom just conquered pinnacle UTMB races across the French, Italian and Swiss Alps, on trails spanning 15 to 174 kilometres, with elevation gains of 1,200 to nearly 10,000 metres—the grit, determination, joy and freedom trail running gives you are worth every ounce of work. See for yourself.

<h3>ROSS GOLLAN</h3>Race: Experience Trail Courmayeur (ETC); 15K with 1,200m elevation gain Global finish rank: 29th

<h3>MARIE NIVET</h3>Race: ETC; 15K with 1,200m elevation gain Global women's finish rank: 7th

CESARE MAESTRIRace: ETC; 15K with 1,200m elevation gain Global finish rank: 2nd

<h3>BAPTISTE COATANTIEC</h3>Race: Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB); 174K with nearly 10,000m elevation gain Global finish rank: 11th

<h3>ANTHONY COSTALES</h3>Race: Courmayeur—Champex—Chamonix (CCC); 101K with more than 6,050m elevation gain Global finish rank: 15th

<h3>DREW HOLMEN</h3>Race: CCC; 101K with more than 6,050m elevation gain Global finish rank: 3rd

Powering up steep ascents. Navigating gnarly descents. Whipping mountain winds. Ultra trail running is a relentless sport. But the payoff is well worth the grind.

Ultra trail running can take everything you've got—and give you even more

About Nike—stories from inside NIKE, Inc.

This is, obviously, a running story.But the story of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-pegasus-42-official-images" target="_blank">Nike Pegasus</a> is also something more specific—a case study in how restraint, clarity and attention to fundamentals can produce lasting success. Launched in 1982, the Pegasus would go on to become Nike's most consistent and popular running shoe of all time, a franchise that has endured across eras, innovations and shifting footwear philosophies. "There's no modest way of saying this", said Sebastian Tesche, product line manager of the Pegasus 35. "The Peg is the single biggest and best running shoe in the world. It's bigger than many of our competitors".It wasn't designed to be an icon. It was designed to solve a problem.

In the late 1970s, Nike's earliest experiments with Air were full of promise but hindered by the realities of the technology. The 1978 Tailwind introduced Air to running yet it introduced stability issues that the company would spend the next several years trying to fix. The Columbia and Aurora that followed solved some of those problems but felt stiff at a time when runners wanted something livelier underfoot. Fortunately, Nike knew Air was a long game.&nbsp;

The great thing that we always thought about Air at that time—and it's still true—is that it doesn't lose its cushioning properties hardly at all through time", said Howard Banich, who oversaw running product in 1982. "Jeff Johnson, Nike's first employee, always wanted us to do an ad that showed a person coming back to the shoe store with just the Air bag from their shoe and saying, 'I would like another shoe around this please.' Because the Air bag was still going strong".Still, the question remained: how do you put Air where it matters without making the shoe too expensive or too complicated?One solution came from an ongoing innovation project led by former Nike CEO Mark Parker. Known internally as the Air Wedge Trainer—the concept that would ultimately become the Pegasus—it&nbsp;borrowed an Internationalist upper and outsole, added a heel Air unit encapsulated in polyurethane and positioned Air right at heel strike. It was essentially a simpler, cheaper expression of Air and it tested well.

"A heel wedge still provided the benefits of Air where it was needed the most—under&nbsp;the heel at heel strike—but it was less expensive because it was really only a third of the size of the full-length Air-Sole that was used in the Tailwind", Parker said.At the same time, New Balance had just released the 990 with a provocative tagline: "At a suggested retail price of $100, is the 990 too expensive or too inexpensive?" The price point shocked the market and galvanised Nike. If the competition was willing to push upward, Nike saw an opportunity to create a shoe that delivered performance at a more approachable cost.The Air Wedge Trainer, with its strong test results and modest bill of materials, suddenly looked like the perfect platform.

Building a "best practices" shoe

With the Air Wedge Trainer as a foundation, development for the Pegasus took place at Nike's facility in Exeter, New Hampshire, where the heel Air wedge concept was built into a fully realised running shoe. Bill Peterson designed the outsole. Bruce Kilgore, deep in Air Force 1 development, offered design input. Parker integrated those ideas into a simple, functional upper: grey, with Dark Navy accents—a look one European sales rep later described as "a rainy day".Nike also made a strategic shift to hit its target price of around $50: manufacturing moved to Korea, to the Poon Young factory. Very few running shoes were being produced in Korea at the time. Components had to be imported—Air wedges from the US, nylon from Germany—and Nike developers scrambled to refine techniques. "The Air unit didn't fit correctly in the shoe at first", recalled footwear innovation veteran Steve Roth. During a holiday back in the US, he spent two weeks in Saco, Maine resizing Air wedges by hand so they would sit properly in the midsole.Still, the project moved fast. In only about four months, Nike had a completed shoe—one built around Air and a carefully selected set of core features: a new EVA foam called Tomilite offered a resilient ride. A Waffle outsole, with lugs orientated for motion, gave runners better ground contact and stability. The upper was simple, lightweight and unpretentious.

"The Pegasus was essentially our 'best practices' shoe", Roth said. "It had Air, yes, but it was mostly about: what are the best features we can put in a product that hit the sweet spot of the market?"It wasn't the flashiest running shoe in the line, nor was it meant to be. It was designed to work.

A running manual for the masses

Nike's confidence in the Pegasus showed in the small details. The company had begun releasing "owner's manuals" with its higher-profile footwear to help runners understand new technologies and the Pegasus received one, too. It walked consumers through Air, Tomilite and the shoe's geometry. The transparency helped reinforce the Pegasus as a shoe built on clarity, usefulness and trust.

Naming the Pegasus

Today, many assume the Pegasus name came from the idea of a half-horse, half-winged creature, an allusion to the balance of EVA and Air in the midsole. But the real story is far simpler.To name the shoe, employees dropped suggestions into a bowl. Several slips of paper read Pegasus, including one from Mark Parker. Nike had been playing with mythology themes—Odyssey, Valkyrie—and Pegasus fit the family. "Names were a lot easier back then", Parker said.The name stuck. And with it came the beginnings of what would become Nike's most beloved running shoe.

The instant hit

Nike introduced the Pegasus at the 1982 New York City Marathon. While Alberto Salazar powered to his third consecutive win in a pair of Mariahs, the men's Pegasus debuted in limited quantities as part of Nike's technical running line. It launched to select dealers and quickly posted strong early sales: nearly $200,000 in under a month, with roughly 8,000 units sold. By December, that number had climbed to more than 35,000 pairs.When the Pegasus rolled out more broadly in early 1983, the reaction was immediate. "The initial reaction to the Pegasus was very good", said Jim Docherty, who began his career as a Nike EKIN that year. "When the Tailwind hit the market, some consumers thought it was too soft because most midsoles were fairly firm at that time and the Tailwind was a big change from the norm. The Pegasus with heel Air bridged the gap between old EVA midsoles and total Air".

For young runners and store employees alike, the Pegasus quickly became the reliable choice—the shoe you knew you could recommend. In 1983, long before he became a Nike Running veteran and future Pegasus PLM, Tim Slingsby was a student working in a running store. "The Pegasus was your go-to shoe when someone would come in, you would sell them", he said. "As a high school kid, you knew it would work, it would perform, and it was a great price. It had everything".Within six months, Nike had sold nearly 300,000 pairs, generating $6.4 million in men's sales alone.The formula worked.

The every-runner's shoe

By 1985, Pegasus sales had reached 2.5 million pairs. Nike had found its lane and owned it. Longtime Nike designer Bob Lucas compared the shoe to an automotive staple: "to use an automotive analogy, auto manufacturers have their Pegasus in their lines: a Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla. … that kind of product line where it's a value-based proposition".Over the next several years, Nike made only modest adjustments to the shoe—incremental material updates, seasonal colour changes—while leaving its core intact. That restraint became part of the Pegasus's identity. "I think everybody always knew it was one of those things where you didn't want to change it", said Clare Hamill, a leader at Nike Running in the mid-1980s. "That was the biggest challenge—how&nbsp;to make it better without changing it".

At the heart of the early Pegasus was a simple principle: don't complicate it. The midsole, upper and outsole were all guided by what Hamill described plainly. "The core philosophy of the Pegasus was, keep it simple. No junk. Give people what they need and don't overbuild".Runners felt that clarity. By the late 1980s, the Pegasus had become a dependable constant in an increasingly crowded running landscape, one defined less by flash than by trust. The 1989 Air Pegasus, built on existing tooling with a soft poly-pag and synthetic suede upper, would later be remembered as a high-water mark. "If you asked loyal Pegasus wearers through the years what their favourite version has been", said former Nike Running Leader Kevin Paulk, "I would be willing to bet a lot of people would say the Peg '89. It had a nice soft upper and fit like a glove".

From its earliest years, that has remained the draw of the Pegasus: a running shoe built not to chase trends but to earn loyalty, mile after mile.

The Peg wasn't designed to be an icon. It was designed to solve a problem. See how that solution became "the single biggest and best running shoe in the world".

Nike Pegasus: The Origin of a Running Workhorse

Words: <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="/company/people/department-of-nike-archives" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Department of Nike Archives</a>Not every breakthrough in sports science begins in a lab.For Nike's iconic Waffle sole—one of running's most game-changing innovations—it began in the kitchen.It was 1971 and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/bill-bowerman-nike-s-original-innovator" target="_blank">Bill Bowerman</a> was wrestling with a problem he'd been turning over in his mind ever since a hard, slick new urethane track had been installed at the University of Oregon two years prior, which was injuring runners. Bowerman had to face a reality: he had chosen a track surface that wasn't holding up, and he needed to find a fix. How could his runners get better grip? Spikes dug in too deep; flats didn't bite enough.One morning, while glancing at his wife, Barbara's, waffle iron—a Model 251 by Bersted Manufacturing Company, which the Bowermans had received as a wedding gift in 1936—he was struck by the grid pattern. The raised squares seemed like the exact geometry that could deliver the lightweight traction he'd been chasing.He poured liquid urethane straight into the family waffle iron, only it instantly glued shut permanently, ruining their 35-year-old wedding present. Undeterred, he drove into town, bought several more secondhand waffle irons, and kept experimenting. Those first imprints came out inverted with concave bumps, but they sparked the idea that would lead him to refine moulds and materials until a workable prototype finally emerged.

What resulted was the first version of the Nike Moon Shoe—a design that would shape the future of running for decades."The Waffle sole changed everything", says Nike Running Historian Rick Lower. "Not only did it transform how runners thought about traction and cushioning but it showed people what Nike was about: solving problems in new ways".

A catalyst for the future

In 1971, Nike, then still known as Blue Ribbon Sports, an American importer of Japanese running shoes, hadn't yet become the global force in sports innovation that it is today. The fledgling company was still finding its footing, and Bowerman—co-founder, coach and relentless tinkerer—was at the centre of that push. To him, every surface was a problem waiting for a solution.&nbsp;That included the new Astroturf laid down at Autzen Stadium, where the Oregon Ducks football team struggled for traction. In wet conditions, players often ditched their boots for basketball shoes with a herringbone outsole that gripped better. Bowerman and teammate Jeff Johnson began exploring traction ideas for football as well as athletics, a line of thinking that would lead to the Astrograbber—a shoe prototyped in 1972 and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-bode-rec-astrograbber-official-images" target="_blank">reissued decades later</a>."There had been no real innovation in outsoles for decades", says Nike Running Historian Rick Lower. "Running shoes were basically just a sheet of rubber to protect your feet from the road, and traction and cushioning were secondary. Bowerman wasn't willing to accept that".Inspired by the moment in his kitchen, he began pulling in a network of local resources to help refine the moulds and materials—tire shops, machinists, cobblers. Early prototypes disintegrated after only minutes of running. Others left athletes with cut ankles from exposed wire that was embedded in the rubber mixture for traction. Yet each failed attempt nudged the idea closer to the finishing line.

By November 1971, the Waffle sole had its first taste of competition when members of Oregon's cross-country team wore early versions to win the NCAA title. Through the winter and spring of 1972, more college&nbsp;and local South Eugene high-school&nbsp;athletes quietly tested pairs. By the following summer, Bowerman and Geoff Hollister were hand-cobbling a small batch of prototypes for a bigger stage: the US Olympic Trials in Eugene.They weren't perfect, especially not for the marathon level. "It was basically just an upper stitched to a thin sheet of waffle", Lower says. "So minimal it was like running barefoot". Still, a handful of brave runners laced them up. Some thought the Waffle sole footprints looked like astronauts' footprints on the moon, becoming part of the lore that gave the prototypes their now-iconic nickname: the Moon Shoe.For the fast-growing company, it was a pivotal moment. Even if the shoe wasn't ready for mass release, it was proof the idea worked and evidence that this small Oregon company could push running footwear in an entirely new direction.

The bridge to a running movement

The Moon Shoe itself never went to market, though a few pairs are believed to have been sold out of Nike's Eugene retail store, making it possible to have snagged one if you were in the right place at the right time. But the shoe's DNA spread quickly. By 1973, Nike released the Oregon Waffle. Two years later came the Waffle Trainer, Nike's first blockbuster success.Designed by Bill Bowerman and Geoff Hollister, as well as famed Bowerman collaborators orthopaedic surgeon Stan James and podiatrist Dennis Vixie, the Waffle Trainer became Nike's most popular running model. It was created at the request of runner Jon Anderson, who wanted a more substantial training shoe, but went well beyond satisfying Anderson's needs—it became the best-selling training shoe in the country. By 1975, orders had topped 100,000 units, and its blue upper with a yellow Swoosh became one of the defining looks of Nike's early years. To this day, it remains emblematic of Nike in the 1970s.

The milestone sneaker didn't just give everyday runners better grip. With a flared sole and a new cushioning sensation unlike anything they'd felt before, it changed expectations of what a running shoe could be."That shoe was the bridge", Lower explains. "It took the Moon Shoe's experiment and turned it into a global product. From there Nike's reputation as an innovator was cemented".But it wasn't the end for the Moon Shoe. After making its revival on Nike collaborator and French designer Jacquemus's runway last January, the iconic silhouette was reimagined for a new generation. Sleek and fashion-forward, the new sneaker, coming soon, bridges performance heritage and style with speed, capturing the same restless drive that defined its earliest incarnation. What was once vaulted as Nike's racing DNA is now primed for the future.

Long live experimentation and innovation

The waffle iron tale might have stayed legend if not for a discovery decades later. When Bowerman's son Tom renovated the family property in Coburg, Oregon, he unearthed a long-forgotten rubbish pit near the carport. Inside were discarded prototypes, moulds and the rusted shell of the waffle iron Barbara Bowerman had tossed after Bill glued it shut.&nbsp;Today, that iron rests in the Department of Nike Archives at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., acting as a reminder of the kitchen tinkering that became the blueprint for Nike's approach and long-term success: experiment boldly, keep refining and never stop pushing forward.

Born of need and elevated by expertise and diligence, today the Department of Nike Archives (DNA) cares for hundreds of thousands of artefacts and a limitless vault of connected stories.&nbsp;The brand archive began organically in the 1970s and officially became DNA in 2006. The department's purpose is to both preserve and accelerate the ever-evolving and interconnected story of Nike. "Knowing who you are and the fights you've come through can do huge things for morale, inspiration and creativity. That's what DNA provides". - Phil Knight

Department of Nike Archives

Created from the experimentation and ingenuity of Nike's co-founder Bill Bowerman, the Nike Moon Shoe's unique design would shape the future of running for decades.

Feature

From waffle iron to world stage: the true story of the Nike Moon Shoe

25 January 1964. Saturday.The Beatles registered their first number-one hit song in the United States: "I Want to Hold Your Hand".And on a cold, rainy day in Portland, Oregon, a coach and his former athlete met for lunch at the Cosmopolitan Hotel to discuss a possible business partnership.One hour later, Phil Knight and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/bill-bowerman-nike-s-original-innovator" target="_blank">Bill Bowerman</a> stood, reached across the table and shook hands. Blue Ribbon Sports was born.To understand how two Oregonians arrived at that moment—and why it held—we have to go back a decade, to a teenager who had just been cut from baseball.

The Beginning

Phil Knight grew up in Southeast Portland and went to Cleveland High. As he tells it, he was the last cut on the sophomore-and-under baseball team—a decision that stung."I was heartbroken but my mum said, 'You are not going to mope around the house. You're either going to get a paper route or go out for track'. Well, that was easy. I went out for track".That decision set him on a course that would change his life, and, eventually, the sports world.Knight tried out for athletics and quickly found his stride. While he was physically smaller than his teammates, he was fast, competitive and willing to work.At one early meet, his father, William, a labour lawyer who would later become publisher of the Oregon Journal, introduced him to Oregon athletics coach Bill Bowerman. The two older men had attended the University of Oregon together. That day was his first introduction to the coach who would later shape his life.By then, Knight was already starting to win and place in local races, enough to earn a name in Oregon's competitive prep scene. During his junior year, he spotted a headline that stuck with him: Bill Dellinger, a runner from the University of Oregon, who had just won the mile at the national championships under Bowerman's coaching."It was startling", Knight said. "It was a huge headline in The Oregonian and that's when I became aware of Bill Bowerman and what a phenomenal programme he had".

The Hamburger of Runners

Although small and lean, Knight never let size hold him back. In 1955, he played on Cleveland's city-championship basketball team, finished second in the league 880-yard (805-metre) run and took fourth at the state meet. By autumn, he'd earned a spot on Bowerman's athletics and cross-country teams at the University of Oregon.Long before his first practice, though, his father had already turned to Bowerman for guidance—an early glimpse of the connection that would define both men's careers. Curious to get the coach's perspective on whether Phil should attend university or join the military, William Knight wrote to him that autumn.Bowerman replied with his trademark mix of bluntness and care."My first concern is for your young man's education", he wrote. "All will not be fun and frolic. It takes hard work for success in anything … it is a privilege to have your son here, also a responsibility for me, for you and for him".

Like many freshmen before him, Knight soon learned what that meant, struggling under the bombastic Bowerman. "After my freshman year, I had to sit down with myself and ask if I was going to go back to that crazy man, or not", Knight recalled. "I realised if I go back, I'm just going to have to do things his way because he's not going to change. So, I went back".That decision proved pivotal. Bowerman saw potential in Knight—not&nbsp;as a star runner but as an ideal test subject. "I wasn't one of the best runners on the team", Knight admitted. "Bowerman knew he could use me as a guinea pig without much risk".He called Knight the "hamburger" of runners—hearty stock, forgiving, determined—and began using him to test early shoe prototypes. In August 1958, Bowerman sent Knight a letter outlining his summer training plan and added a postscript, "If you have a pair you think would make good flats, send them down. They'll be ready when school starts".The pair Knight received that autumn featured an experimental white, rubber-coated fabric—"the kind you'd use for a tablecloth you could sponge off", Bowerman later said. They were crude, functional and a glimpse of what was coming. The coach was still years from finding a manufacturing partner, but his drive to build a faster, lighter shoe had already found its first willing tester.

From Athletics to Business

By the time Knight graduated from Oregon in 1959 with a degree in business, his competitive drive had shifted from athletics to the classroom. The next stop was Stanford, where he enrolled to pursue his MBA.At first, his path seemed uncertain. But during his final year, a class called "Small Business Management" caught his attention. It was a class that would quietly spark the idea of a lifetime."It was the only entrepreneurship class, so it was one of the classes that I was most interested in", Knight said.&nbsp;He developed a strong rapport with his professor, Frank Shallenberger, who assigned the students a simple but open-ended project: invent a new business, define its purpose and create a marketing plan to support it.Knight had recently overheard a conversation among photographers at the Oregon Journal, where he'd worked summers during university. They were talking about a surge of inexpensive Japanese cameras that were starting to rival the more powerful and costly German models."Electronics was a popular topic at that time and the smart kids chose to write about things like that", Knight said. "But I didn't know anything about electronics, so I wrote about something that I did know about—shoes".Drawing from his experience as one of Bill Bowerman's wear-testers, he built his hypothetical company. By 1962, German sports shoes were on the rise in the US—high quality, yes, but expensive. Knight saw an opening.He turned the idea into a paper he wrote almost literally overnight with a single bold hypothesis: Can Japanese sports shoes do to German sports shoes what Japanese cameras did to German cameras?Knight argued that Japanese-made running shoes could compete on both price and quality with the dominant German brands. Knight received an "A". When the assignment was over, he couldn't shake the idea. "I wrote a letter of enquiry to virtually every Japanese shoemaker that I could find".Only one company replied: the Kow Hoo Shoe Company of Hong Kong. The letter, written in imperfect English, was polite but discouraging."It is with regret to inform you that due to lack of [such] equipment and material, we can hardly manufacture [such] type of shoes and trust that every shoemaker in Hongkong (sic) fails in doing so. We are expert in manufacturing golf shoes, skating boots and bowling shoes, etc.".It wasn't the answer Knight had hoped for, but it didn't matter. A seed had been planted that would soon take root.Shaken but not deterred, he was about to face the opportunity of a lifetime.That story—and more—will come in future Department of Nike Archive features on The Record.

Go behind the scenes of the famous business deal between Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman—co-founders of Nike.

History

The Handshake That Started It All

At the base of K2, the world's second-highest peak, two American climbers sat among their gear, snow-streaked ridgelines rising behind them. Their faces were lean from 68 days on the mountain. Both wore yellow Nike Long Distance Vectors (LDVs)—one of the brand's top long-distance running shoes at the time—which looked as battered as the climbers themselves. A picture was needed to mark the moment; one of the men raised a thumb towards the camera. The photograph, taken by mountaineering photographer Dianne Roberts in 1978, would go on to become one of Nike's most unexpected origin stories.

An Unlikely Sponsorship

Months earlier, Nike had quietly supplied the expedition with those lightweight trainers, a last-minute gift meant for the 110-mile approach to basecamp. "A lot of it was off-trail", recalled Rick Ridgeway, one of the climbers in the photo and a leading American alpinist of the era. "You can imagine they were pretty trashed by the time we got there".In those years, most climbers relied on stiff leather boots built in Europe. The LDVs were the opposite: soft, breathable and fast. "They were just more flexible and more comfortable", Ridgeway said. "What was really cool about those LDVs is that you need to hop around on rocks. This was a rough hike so you could boulder hop. They breathed better. They were functionally superior to the more rigid traditional trekking shoe".

Internally, Nike referred to the model as the "Long Distance Vixie" because Eugene podiatrist Dennis Vixie made the last. Externally, it was known as the Long Distance Vector.At the time, Nike hadn't yet stepped into the outdoor business—the shoes had simply been a goodwill gesture for the expedition. No one could have predicted that they would plant the seed for an entirely new category.

By the time the team descended, the fabric sneakers had nearly fallen apart. Ridgeway and Roskelley held them together with tape and glue for the long walk back to the roadhead. "Being up that high for that long without oxygen, it was hard", Ridgeway remembered. "But we made it. And on the way out, we started talking about how the shoe could be modified to make it into a usable trekking shoe".When they returned home, the climbers mailed their blown-out LDVs to Nike along with a short list of suggested improvements, including a tougher sole and more rugged upper, while still keeping the shoe lightweight and flexible. Those notes would help spark Nike's first outdoor footwear line and, eventually, the category that became <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-reintroduces-acg-all-conditions-gear" target="_blank">All Conditions Gear</a> (ACG).

From Climb to Concept

Nike's design team took the climbers' feedback to heart. The field-worn LDVs had proven that lighter footwear could thrive where only heavy boots once ruled. The idea that "light is right" began to ripple through the brand's ranks.By 1981, that thinking produced three shoes that merged the best of Nike running with durability for rough terrain: the Lava Dome, the Approach and the Magma. Nike's first shoe to use a GORE-TEX lining; the design shape would later inform early thinking behind the Air Force 1. "It became very apparent that world-class athletes [were] going really lightweight", recalled product manager Monte Mayko, who helped lead the project from Nike's Exeter, New Hampshire factory. "It made total sense".

Inspired by the K2 photograph and the climbers' first-hand notes, the Nike team reimagined what a hiking shoe could be. The result was a category shift toward performance minimalism. "The whole notion of light is right and less is more and functional minimalism—climbers really get that at their core", explained Kirk Richardson, a lifelong mountaineer who would later lead ACG. "Nike intuitively got it. Bowerman and Knight were absolutely right". The new designs, built in Exeter and Saco, Maine, featured lightweight uppers, Waffle soles and durable midsoles derived directly from Nike's running heritage. For climbers and trail runners, they felt revolutionary: fast, flexible and protective enough to take the punishment of rock and scree. "Turning a training shoe into a trekking shoe. Nobody had done that", Ridgeway later said. "It was kind of revolutionary".

As those early designs hit the market, Ridgeway continued testing prototypes and corresponding with Nike designers. "They'd send me a prototype of the shoes to try out so I field tested them", he recalled. One of those early ads—the first print campaign for Nike Outdoor—used Roberts' K2 photograph of Ridgeway and Roskelley. The caption read: "Not everyone was willing to wait for our hiking boots".

The Big Ascent

By the mid-1980s, Nike's outdoor experiments had evolved from one-off projects into a legitimate design philosophy. Yet without a unifying category, they remained scattered, a mix of hiking boots, trail runners and small-batch apparel experiments without a single name or purpose.That began to change in 1987, when a small internal team was tasked with formalising Nike's outdoor efforts. According to Tom Clarke, then vice president of product marketing, Nike had been talking about being in the outdoor business for some time and had a stable of avid outdoor people around product management.

The team saw an opening in a market dominated by legacy brands in Europe still building heavy, rigid gear for mountaineering specialists. An opportunity to create athletic gear designed for movement in all conditions.Clarke, Richardson and a small team in Beaverton and Exeter began sketching out a strategy. Footwear and apparel would live under a single collection guided by four principles: high performance, durability, versatility and functional excellence. It was the beginning of a significant shift in performance outdoor footwear that would also make its way into apparel.The idea quickly gained traction. Within two years, a full outdoor business plan emerged.

The Name Takes Hold

Nike's outdoor plan was coming together, but a fitting name was still missing. Around the same time, Nike Running had begun using the phrase "All Conditions Gear" for a small line of year-round performance apparel—gear designed to handle any weather. The overlap in philosophy caught the Outdoor team's attention. When Clarke's group discovered the term, they adopted it to define the new collection, a name that embodied Nike's commitment to performance regardless of terrain or weather, echoing the same spirit that had driven Ridgeway and Roskelley's K2 ascent a decade earlier.

By 1989, it became official. Under Richardson's leadership, ACG launched as a fully integrated line of footwear and apparel designed for athletes who ran, hiked, climbed and explored outdoors.Nike made sure its debut felt authentic. The first catalogue shoot took place at Castleton Tower in Moab, Utah—a notorious rock spire revered by climbers. "We wanted to position it as a pretty real brand", said art director Ron Dumas. "We had these guys climb this tower and so we got in a helicopter. It was just about sunset and I was sitting on the rail holding onto the photographer and he's hanging out of the helicopter. The tower was beautiful and these guys are just little dots on top. It was phenomenal".

Released in 1989 as part of ACG's inaugural product launch, the Huascaran jacket featured a nylon microfibre GORE-TEX shell.

Inspired by Mount Huascarán in Peru, its design included underarm gussets, double storm flaps, cargo pockets and a zip-in liner capability, reflecting ACG's early focus on durable, all-conditions performance.

Additionally, the warm winter jacket was constructed with a Regulator-lined interior and a snap-off hood.

A decade after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Nike ACG marked the mountain's irreversible transformation with a before-and-after patch showing a landscape changed forever. Instead of measuring height like other ACG "landmark" pieces, the jacket captured impact, memory and permanence.

Built as an insulation layer within ACG's late-'80s systems approach, the Mount St. Helens Jacket used thick Polarfleece, ribbed cuffs and a reversible YKK zip to integrate seamlessly with outer shells. Technical and modular by design, it showed how storytelling and function came together in early ACG systems thinking.

This Kilimanjaro Anorak K2 was worn and autographed by climber John Roskelley, one of the two Americans photographed at K2 basecamp in LDVs whose trek later appeared in an early 1980s poster and in a 1989 ACG ad.

Built with two- and three-layer GORE-TEX and a nylon microfibre shell, the anorak included reinforced yokes, underarm gussets and multiple zip pockets, reflecting the technical design ethos that shaped ACG's early years.

When the first ACG collection dropped that autumn, anchored by the Air Wildwood, Lava High and a series of GORE-TEX and fleece outerwear pieces, Nike had officially staked its flag in the outdoor market.

The photograph of two climbers at the base of K2 had become something larger: the spark that ignited an entirely new dimension for Nike.

The wild moment that sparked Nike's first outdoor footwear line and, eventually, the category that became All Conditions Gear.

The Birth of ACG: The Summit that Launched a Legacy

Words: <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="/company/people/department-of-nike-archives" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Department of Nike Archives</a> In 1971, Watergate was just a hotel, NASA was preparing Apollo 15 and a small Oregon company had just sold its first pair of shoes.The shoe—a football boot called the Nike—retailed for $16.95. Its defining feature was a tick-shaped stripe created by a Portland State University student for $35. Few noticed the shoe, but the mark would long outlast it.At the time, Nike wasn't yet the global sports brand it would become. Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman were still operating as Blue Ribbon Sports, a small distributor of Japanese running shoes. But contracts with their supplier were winding down, and Knight knew the company's future depended on more than someone else's product. To succeed, BRS needed a shoe of its own—and with it, an identity.That February, Knight contracted a factory in Mexico to produce a black football boot with a white sole. To distinguish it from Onitsuka Tiger models, he needed a brand mark. He turned to Carolyn Davidson, a design student he'd met while teaching accounting at Portland State.Two years earlier, Davidson had been overheard in a hallway telling a classmate she couldn't afford an oil painting course. Knight offered her $2 an hour to make charts and graphics for his side business. Over time, she created ads, brochures and catalogues. Now, he was asking her for something bigger: a stripe for the side of a shoe.

Davidson sketched half a dozen options. In an office in Tigard, Oregon, Knight gathered two employees to review them, including Jeff Johnson, Nike's first full-time hire. None of them made a strong impression. "It came down to a matter of which was the least awful", Johnson recalled.The group settled on Davidson's curving tick. She thought it suggested motion. Knight was unconvinced. "Well, I don't love it", he told her, "but it will grow on me".The stripe—not yet called the Swoosh—was rushed to Mexico so production could begin. Davidson sent Knight an invoice for $35.

Those first shoes carried the new mark into the world, but it looked different on nearly every model. On some, the line stretched wide. On others, it pinched tight. One runner joked that the curvier version resembled a "dead fish". Factories stitched it however they could, and designers adjusted the angle depending on the shoe's shape.

Yet the stripe was already making appearances in the right places. At the 1972 Boston Marathon, two of the top American finishers crossed the line wearing Nike shoes marked with Davidson's design—the first confirmed appearance of a Swoosh in a major race. The company highlighted the feat in marketing the following year.Apparel presented another challenge. On tops and bags, the asymmetry of the mark seemed awkward. Johnson experimented by fanning multiple Swooshes into a circle, creating what became known as the "Sunburst" or "Pinwheel" logo. Borrowed in spirit from the 1972 Olympic design, it gave Nike something bold to put on warm-ups and team gear.

Geoff Hollister, Nike's third employee—who&nbsp;would go on to pioneer the company's early marketing efforts—pressed&nbsp;the Sunburst onto vests and tracksuits. He also applied the Swoosh alone in unconventional ways. In 1974, Steve Prefontaine appeared at a meet in Tacoma wearing a tracksuit with a lone backwards Swoosh across the chest. That marked the first time the logo stood by itself on apparel.In those first years, the design was far from consistent. Some called it the stripe. Others thought it looked strange, even unbalanced. But on marathon finishing lines, in Olympic trials and on the chest of America's most famous runner, the mark was already doing its job: it was sticking.What began as a reluctant choice—a student's sketch rushed off to a factory—had become the emblem of Nike's earliest wins. The Swoosh wasn't yet the global icon it would become, but it was already proving it had staying power.

In the decades since that first football boot, the Swoosh has taken on countless forms. It was paired with bold Helvetica in the 1970s, broadcast to millions in Dennis Hopper's 1993 American football ads, stretched across Niketown Portland's architecture and splashed across caps at Wimbledon. It has been oversized, miniaturised, multiplied and, at times, overused. It has been guarded by Nike's "brand police", celebrated by athletes and parodied by critics.Through all those shifts, one through line has remained: the Swoosh endures. What began as a quick sketch by a college student has become one of the most recognised symbols in the world. More than a stripe, it's a global shorthand for speed, innovation and possibility.

Before Nike was a worldwide sports brand, it was an upstart company in need of an eye-catching visual identity. Here's the real story of the Swoosh.

The Nike Swoosh logo: from humble beginnings to global icon

Editor's Picks

Story Landing

The power of design is how it can reveal details about the wearer. That was the exact spirit behind the custom <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-therma-fit-air-milano-jacket-official-images" target="null">Air Milano jacket</a> that Nike created for Arianna Fontana, the most decorated short‑track speed skater in Olympic history.Fontana isn't just an icon in her sport. She's a force of nature. "From the start, we knew her jacket needed to honour that legacy with the same level of intention, craft and storytelling that she brings to every competition", says Danielle Kayembe, expert in apparel product innovation management. Every element of the jacket was designed specifically for Fontana, she says, from the sculptural form to sweeping baffles to bold geometry and architectural shaping. Unlike any A.I.R. piece Nike's made before, Kayembe says the jacket echoes the work of Italian Futurists: dynamic, expressive and built around movement.Most importantly, when Fontana put the jacket on, she felt exactly the way the team hoped she would: confident, bold and ready to make a statement. And that's the power of designing with and for an athlete—turning their story into something that they can wear and step into with pride, and making them feel unstoppable.Watch how the process unfolded here.

The most decorated short‑track speed skater in history deserves a custom look that stands alone.

Making it

Behind the Scenes of Creating Arianna Fontana's One-of-One Performance Jacket

When South Korean short-track speed skater Minjeong Choi was 6 years old, her family used to receive a Seoul daily newspaper every morning. One day, almost by accident, she saw a flyer in the newspaper's insert, which advertised a winter-break skating programme at the Korea University ice rink near her home. She progressed from the basics of skating to the discipline of short-track speed skating. The distances are comparable to those in athletics, all the way up to 1,500 metres. But the races are lightning-fast, and in the tight, oval confines of the rink, sound technique can mean the difference between first place and last place. (Her memorable anchor leg in the 3,000-metre relay for the 2022 World Championships saw her jump from third place to first on the final curve, winning by just 0.034 seconds ahead of Canada.) Now 27 years old, Minjeong has gone from trying out skating on a whim during her winter break to becoming a three-time Olympic champion, a four-time World Champion and the world record holder in the 1,500 metres, a record she'll defend in Milan. Below, Minjeong shares more about the unique physical challenges of short-track speed skating, the key to staying calm under pressure and why luck and resilience exist on the same continuum.&nbsp; Moving forward again and again is what truly matters in this sport. Short-track speed skating is incredibly demanding. The athletes compete in a variety of distances, both individually and in relays. The races are so dynamic that you need to be able to recover quickly to prepare yourself for the next round or race. Mental resilience is crucial. Things unfold quickly in short track, so you can't afford to dwell on a single mistake or failure.&nbsp;In winter sports, you can't overstate how important it is to be able to access the right environment. My hometown is Seoul, the capital of South Korea. I was born in the very centre of the city. Growing up near such well-established skating facilities made it natural for me to start short-track speed skating and eventually pursue it as a professional career.&nbsp;

I've fallen in love with skating over and over again in my life. I've been skating for over 20 years, and what's guided me to this day is that moment when I first stepped onto the ice at 6 years old. I still vividly remember balancing on the unstable blades, carefully moving my feet while I felt the cold wind rush past me.The pressure of an event like the Olympics reveals the mentors who mean the most to you. I was deeply influenced by our national team head coach during the 2018 season. At age 20, I was competing in my first Olympic games in my home country. I was under immense media pressure and expectation from the public. Everyone around me kept saying I had to prove myself—except my coach. He told me to simply enjoy the moment. Even if I failed, I had my whole career ahead of me. Letting go of the pressure to "succeed" in those rigid terms put me at ease and helped me to compete with a calm mindset.&nbsp;Your defining moments summon a strength you never knew you had. During that relay at the 2022 World Championships, our team was so far behind Canada and the Netherlands, we were barely shown on the screen. When it was my leg to race,&nbsp;something came over me that I couldn't explain. I closed the gap hard. As I came out of the final corner, I crossed the finishing line first. There's an image I've seen on the replay where the Canadian and Dutch skaters put their hands over their faces in disbelief. They never expected the comeback. The impossible became possible.&nbsp;

One way aging as an athlete humbles you is that it forces you to set new goals. It was in the 2024 World Tour season. Many of my European and North American competitors had significantly improved from the time I began my career and they knew my racing tendencies. I was no longer one of the youngest athletes on the tour, but I worked hard to stay competitive physically and mentally, experimenting with different race tactics to develop a style that was truly my own. I finished fourth in the world rankings that year, but I still felt like I achieved a kind of victory.Part of the emotional power of sport comes from knowing the impact we have on our communities. I had won gold in Beijing in 2022. I donated some of my winnings from that season to a relief fund that helped victims affected by the Uljin forest fire. I wanted to give back, even in a small way, to people who were going through very difficult times. I take great pride in representing South Korea. During national moments, I feel a strong responsibility to deliver great performances as an athlete in all different forms.&nbsp;Chance and luck are important, but they are just the starting point. As I started winning when I was a young athlete, I thought it was luck. Soon, competitors started treating me seriously and that pressure made me stronger, helping instill in me a belief in my own ability and preparation. Before every race, I always ask myself, "Have I prepared more than anyone else here? If so, then all I need to do is skate".

Two decades ago, the generational talent was a young girl who saw a fortuitous window to pursue the sport. She's never looked back.

For the win

Minjeong Choi Took a Chance on Short-Track Speed Skating. In Milan, She'll Go for History

Jannik Sinner wasn't supposed to be in Milan this week.&nbsp; Fresh off the Australian Open, the Italian tennis champion had planned to head back to his hometown of Sexten, Italy, nestled in the Dolomite mountains. But when Nike offered him the opportunity to partner on a one-of-one, design-focused performance look that would help kick off the brand's presence during the world's biggest winter sports event,&nbsp;Sinner rerouted to the fashion capital.Collaborating on the head-to-toe ensemble—a bespoke jacket, insulated A.I.R. gilet, tailored trousers and footwear—meant pairing one of the world's best players with Nike's top designers to create a look rooted in who Sinner is beyond the court.In his home country and with the world watching, the Nike athlete donned the customised look—sculptural&nbsp;and winter-ready with deep pleats and a boxy cocoon shape—for&nbsp;one-on-one interviews with global fashion media alongside Nike's Chief Design Officer Martin Lotti and for a special event celebrating the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-reintroduces-acg-all-conditions-gear" target="_blank">relaunch of All Conditions Gear (ACG)</a>.

On Nike's part, the crafted ensemble is a statement on the athlete-brand partnership, a glimpse into how Nike approaches serving athletes with performance and expression on the world stage. The layered system for Sinner moves beyond simply a competition kit and reflects his Alpine roots and the life he leads when he's not competing."For me, it's very important to always have a small sign of where I'm from. Take the carabiner, with the mountain detail—the small details always make a very big difference", he says. The reference is to a pure silver keychain carabiner hanging from a chain on the customised trousers; the carabiner was created in a shape inspired by an elevation map of the Alps, where Sinner spent years skiing growing up.

Made to Sinner's exact specifications, the one-of-one look was created by Nike Senior Design Director Raffaella Barbey, working alongside Lotti, and a multidisciplinary design team. Barbey oversaw fittings with Sinner in Melbourne during the Australian Open, taking his input directly into production and refining the details through multiple rounds of iteration.Early versions of the jacket featured orange piping, which designers ultimately softened after hearing his input, opting for a more muted palette aligned with his personal style. Together, the team focused on balancing Nike-only performance innovation with premium craftsmanship and elevated design.The resulting layered system centres on a customised ACG gilet featuring adaptive A.I.R. technology—the same innovation used in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/acg-team-usa-collection-official-images" target="_blank">Therma-FIT Air Milano medal-stand jackets worn by Team USA</a>—paired with tailored outerwear and footwear built to perform in winter conditions without sacrificing style."This experience felt very different from work I've done with other brands", Sinner says. "I was more involved in the process. There were a lot of conversations about what could be better, what wasn't right, what worked well. In the end, we came out with an incredible result". For Lotti, projects like this reflect a broader approach to design, one shaped by decades of athlete partnerships, iconic products and culture-defining moments. "When you're designing something one-of-one like this, the process begins the same as it does when we're creating for competition: by listening to the voice of the athlete. What their preferences are and what their needs are, both from a performance point of view and from a visual perspective", Lotti says.&nbsp; "What's different is that we can push the limits more—on&nbsp;innovation, on methods of make and on material choices. From a design point of view, we can also include bespoke and personal design details. And we can act much faster, working on a much shorter timeline because we're only building one versus 500 or 10,000".

In Sinner's case, that meant creating something that reflects the person behind the ranking—an Italian athlete shaped by the mountains, with a clear point of view on style and a life beyond the court that has always informed how he moves through the world.

At Nike, projects like this aren't treated as one-and-done statements. They're part of a broader commitment to <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/maria-sharapova-little-black-tennis-dress-hall-of-fame" target="_blank">designing with athletes at defining points in their journey</a>, built on long-term relationships, close collaboration and a shared investment in getting it right.Lotti has a name for that approach: Nike Atelier.A platform for creating customised designs for select signature athletes at key off-field moments, Atelier applies the same athlete-driven mindset and attention to craft that define Nike innovation, extending it into moments where identity, environment and culture play an equally important role."Sinner is one of the best tennis players in the world but what many people don't know is that he was a championship skier growing up", Lotti explains. "He was one of the top ski racers in Italy and a national champion in giant slalom. He also grew up not far from here in the Dolomites".That gave Lotti and team the perfect ingredients for a Nike Atelier project: Sinner the skier, the Games in his home country, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/the-birth-of-acg-the-summit-that-launched-a-legacy" target="_blank">the relaunch of ACG</a> in Milan and Nike introducing A.I.R. apparel innovation with the Air Milano jacket. "The result is something unexpected yet completely authentic to both Sinner and Nike", says Lotti. "Bespoke, ACG-inspired, one-of-one expression that sits at the intersection of sport and culture".

Seen on Jannik in Milan last week, the element-proof, head-turning fit shows everything about that intent. A reminder that sometimes the most compelling design stories begin by paying attention—to the athlete and everything that exists beyond the scoreboard."When a brand invests this much thought and energy into a single moment, it shows they really care about making the athlete feel special. That's one of the biggest reasons why I love being with Nike—they make you feel important", says Sinner. "You try to give positive feedback and grow together in the right direction. We've worked together for years now and feel close, like a family. That's what matters to me".

Collaborating on the head-to-toe ensemble—a bespoke jacket, insulated A.I.R. gilet, tailored trousers and footwear—meant pairing one of the world's best players with Nike's top designers.

Style Crafted to Brave the Elements: All the Details on Jannik Sinner's Customised Nike Look

Francesco Totti's dazzling playmaking earned him many nicknames during his two-decade-plus career. But if there's one that describes his true loyalty, "Il Gladiatore" is the most fitting, because a warrior always has a place of origin. The attacking midfielder spent an illustrious career leading A.S. Roma, his hometown club, where he earned status as a creative genius on the pitch. Loyalty to one's home is a value that can be hard to find in modern-day sports. Now 49 years old, Francesco says his connection to Rome is as important to him today as it was when he first suited up in Stadio Olimpico 33 years ago. Here, Francesco talks about his commitment to Rome, whether creativity on the pitch is innate or learned, and more. There's no part of your hometown that doesn't shape you. Rome offers many things: fun, beauty, sun, sea, mountains, basically everything. Then there's the people. Rome's passion for football is one of a kind. They are passionate, they are loving, they are willing to do anything for the team. When you are a Roma fan, you have a visceral love for the game.&nbsp;Play is the most important thing for a young footballer. Football has always been my favourite sport. I grew up with the ball at my feet. When I saw that ball spinning, I ran after it as if it were the air I breathed. In my adolescence, I grew up in my neighbourhood playing in the street with my friends. That kind of unsupervised play makes you grow up quickly.&nbsp;Give yourself the permission to separate yourself from your idols. My idol growing up was Giuseppe Giannini, the captain of Roma. "The Prince". I would have paid gold to have the same career as him. Technically speaking, we were two totally different players. But I always watched how he played, how he moved, how he positioned himself on the pitch.&nbsp;You can't train creativity. Either you have it or you don't. In football, Number 10s have this special connection to creativity in the game. When you wear that number, you have something different from everyone else. When I took the pitch, I only thought about having fun and entertaining people. Creativity, carefreeness and a desire to have fun were all instinctual to me. And that doesn't mean creativity always works, because creativity is inherently about taking risks. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don't. But that's all part of the thrill.

Seeing your dreams through is all about continuity. The first time I wore the Italian national team jersey, it was a moment full of happiness. You need to hold on tightly to a dream like playing for your country. In the end, it's about showing up, over and over again, and seeing your dreams through. When you have passion and desire, it's easier to sustain the ups and downs of a long career.&nbsp;At the highest level, you're surrounded by champions as teammates, playing against opponents who are champions. The question is, who can be more closely united? Italy succeeded on that national team because we had so much talent. But we became world champions in large part because we had a great coach in Lippi, who was able to handle everyone. When you have a united group with a single goal, everything becomes easier.&nbsp;&nbsp;Boots themselves are like a part of the football community. When I see <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-football-tiempo-maestro-official-images" target="_blank">the Tiempos</a> I wore throughout my career, it moves me. I shared so many years with them, just like a real person. When you're confident in your boot, you can do things you didn't think were possible. The boots give you mental security too. For example, without the tongue of my boot positioned in the exact spot I needed it, I couldn't play the way I wanted. Not only did I like the aesthetics, in terms of how they were made, but I also had a reference point when I looked down at my feet and kicked. When the tongue was out of place, I felt like my foot was a little crooked, so I didn't feel like I could kick properly. The tongue was almost like having a scope. Those words sound strange, don't they? But mentally, my boots were essential for me.&nbsp;Staying with the same team, wearing the same jersey, has been the most beautiful and important victory in my career. Because it's not easy. It's one thing to say it, it's another to do it. But I did it because there was passion, there was love for my country. It's always been my primary goal, to start and finish with the same jersey I've always worn.

The icon spent his career pledging his loyalty to his hometown of Rome. For the attacking midfielder, his heart is forever with his city.

Football

To Rome, With Love, From Francesco Totti

A master of contemporary pop aesthetics, LISA is the ultimate multi-hyphenate: rapper, singer, dancer, actress and style icon. At 14, LALISA MANOBAL won the YG Entertainment audition and left her home in Thailand to train as a K-pop artist. In 2025, LISA of Blackpink solidified her evolution from K-pop sensation to global superstar. She made her acting debut in HBO's The White Lotus, reunited with Blackpink for the stadium-filling Deadline World Tour and released her debut solo album Alter Ego to massive success.Now, LISA enters a new long-term partnership with Nike. First seen stepping out in <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nike.com/w?q=Air%20MAx%2095&amp;vst=Air%20MAx%2095" target="_blank">Air Max 95s</a>, a sneaker long tied to music, subcultures and self-expression, her presence reflects a natural alignment between sport, style and global influence. We caught up with her on set in Paris while shooting a Nike campaign to talk about training, creativity and her partnership with Nike.&nbsp;

Can you share a core Nike memory, or your most memorable Nike shoe or a piece of apparel? During my trainee days before Blackpink, and even before that, I would only wear clothes that were good for dancing, like tracksuits, really big T-shirts and sneakers. I remember I saved my allowance to buy a pair of Nike Dunk Highs for training. I was so young, so that moment and those shoes will forever be one of my most vivid Nike memories. Can you tell us about what goes into your training routine today? I dance a lot! Long dance sessions are my main workout. But if I'm not performing or learning new choreography, I'm doing Pilates. I'll focus on stretching and light cardio, and overall fitness. For me it's about staying energised for everything I do. The one thing I need more of is sleep. I sleep a lot on planes.

How does fashion help you express your identity on stage and beyond? Fashion is a way to show my individuality and be confident. So, whenever I travel or go on world tours, I look at what kinds of clothes people wear. Just seeing how people dress in different parts of the world inspires me.Why are you excited to be partnering with Nike? I share Nike's obsession with excellence, for craft and versatility.&nbsp;What are you most looking forward to in partnering with Nike? I'm looking forward to bringing that energy to everything we do together. I want to encourage women everywhere to embrace self-expression and be confident in who they are and through what they wear.

The rapper, singer, dancer, actress and style icon talks training, creativity and why her partnership with Nike is a natural fit.

Welcome to the family

5 Questions With International Icon LISA

Athletes need to master their minds as well as their bodies. For the first time, Nike's cracked a neuroscience-backed way for its footwear to help create a better connection between an athlete's body and mind.&nbsp;<h3>How to Understand it</h3>Nike's Mind Science Department—a part of the Nike Sport Research Lab—has spent years thinking about how to improve the mind-body connection to help athletes better prepare, train, compete and recover. Graeme Moffat, PhD, a principal researcher on the team, helped gather insights that led to the Nike Mind platform, a complex scientific, engineering and manufacturing technology more than a decade in the making. A neuroscientist by trade, Moffat studies the interaction between footwear and the body's central nervous system, which is guided by sensation.&nbsp;"One of the problems that everyone faces, but especially athletes, is when you get into your head and you start ruminating", says Moffat, "and one of the easiest ways to get out of your head is to bring your attention back to the present moment. You can achieve this by focusing on your body and on your sensations of the world around you. You look around. You listen. You close your eyes and feel the ground underneath your feet".

Those brutal self-criticisms about how you're not prepared or how you should just throw in the towel (pick your putdown) can be mapped to activity in a specific network in your brain called the Default Mode Network, or DMN. This network is responsible for self-referential thinking, rumination and daydreaming—you know, when your mind starts to wander. Sometimes, that's not for the better. Daydreaming is good when you're thinking about that trick play from last week's playoff game. It's not when you're preparing to compete in the semifinal in fifteen minutes.Neuroscience research shows that other brain networks are inactive when the DMN is active, and vice versa. Chief amongst these is the main driver for movement, touch and body sensation, the Sensorimotor Network (SMN). When the Sensorimotor Network activates, it unites what you're sensing with your body's motor skills to help guide your movements. A hard plant off the back foot for a baseline cut. The correct wrist placement for a devastating forehand slice.&nbsp;Think of it as two teams. On one side, there's the DMN, voiced by the swirling self-talk that can help you daydream, but can also send you into a tailspin of self-doubt. On the other, there's the SMN, calmly reminding you to turn your gaze outwards to what's unfolding around you and get moving. Both networks are trading control of your attention, a bit like two teams fighting to maintain possession of the ball.&nbsp;

How We Approach itThe bottom of the human foot, and especially the forefoot, is rich with neural receptors. When your foot is stimulated in these highly sensitive areas, electrical activity is transmitted through your central nervous system, into your brain and back down to your muscles to help you stand and move.&nbsp;This fact led to the design for the Nike Mind platform's first shoes, the Nike Mind 001 and Nike Mind 002, created to help activate an athlete's senses to enhance their pre- and post-game routines.When testing for Nike Mind footwear began, Nike's scientists explored how the shoe's design could optimally stimulate sensory neurons in the foot, and from there, activate the Sensorimotor Network to help bring an athlete's attention back to their own body and to the present moment.One of the Nike Mind Science researchers' first studies had athletes wear a mobile EEG cap (picture the world's smartest salon hair dryer) while they walked on a treadmill wearing the Nike Mind 002 for 15 minutes. Scientists saw increased electrical activity near the top-middle part of the brain, which is involved with lower limb control. SMN, activated.

"When we tested the first prototypes, we expected to see enhanced activation of the SMN", says Moffat. "And there it was: a boost in the sensorimotor rhythm. That's the activation that we expect to tune down the DMN".This change in brain rhythms is a sign you're moving your attention away from those negative feedback loops. In other words, says Moffat, they indicate you're turning off the swirl in your head, and instead, turning on a kind of relaxed alertness. You're better connecting your mind and your body.

The beautiful part about it? You don't need complicated gadgetry or machines to bring about this harmony. It's simply the connection between the athlete, their shoe and what their body senses under their feet.&nbsp;"Nike Mind opens the door to a whole new category of sensory-optimised footwear", Moffat says. "A lot of athletic shoes act as filters that reduce sensation. Nike Mind is designed for sensation first. We're trying to help you really engage with new sensory experiences, focus on your intention and get out of your head".

The breakthroughs in Nike Mind footwear can help get you out of your head and into your body.

Sport science

Ask a Sport Scientist

How Can I Improve My Mind-Body Connection?

If golfer Tony Finau had to name his Flu Game moment, it was during the 2018 Masters. He had just sunk a hole-in-one on the par-3 course at Augusta National. He celebrated by taking off sprinting towards the hole when, improbably, he took an awkward step and dislocated his left ankle (fair warning for anyone who wants to look up the video: it is gnarly). In grimacing pain but undeterred, he popped his ankle back into place himself and resumed play, where he'd complete the week with a top-10 finish. Oh, and two months later, he would make the final group at the US Open. And he'd qualify for his first Ryder Cup. All in a year when he could barely put any pressure on his left foot.Digging deep to test his physical limits is a signature quality of Finau, who joins Jordan Brand this month as the newest member of its golf roster. You wouldn't know any such challenge existed just by looking at him. The lithe 6'4" athlete has one of the most powerful drives on the pro tour, able to crush the ball at over 200mph since he was 17 years old. He was recruited for hoops out of secondary school, and he descends from a proud lineage of skilled Tongan and Samoan athletes, particularly in American football. When his personal calling to golf was too great to ignore, he worked as hard as possible to reach the sport's top level, rolling the dice by auditioning for a reality TV golf show and then undergoing a brutal mini-tour schedule for years that forced him to travel at a ruthless pace across the country. Was it worth it? No question. Below, Finau talks about the twists his career has taken, his moments of greatest perseverance and all things drive.&nbsp; Certain career moments cause you to flip your definition of what winning means. Take that Masters in 2018. It was an incredible moment, that hole-in-one, followed by the most embarrassing moment of my life on national TV. Fast forward to the end of the tournament. I birdied six out of my last seven holes. I shot 66 that Sunday. Walking off the 72nd hole, I truly felt like I won. I felt like somebody should've given me the Green Jacket. In life, we're going to fall down a lot more times than we're going to win. But does that actually mean that we lost? I don't look at it that way.

There'll be windows of your life where you need to gut it out just to see what you're really made of. I turned pro in 2007, but I didn't get onto the PGA Tour until 2013, so there was a six-year period where I had to tough it out on the Mini-Tour life and learn how to play the game, travel and take the small wins where I could. On the Mini-Tour, you're fighting for every dollar, your literal livelihood. There were plenty of nights I slept in my car and I went without eating just so I could scrape by. Those were some of the hardest years of my life, but also some of the greatest, because I learned what I can become with a little bit of sacrifice.&nbsp;Individual sports demand a certain kind of passion. In a sport like golf, you don't have any teammates to lean on. It's just you out there. Some people have a hard time without that team component, but when I started golfing at a young age, I found I really enjoyed the game's individual aspects. It was on me to figure it out, to piece together the ways I could improve. When I got on the golf course, it was a matter of locking in and learning how to focus.Composure has nothing to do with your athletic skill but has everything to do with the life of an athlete. My brother and I went on The Big Break, a reality TV competition on the Golf Channel, in 2009. I was 20 years old at the time. We were around the camera 24/7. Everywhere we went, they were recording us. It was crazy, and it took some getting used to, but I remember leaving that experience and telling myself, "You're going to be a great golfer. This media exposure is how it's going to be if you turn pro". Being on the show got me to the point where it didn't really matter who was watching me. I just needed to stay focused and play my game.&nbsp;Sport was only part of my family's background. Being Polynesian, my mum had a luau show as I was growing up, so I learned how to play a lot of different instruments as a performer in her show. One of the first instruments I learned was the to'ere, which is like a Tahitian drum. I also did traditional Polynesian fire dancing as a kid. Music and dancing were as core to my identity as sport was.&nbsp;It's easy to be an on- and off-switch person. But greatness means being your best at all times of the day, not just when it's convenient. My mum used to tell me, "The way you do one thing is the way you do all things". Golf is just one example. Trying to be great at a game that's impossibly hard, a game you can't perfect, doesn't mean that you stop trying. You keep trying to reach for more out of yourself. I'm trying to be great in all aspects of my life, whether that's on the course, in the gym, being a husband, being a father. I'm trying to push past my own limits in all aspects of my life.&nbsp;

Golfers tend to be pretty superstitious people. One of my rituals is that I wear green every Sunday. My mum, she passed away in 2011—her favourite colour was green. Wearing green is a way I like to honour her, a way to remember she's with me all the time on the course.&nbsp;Joining the Jordan Brand marks a new chapter in my career. Obviously Michael represents excellence at the highest level. Jordan Brand is incredible to be a part of and Michael is an incredible individual to represent. I met him for the first time when I was 17, and during the times I've played at his private course in Florida, The Grove, he's always told me, "Anytime you're in this area, you're welcome here". So in 2024, I'm playing a playoff event. I know I'm going to be in West Palm after the playoffs for a shoot I'm doing with one of my sponsors. My son was with me on the trip, and the thought crossed my mind, "It would be the coolest thing on Earth if I could bring my son to play The Grove". I texted Michael on a whim and asked him. He got back to me 30 seconds later: "We're actually closed for the weekend, but I'll open the course just for you and your son. Please bring him and we'll make it happen". We played 18 holes that day and had the entire course to ourselves, just me and my son. That single experience is something I'll never forget. That's the effect Michael has on people. You can download more images, as well as an accompanying film welcoming Finau to the Jordan Brand family, by clicking <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://media-assets.nike.com/en/pitches/jordan-brand-welcomes-tony-finau-to-its-golf-roster?secret=29e440c91211da0d9af84d3e374afd15" target="_blank">here</a>.

The pro golfer and newest member of the Jordan Brand Golf roster has never backed down from a challenge.

For Tony Finau, Going the Distance is a Mindset

What would the back of your athletic trading card say? That's what Nike's Baseline testing is for: a way for all athletes to understand their physical tools.What It DoesNike's Baseline testing, made up of five assessments, is as foundational as it sounds. The assessments are borrowed from the worlds of biomechanics, physiotherapy and exercise science, and can be completed in a matter of minutes: a 3D body scan, a foot scan, a barefoot pressure test, an ankle range of motion test and countermovement jumps. In many ways, Baseline is the most ubiquitous tool that the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL) offers. Every professional athlete who visits the NSRL has the option of doing the testing, no matter their itinerary. But that doesn't mean it's a resource that's exclusive to a precious few. Baseline is the one test series in the NSRL that's also open to every Nike employee.Considered together, the test results form the baseline of a person's athletic profile—how powerful they are, how mobile they are, how explosive they are and other traits. Knowing these attributes gives Nike researchers, scientists and designers a clearer picture of how to serve an athlete's needs.

Baseline helps provide foundational knowledge of an athlete's body, connecting anatomical structure, foot and lower-body mechanics and functional movement.

The three-dimensional foot scale measures foot shape during normal standing. The reported sizing can be a starting point for shoe or product fit.

Barefoot walking helps asses areas of high and low pressure underfoot. Seeing these areas of elevated pressure can help uncover an athlete's gait pattern.

Range of motion in the ankles and the toes, tested in different directions, can help determine joint function.

Performance jumps can be an indication of lower-body strength, power and asymmetry.

Data from Baseline testing goes beyond describing an athlete's current state. It can also shed light on an athlete's past, like what sport they played or what injuries they sustained.

What It Helps Us DoJackie Shea, Baseline operator, Innovation, says Nike researchers selected each of the&nbsp;Baseline tests to set an experiential, diagnostic tone for every athlete interaction within the NSRL. Before the opening of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/inside-the-nike-sports-research-lab-lebron-james-innovation-center" target="null">LeBron James Innovation Center</a> in October 2021, athlete engagement in the lab was largely reserved for testing footwear and apparel prototypes. There's nothing wrong with that, says Shea, a former D1 athlete who studied kinesiology and exercise science. But that process largely treats the athlete as a test pilot secondary to the vehicle—the product—they are steering. "We wanted Baseline to help bring athletes to the centre of the lab, distinct from product", she says.&nbsp;Through their Baseline results, athletes can see nuances in their athletic profile. Are you geared towards slower endurance or more explosive power? Your vertical jump results might point you towards an answer. Does your anatomy from the 3D body scan suggest you have any imbalances in your proportions? These results are valuable to athletes for their own sake. You don't need to test a product to gain a better awareness of your own body.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

After guiding more than 4,000 athletes through Baseline, Shea has learned to spot trends in physical profiles among different sports while offering remedies via other Nike tools. For example, runners tend to have weak posterior strength, so in their back, glutes and hamstrings. They stand the most to gain from consistent weight training, provided in the hundreds of workouts from the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nike.com/ntc-app" target="_blank">Nike Training Club App</a>. Athletes who play lateral sports, like basketball, tend to have limited mobility, so a Nike yoga class at a nearby store might be just what they need to balance out.Key to Shea's job is a fair amount of myth-busting when discussing test results. An athlete might comment on how running hurts their knees, but when they test their ankle mobility, the athlete grimaces, looking stiff as a board. They test their gait on <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/nike-nsrl-form" target="_blank">NSRL Form</a>—a recent addition to the test line-up—and are clearly overstriding. With each step, most of their force is displaced through their knees and their back instead of transferred evenly through their body. Running doesn't hurt their knees—the way they run hurts their knees. Baseline results help give athletes a course of action for what troubles them the most.&nbsp;

Baseline does play a role in ensuring that Nike researchers test products efficiently and orient them towards real solutions. For example, Baseline results are a common way for NSRL researchers to recruit for new studies. An athlete with strong results in explosive vertical jumping power is an ideal fit for a future basketball jumping study that tests a new hoops silhouette. A distance runner, on the other hand, might find a steady-state treadmill run in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/nike-sport-research-lab-environmental-chambers" target="_blank">climate chambers</a> a better match, which in turn can help scientists evaluate the latest sweat-wicking material innovations like <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-aero-fit-official-images" target="null">Aero-FIT</a>. As more and more athletes do Baseline, the lab's research specificity gets sharper and sharper. The same is true for product development.&nbsp;That process is ongoing. A Baseline evaluation is never the end of the story. It's the beginning of a conversation.&nbsp;"Baseline creates relationships with athletes that aren't passive, but active", says Shea. "The conversations between athletes and their test results are in a constant cycle with each other. One of my favourite parts in this job is getting to ask follow-up questions. You're showing some imbalance between your left-leg power and your right leg. Did you have some kind of injury to your leg early on? Tell me more. There's always more to every athlete's story".

What would the back of your athletic trading card say? That's what the NSRL's Baseline testing is for: a way for all athletes to understand their physical tools.

Next Level

The NSRL Baseline Testing

Designer Melitta Baumeister has built a reputation for turning the everyday into something extraordinary. Her work blurs the line between fashion and sculpture—exaggerated silhouettes, hand-shaped materials and unexpected textures that seem to hold movement inside them.Since launching her namesake label in 2013, the New York—based fashion innovator has become one of the most distinct voices in contemporary design, earning recognition from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.Now, she's bringing that sculptural approach to Nike. On 29 October, Baumeister will debut an experiential performance and installation in New York City, the first chapter in a long-term collaboration with the brand. Taking Nike's Vomero Premium as her starting point, she reimagines the shoe's colour—and so much more, creating an expressive study of movement and perception. The result is part artwork, part experiment and fully human in its perspective.For Melitta, the concept "Run Like No One" became the collaboration's emotional core. It's a message about rediscovering joy in motion; about moving for yourself, not for applause or perfection. Each sneaker in the series carries that same philosophy: subtle variations, layered colour and evidence of the maker's touch.As she explains, the project isn't about creating heroes, it's about exploring honesty in motion, an idea that mirrors her own practice of experimentation and process. Here, Melitta shares how her Nike collaboration came together and why imperfection, realism and play may be the most powerful design tools of all.

How did you approach reinterpreting the Nike Vomero?When Nike asked me to come up with a new colourway for the Vomero, my first reaction was: we need to find a different way to work with it other than simply exchanging one colour for the other. The performance aspect of the Vomero was an additional inspiration. We needed movement and something unexpected—a shift away from the intimidating perfection of a pristine sneaker toward one that engages people on multiple levels in surprising ways.My team and I have taken the idea of "built for movement" seriously, and instead of being stuck behind screens, we worked on it as we would on our sculptural dresses, using our hands and working directly with real materials. The outcome is a hand-painted sneaker, each one slightly different from the other. That's what the audience will notice first when encountering the Vomero: the layers of graphics and storytelling that reveal themselves on closer inspection. I love this aspect of engagement from different distances and angles. It gives depth and more space for the audience to explore and experience it.&nbsp;

What first drew you to fashion as a form of expression?&nbsp;For as far back as I can remember, I had a feeling that clothing can affect our lives and the way we feel. I was always drawn to people that used clothing not only to express their personality but also to help build that identity. This is where my love for fashion took root.I knew from a young age that I wanted to make clothes for a living, probably around 14. I grew up in a small city where there wasn't much fashion around. My mum introduced me to a fashion designer who was visiting, telling me that she was "changing lives by dressing people". That stuck with me. Growing older, I understood what she meant. Changing someone's identity or being part of someone's identity was fascinating to me.&nbsp;How did your own experience with running shape the concept for this performance?Movement has always been essential in my daily and creative life, but finding the time and motivation while running a growing business has become a bigger challenge than running faster or farther. Knowing that this is the reality for most of my customers made it a good starting point for this collaboration in general and the performance in particular. What I love about running is the way it changes your perception of time and space. It's like exploring familiar surroundings in a new way. Places start connecting to thoughts, which then become memories, and the rhythm is in your body, not the stopwatch. Running is a powerful tool for creativity.From the very beginning, the performance gives a good insight into how we approach projects. Instead of arriving with a rigid idea that needs to be squeezed into any space, we visit different locations and look for their specific character, which we love to integrate into our concept. It's like running on a treadmill versus through the city. I prefer the spontaneity and unpredictability to the preplanned and controlled. For our performance in New York, this meant utilising all the "hidden" parts of the location that would usually be used only as storage or back of house. In fact, that's how the performance starts, and how we enter the building. What follows is a succession of moments that meander between humorous surrealism and surprising realism.

You grew up in Germany and built your label in New York. Do those two places show up in your work today?Definitely, especially when it comes to work ethic. I think growing up in Germany, there's this constant drive to improve, to not settle, to always push something further. There's a kind of built-in restlessness. Germans are often not easily satisfied and I see that in how I approach my work. It's always about questioning, refining, evolving.What story or feeling did you want this performance to capture?We wanted to create an experience that feels intimate and honest, stepping into the inner world of someone who doesn't identify as a runner and watching that shift happen. It's not about perfection or becoming a hero. It's about the private, sometimes quiet journey towards movement.I hope people feel something familiar when they walk through it. It's about running for yourself, not for anyone else. That's what "Run Like No One" means to us.

Melitta Baumeister has built a reputation for turning the everyday into something extraordinary—blurring the line between fashion and sculpture with pieces that seem to hold movement inside them. Now, she's bringing that sculptural approach to Nike.

Explore Nike, Converse and Jordan footwear and apparel design stories featuring Nike Air Force 1, Nike Air Jordan, Nike Air Max and more.

Design

5 Questions With Fashion Designer Melitta Baumeister

A neuroscientist, a computational engineer and an industrial designer sit at a desk, poring over the latest electroencephalography (EEG) and pressure-mapping results. Down the corridor, pressure plates respond to steady footsteps while motion-capture sensors blink to life as another round of testing begins.This isn't a scene from a NASA work room or sci-fi Hollywood blockbuster—it's a typical day at the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/lebron-james-innovation-center-nike-sport-research-lab" target="_blank">LeBron James Innovation Center</a> and its top-floor Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL), where dozens of scientists, engineers and designers come together to study every element of human performance.&nbsp;While many people know this facility exists, few understand the full scope of its work, or that the research extends beyond the physical and into the mind itself. Led by world-renowned neuroresearchers, Nike's Mind Science team is devoted to exploring how the brain and body interact to shape the future of athletic performance.

Their latest breakthrough, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-mind-001-mind-002-official-images" target="_blank">Nike Mind</a>, is a sensory footwear platform more than a decade in the making that aims to redefine how athletes prime for and recover from competition.&nbsp;We sat down with seven Nike Mind teammates to learn how this long-awaited technology moved from concept to reality.

THE NEURAL ARCHITECT: GRAEME MOFFAT, PHD Principal researcher, Nike Sport Research Lab As principal researcher on Nike's Mind Science team, Graeme Moffat leads the neuroscience behind Nike Mind—decoding EEG readouts, pressure maps and muscle signals to understand how sensation shapes focus and performance. With a background in brain-computer interface research, he's helping to translate the science of perception into design principles that can be felt underfoot. For Moffat, this project isn't just about a new shoe. It's about proving how the mind and body can be trained together through sensation.One of the easiest ways to get out of your head is to get into your body—to actively engage your senses. With Nike Mind, what we see in the brain is increased activity in the sensory motor network and a rise in alpha oscillations linked to relaxed alertness.&nbsp;Like your hands, the bottom of your feet have unique skin with 10 to 20 times more mechanoreceptors than most other areas. These are the parts of our body to feel and navigate the world. To complement this, each node in Nike Mind moves independently, shifting slightly to translate force through the bottom of the foot. The result is a more direct connection to the ground.We used sensory science to determine the placement of the 22 nodes. By measuring what's called the two-point discrimination threshold—how far apart touches have to be before you feel them as separate—we were able to map the density of receptors across the foot. That's why nodes are more closely spaced in the forefoot and wider apart in the heel.We used everything: underfoot plantar-pressure sensors, electromyography of the lower limbs and human EEG. Athletes walked in the shoes and comparator models while we measured their brains before, during and after. What we saw were clear differences in brain activation and oscillation patterns, signals that reflected how the sensory system in this shoe was activating the brain. This is a completely new way to make footwear, designed from the sensory system outwards. It took nearly 10 years of research and iteration to make it work.It is incredible technology. It's like a walking anti-fatigue mat built into my shoes. It's just a fantastic feeling. I don't want to take them off at the end of the day.The Mind Science team itself is unique. We have neuroscientists, perception researchers, physiologists and engineers all working together. It's a mix of disciplines that normally don't sit inside a company like Nike, and it allows us to move from deep scientific insight to real product innovation quickly. We can prototype, test with athletes and iterate at a pace no one else can. It's a capability that sets Nike apart.

THE BRAIN MAPPER: TREVOR BARSS, PHD Lead researcher, Mind Science team Working alongside Moffat, Trevor Barss helped run the early neuroscience studies that defined Nike Mind's foundation. A sensory neuroscientist specialising in neurophysiology, he used EEG and other measures to study how tactile feedback changes patterns of brain activity, the signals linking movement, focus and awareness. The team's findings revealed distinct shifts in sensory-motor activation and alpha rhythms when athletes wore Nike Mind footwear, insights that continue to shape how the NSRL explores the mind-body connection.For the first 45 years, Nike's research focused on the body from the neck down. The next 45 will include the brain.&nbsp;My role was to study unique aspects of brain activation while athletes were wearing the footwear. We measured electrical activity in the brain before, during and after movement and paired that with perception data. The goal was to connect what athletes reported feeling with what we could actually see happening neurologically.We found that this collaboration between perception and neuroscience is what gives the work its power. You might detect increased activation in one region of the brain, but without understanding the athlete's experience, you don't know whether that's good or bad. When you combine both, you get meaning.When I first arrived at Nike, I was amazed by the environment. In most research settings, if you want to talk to an expert outside your field, you email, you schedule, you wait. Here, I can walk three desks over and have a conversation with someone who is a world-class expert in biomechanics, physiology or materials science. That proximity accelerates everything.The strength of this lab is its seamless flow of expertise. Neuroscientists, engineers, designers and developers work side by side, testing, iterating and learning from each other in real time. It removes silos and sparks ideas that none of us could reach alone.We're at the starting line of an entirely new field. The methods are established, but applying them to footwear and apparel is uncharted territory. Each experiment raises new questions.For me, the most inspiring part is being surrounded by brilliant minds who share that curiosity. When you pair deep scientific expertise with creative-design thinking, you open doors to discoveries that redefine what performance can mean.Looking ahead, the possibilities are endless. We have sensory receptors all over our body. Anytime you change sensory input, you're interacting with your nervous system. Delving into that connection could open up whole new ways of supporting athlete awareness, focus and recovery.

THE ENGINEERING WHIZZ: ELIZABETH RAISSIAN Senior director, Performance Engineering Inside Nike's Performance Engineering Lab, Elizabeth Raissian's work lies at the intersection of product functionality and code. For Nike Mind, she and her team built the digital framework that made the concept manufacturable at scale, using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and simulation tools to model how each node, flex point and pressure zone behaves underfoot. Their modelling ensured a precisely tuned sensorial design that delivers consistent feel and feedback across every size and stride.The big unlock was using computational methods to crack the scale challenge. Nike Mind has many small parts within a larger system. We wrote scripts that determined where each node needed to be for athlete performance and how those placements could still be manufactured consistently.Our goal was to make sure every athlete has the same experience no matter their shoe size. We used FEA to test variables like node size, height and material. That helped us identify the sweet spot between too much and not enough sensation. Once we had that, we could scale it proportionally across sizes so the product felt consistent from end to end.For me, this has been a dream job I didn't know existed. I get to combine tough technical work with the creativity of working alongside designers, sports researchers and other specialists. After 23 years, I still haven't been bored.What excites me most is how fast the tools are evolving. We've built a strong foundation and now new technologies are coming in that let us do things we wouldn't have thought possible a decade ago. It changes how we approach products and opens doors for the future.

THE BRIDGE BUILDER: SEAN LU Footwear developer For more than two decades, Sean Lu has helped take Nike's boldest concepts from prototype to production. As a developer, he works at the crucial handoff point where innovation meets scaling the shoe production for Nike's business. On Nike Mind, that meant solving unprecedented production challenges like how to create and bond 22 independent cushioning nodes while preserving the precise sensory design that makes the technology groundbreaking.My expertise is to bring a design to life by practising project management and leadership while working closely with many different functional teams. The goal is always both team excellence and product excellence, making sure the product meets the brief, the design intent, is tested and proven.The biggest challenge was producing and attaching 22 individual nodes in a consistent way. Regular shoes might have five or six major parts. Here we had 22, each needing to be made and bonded precisely. Solving that required new methods of make very different from conventional shoemaking.One crucial breakthrough was the stretchy strobel. In normal shoes, it's stiff. But here it had to stretch multidirectionally so the nodes could move freely and transfer sensation. Without that, the whole system wouldn't work.There were moments we thought, this is too difficult, maybe we can't do it. But we always asked ourselves: are we truly doing the best we can or is there another way? Once you achieve it, the value for the athlete makes it all worth it.

THE CREATIVE VISIONARY: ERIC AVAR VP, creative director, Innovation Few designers have shaped Nike's visual and performance language more than Eric Avar. After spending decades creating some of the brand's most iconic footwear from Foamposite to Free to the Kobe line, Avar joined the Nike Mind project to help translate complex neuroscience into design. His focus: find simplicity, stay curious and create a shoe that reawakens the body's natural connection to movement.What made this project next-level was the chance to forget everything we knew about traditional footwear. Instead of chasing propulsion or flight, we asked how to create a more natural sensory underfoot experience—one that could strengthen the mind-body connection to help make athletes feel calm, focused and present.My role was to help guide the creative vision. To connect the macro and micro details of science, art and story. The best ideas happen when those dimensions align. My job was to help the team see the true north and to bring clarity to how the science should feel once it's on foot.Every dimension of this project was new—new science, new engineering, new design language. Each insight from the lab reshaped how we approached materials or geometry and every prototype fed new questions back to the scientists. That constant back-and-forth was where the breakthroughs happened.Performance design is always a balance. Too much cushioning and you lose sensation; too much sensation and it becomes overwhelming. Our challenge was to find harmony between comfort, clarity and awareness.This feels like a new frontier—a new paradigm of performance. We're proving through science but we're also discovering through intuition. The more we lean into that mix of curiosity and expertise, the more magic we'll uncover.What I love most about this new technology is that it represents the unknown. It's a reminder that performance isn't only about going faster. It's about feeling more, thinking deeper and reconnecting with the moment.

THE MASTER ORCHESTRATOR: MATTHEW NURSE, PHD Chief science officer, NIKE, Inc. With a background spanning biomechanics, physiology and performance research, Matthew Nurse has guided Nike's most ambitious science-led innovations. As chief science officer, he oversaw the Nike Mind project from a multidisciplinary vantage point, coordinating scientists, designers and engineers to keep the various parts moving in sync.Most people don't fully appreciate the importance of sensory feedback from the body, especially the feet. The foot is full of thousands of sensors that give the brain constant information about balance, position and spatial awareness. This is the first product built with the intent of influencing that feedback to help athletes stay focused, present and more aware of their environment.If the body is the engine, the mind is the driver. With Nike Mind, we're starting to think about how to make the driver sharper and clearer. Mental preparation has become just as important as physical, and we're only scratching the surface of what's possible.Science and creativity have to leapfrog each other. Science shouldn't limit dreams but it can help target them. Some of these concepts aren't new, but only now do we have the design and manufacturing capabilities to make them real. Building floating, independent nodes that compress and rotate to deliver sensory information to the brain wasn't possible 20 years ago. Today it is.Athlete feedback drove everything. We went through hundreds of iterations, tuning the number, density, flexibility and placement of the nodes to make sure the sensation was enough to feel and focus on but not so much that it became distracting. It had to be "just right" and only athletes could tell us where that balance was.The beauty of Nike Mind is that beyond feeling grounded, you are grounded. Using tools like EEG, we've measured changes in brain activity in the areas linked to focus and presence. That's the first time we've been able to show—and prove—that footwear construction can influence how the mind works.And this is only chapter one. We've focused on the body for decades. Now, as we look at the mind alongside it, the opportunities for athletes are limitless.

THE PROBLEM SOLVER: BRYAN YOUNGS Innovation programme director, Footwear Bryan Youngs brings more than 20 years of footwear expertise focused on transforming innovation into manufacturable reality. For Nike Mind, he led the scale-up effort, translating a handcrafted sensory prototype into a system that could be produced consistently and reliably. By bridging advanced innovation with global manufacturing, he helped ensure the concept could move from lab experiment to product launch.The idea of sensory footwear has been around for a decade, but the challenge was scale. For years it was an arts-and-crafts project—something&nbsp;you could hand-make but not mass-produce. With Mind, we had to move past that to create something we could build with our manufacturing partners while still preserving the complex architecture underfoot.With our manufacturing partners, we developed a system that simplified the build from dozens of individual attachments down to just a few key steps. That shift allowed us to replicate the sensorial experience athletes loved from the earliest prototypes while making it manufacturable at scale.Our willingness to wrestle with the hardest problems is something that makes Nike very unique. We'd failed to solve sensory footwear for 10 years, but each attempt taught us something. We have the willingness to keep asking the big questions and then the patience and persistence to finally crack them. With these two new products, we're just getting started.

Rachel Cavanaugh is a Portland-based freelance writer who covers food, lifestyle, travel, fitness, adventure and the outdoors. Her work has appeared in Men's Journal, Outdoor Life, GearJunkie, MSN, Yahoo, The Independent, The Hollywood Reporter, Digital Trends, Bustle, Elite Daily, Mic, Travel Oregon, Matador Network and others. She has a background in digital production and brand storytelling and holds a journalism degree from the University of Montana.

Rachel Cavanaugh

It took more than a decade to crack it: shoes that can connect your body to your mind to help you stay calm, focused and present.

Zach Doleac's work is as eclectic as he is, a tasteful blend of polish and grit. His imagery forges honest connections with real people—from boxers in Goma to refugees in Beirut, clowns in Cairo and cowboys from Polson to Houston.&nbsp;When not on assignment, Zach is rarely still, pedalling around the Pacific Northwest, grooving to a beat or sliding on snow, usually in the company of his pup, Frida.&nbsp;You can find more of Zach's work on his <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.zachdoleac.com/" target="_blank">website</a> or follow him on <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/zachdoleac" target="">Instagram</a>.

Zach Doleac

Innovation

Inside the Nike Mind Team That Turned Neuroscience Into Footwear

Answering this question requires paying special attention to word choice, says Blaise Williams, senior sport scientist with the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL). How Nike primarily evaluates "better" in running is in efficiency—or the degree to which someone can spend less energy doing the same movement. That's how teams inside the NSRL measure what being a better runner looks like. And in that regard, yes, anyone can become a better runner

<h3>How We Approach It</h3>Nike researchers use a range of tools to measure biomechanical efficiency. One of them is <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/nike-nsrl-form" target="null">Nike Form</a>, a proprietary movement analysis tool that's available for athletes to trial right now at select Nike stores. With a two-minute run on the treadmill, Nike Form collects 150 data points across your body, from the tilt of your head down to the angle of your ankle, to give you a custom readout of your movement pattern. The tool's algorithm is designed to study how to optimise the way the entire body—not just the lower half—moves through space."NSRL Form isn't just a runner's tool. It's a running tool that gives athletes the power to know themselves", says Williams.This is where the power of self-awareness comes in. After your 2-minute treadmill run, NSRL Form produces a report with guidance for you;&nbsp;a few simple tweaks to your gait pattern can be all you need to become a more efficient runner. For example, let's say your step count is below the recommended 160 steps-per-minute cadence. By focusing on slightly quickening your step turnover, your other body positions will adjust accordingly, such as creating less of a forward lean, or repositioning your foot strike to better hit under your body's centre of gravity, which can lead to a more efficient gait pattern. Small adjustments are all a runner needs to help them cover more ground using less energy.&nbsp;

One simple way, says our expert, is by finding out how efficiently you're running.

The Record

Stories From Inside NIKE, Inc.