The wait is over and it is officially here, Nike Lab ACG. A new and improved outtake on all condition gear for life in the city. Below is a chunk full of information and pictures on all the items being released by Nike Lab as the press release was recently provided on Nike, Inc.
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NIKELAB PRESENTS ACG: DEFINING SPORT UTILITY FOR THE CITY
Born more than 30 years ago to provide dependable protection and performance in all conditions, Nike ACG is reborn as NikeLab ACG in 2014 to deliver sport utility for the city. Spanning outerwear, footwear and portable storage, the collection is designed to meet the demands for mobility and weather protection in any urban setting.
Representing the future of sport style innovation, ACG marries pioneering materials such as Nike Tech Fleece, Nike Dri-FIT Wool and Nike Flyknit with the Berlin-based designer Errolson Hugh’s knowledge of fit, apparel construction and the functionality needed for everyday life. Hugh is the co-founder of Acronym®, an independent design agency focused on the unification of style and technology in apparel. Working together, Hugh and Nike designers reassessed contemporary athletic needs by challenging convention. Through mutual learning, the team created elegant solutions for complex problems.
“Our question was, what can we build with ACG that no one else can build?” Hugh says. “How do we ensure, beyond being technically superb, that this is distinctively Nike? We came back to athleticism, and the athlete being at Nike’s core. Setting the athlete down in the center of the urban landscape really brought it all home for us.”
ALL CONDITIONS FIT
NikeLab ACG 2 in 1 Men’s Jacket, NikeLab ACG Tech Fleece Men’s Pant, and NikeLab ACG Flyknit Trainer Chukka SFB
For the ACG collection, Hugh and the Nike design team developed the “all conditions fit,” a structure built to encourage readiness, both mentally and physically, and minimize restriction.
“Specifically looking at athletes, there’s a stance that’s universal to all sports. In martial arts it’s often called the ‘ready’ or ‘neutral’ stance, and it’s a precursor to just about any type of movement,” says Hugh, a martial arts enthusiast. “Your center of gravity is neutral, but it’s dropped. Your ankles, knees and elbows are bent. You’re in a kind of half-crouch, but you’re looking forwards.”
The team then developed the fit block based on this stance. The fit block is akin to a chassis in a car. It is the foundation on which everything is built.
“For ACG, we drafted the fit block with that posture rather than the typical straight-limbed static one,” Hugh says. “Readiness is physically encoded into the silhouette of the collection. We call it the all conditions fit because it suggests the ability to transition to any movement and to any situation.”
Every detail in the collection was considered, from the range of motion a jacket or pants provide to the placement of pockets and their ability to store items such as cell phones, laptops and notebooks.
“We needed to ensure that the silhouette serves the needs of the urban athlete and, more importantly, that movement of the body is never restricted,” says Matthew Millward, Nike Senior Design Director. “Bulky items are hidden and kept close to the body, securely stowed. The head-to-toe look should always remain clean by keeping design lines continuous and simple.”
THE ULTIMATE LANDSCAPE
For today’s athletes, the city is the ultimate landscape. It is a worthy maze, rife with modern obstacles. These include walking, biking, climbing stairs and jockeying for a cab. City microclimates are equally as diverse. Throughout the day, the typical urbanite navigates between crowded and humid subways, windy bridges, exposed streets, temperate work environments, and intimate and warm social settings. While the ACG collection protects against the most extreme wind and rain, it also offers flexibility to move between climates. The collection’s layering attributes allow the wearer to gear up or down to match the environment. For example, the wearer can easily remove or add the outer shell of the NikeLab ACG 2 in 1 Men’s Jacket.
“The collection considers the way individuals interact and pass through a city for their day-to-day business,” Millward says. “It’s also designed to protect these individuals from every type of weather.”
FORM MEETS FUNCTION
The utilitarian premise of the collection demands that each piece stand up as well flying across a bridge on a bicycle as it would aesthetically. Engineered around movement, the architectural silhouettes have an innate elegance. Paired with a dark color palette and reflective logos, the collection transitions between muted and more visible as needed.
“While we needed to make something that doesn’t restrict your movement at all, we also didn’t want that to have any negative impact visually,” Hugh says. “It shouldn’t look strange. It has to be presentable, civilized, stylish. But form is never divorced from function. It’s easy to make something look really good. It’s very hard to make it look good and move well.”
The new collection enables the body in motion and conceals the tools of urban life to remain minimal, clean and architecturally sculpted. Movement and comfort are paramount.
The NikeLab ACG collection is available beginning Dec. 18 atnike.com/nikelab in North America, Western Europe and Japan. It will also be available at the following retail locations: NikeLab 21 Mercer NYC, NikeLab DSM NYC, Niketown New York, NikeLab 1948 LDN, NikeLab DSM LDN, NikeLab P75 Paris, NikeLab LNZ1 Milan and NikeLab DSM Ginza in Tokyo.
