From Nike:
01 ENGINEERING NIKE TECH KNIT
Each time, before they even put pencil to paper, Nike designers gather insight from athletes. In Nike Sportswear, this performance approach is applied to lifestyle design to deliver innovation for everyday life. Designers seek inspiration from history and place, traveling the world to tap into global culture and current trends. Then, they synthesize their discoveries into groundbreaking designs.
The new Nike Tech Knit collection is a product of this distinct algorithm, combining empirical insight with thermoregulation findings to create pioneering garments with a progressive blend of form and function.
Athletes, both professional and everyday, experience fluctuating body temperatures and desire garments that respond to their varying level of activity to help enable the natural thermoregulation process. The athlete’s average day provides the blueprint for this engineering.
To engineer apparel that offers both warmth and breathability for more than 14 hours of movement, while advancing aesthetics, Nike designers collaborated with yarn specialists, computer programmers and knitting machine technicians to develop the next generation of technical knitwear.
- The conception-to-creation process, featuring Jessica Lomax, Senior Apparel Designer, Nike Sportswear
Rhiannon Taylor, Senior Technical Developer, translates sketch to garment.
Linda Brown, Senior Material Developer, Knit, reviews yarns of various densities and hues to create the ideal aesthetic and performance mix.
Ink-printing tests.
Various textural approaches to engineering knit.
Tech Knit stitch structure.
Tim-Campbell Stephen, Knit Director, Nike Sportswear, calculating stitch counts.
The Nike Tech Knit design team
The team combined cotton and nylon to create a new performance yarn, with an emphasis on rich texture and surface structure. They then experimented with different stitches and wefts to achieve the optimal knit, which – in keeping with the craft history of knit – is hand-finished.
02 UNVEILING NIKE TECH KNIT
Nike Tech Knit is engineered for warmth and designed to respond to its wearer’s environment and activity level while introducing a new, progressive aesthetic. See an overview of the collection below.
NIKE TECH KNIT WINDRUNNER
- Ergonomic zones are engineered into the fabric for flexibility and enhanced ventilation.
- High-use areas are subtly reinforced and core regions strategically knit for structural warmth.
NIKE TECH KNIT PANT
- Innovative layering and stitching is informed by heat mapping.
- Knit structure creates warmth and ventilation where needed to optimize all-day comfort.
NIKE TECH KNIT TOP/NIKE TECH KNIT POCKET TEE
- Mesh is incorporated for breathability.
- Minimal seams and built-in stretch offer maximum comfort.
Nike Tech Knit will be available globally on February 4 at Nike retailers and on nike.com. Download the Nike Tech Book on January 26 for early purchase of Nike Tech Knit products.
Prepare to pay 100+ for a pair of pants
No thanks.
I like how Nike promotes all this with athletes and they have this cool image, but really the innovation comes from someone who could be your mom. She’s a cool mom though, she works at Nike.
Loving the look, and the material, I’m sceptical of all the brands trying to sell knitting as a tech-innovation, it’s a technique used to promote a look, a style, everything we’re getting in sports already exists, and has for a long time in industrial knits/weaves.
I’m sorry but prime knit and all this flue eave is not impressive, why should we pay more for a knitted material, it’s knit not space age material
Sounds like a re-hash of training gear that already had strategic venting, but in the form of varying knit patterns. The possible difference in execution might be influenced by the thermal properties of the material itself. One aspect I’m curious about how is longevity — if the strategic and generally thicker yarns aren’t as prone to stretching out and/or losing shape like lycra and spandex, especially after washes.
I have the Hyperwarm Knit/Flex top. Bought that crazy thing at an outlet (no way am I paying $150 for a shirt lmao). Thermal insulation is achieved with polyester(?) panels. Definitely articulates around the elbows better and is pretty effective overall, but I actually baby the thing since I can’t really find another one.
I agree with most on this one, all this is a prelude to high prices. Think about it promoting something grandma use to do, as it’s big innovative step. What’s next, crotchet tights, but what I don’t agree with is people complaining and buying it anyway.
cool but high prices are going to be crazy.