NikeLab x Kim Jones

Louis Vuitton's style director for menswear is the latest Nike collaborator.

Kim Jones’ earliest Nike memory? “Being obsessed with having to have a pair of Nikes when I was about 13, or maybe even 12, and just nagging my parents to buy them for me.” It’s an anecdote familiar to many in the west, but few can follow it up with a story so full circle.

Dropping the initial news with a subtle Instagram post four weeks ago (because, 2016), the style director for Louis Vuitton menswear is the latest designer to merge his name with the sports heavyweight's NikeLab moniker.

Following the success of collaborations from Olivier Rousteing and Riccardo Tisci (creative directors at Balmain and Givenchy respectively), Jones new line-up is travel focused, with references to the Londoner’s own research trips to Japan, New York and beyond, coupled with an imagined journey to Rio ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

“I had them for sports and they looked cool as well,” he continues of his nostalgia for Nike kicks, “Also I was a straight-edger for a while and we were all obsessed with Jordans. We were super excited about it and would fight over every colour, because we didn’t want to have the same ones. It was typical teenage guys being obsessed.”

Now boasting a personal archive of over 500, his interests have extended beyond aesthetics to technology and “serious” product design, while for this partnership he decided to reject any retro sensibility: “I wanted it to be modern and to speak to youth today.”

Dropping in-store and online on 23rd July, the collection comprises of the NikeLab Air Zoom LWP x Kim Jones in several colourways, as well as the NikeLab Packable Windrunnrr x Kim Jones in a neon palette. 

www.nike.com

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