Anyone familiar with Tom Sachs scrappy make-it-yourself
sculpture (some call it bricolage) might find the idea of
him collaborating with the biggest sporting goods brand on
the planet, in the universe, an unlikely partnership. What
he, as an artist, considers a large edition size, Nike runs
off in prototypes testing iterations of a new sneaker. And
yet born from the dynamic between Tom's D.I.Y.
aesthetic and the wide reaching Nike brand, comes an
artisanal capsule collection, NIKECraft.
Launched on the eve of Tom's SPACE PROGRAM: Mars, this
joint venture between Tom and the Nike design team fuses,
in several significant ways, the design sensibility Sachs
brings to space travel.
Astronauts must be as fit as an elite athlete to even
withstand the rigors of exiting the earth's atmosphere.
Their daily tasks require a substantial effort and
endurance. Equally, their equipment must be up to the task
of performing under the most unforgiving conditions.
The journey itself would end up inspiring the Tom Sachs:
NIKECraft collection - The Mars Yard Shoe, the Trench, The
Marsfly Jacket, and the Lightweight Tote. Nike design and
Sachs applied materials that have never been used in
sportswear, taken from automotive air bags, mainsails for
boats and the space suit itself. Each piece is packed with
functionality that would prove useful in the voyage through
space. Zipper pulls that double as storage containers,
paracord that can be fashioned as a tourniquet and
embellishments like the periodic table of elements screened
on the inside of a jacket - they all merge visual interest
with purpose.
Nike, Inc. specializes in the design, manufacturing and marketing of sports shoes, clothing, and equipment. The group's products are sold primarily under the names Nike, Jordan, Converse Chuck Taylor, All Star, One Star, Star Chevron and Jack Purcell. Net sales break down by family of products as follows:
- footwear (68.9%);
- clothing (27.2%);
- sports equipment (3.4%): golf equipment (golf clubs, balls, gloves, etc.), bags, balls, etc.;
- other (0.5%).
At the end of May 2023, products were being marketed through a network of 1,032 stores worldwide, through independent distributors, and via the Internet.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: North America (44.3%), Europe/Middle East/Africa (27.5%), China (14.9%), Asia/Pacific and Latin America (13.2%) and other (0.1%).