Nike launches gender-free pieces with Martine Rose ahead of Women’s World Cup
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In it, she “dissolves the boundaries of men and women’s football styling with gender-free tailored pieces that evolve player suiting and expand the culture of sport for the next generation,” we’re told.
The collection was created “for the world’s best footballers to wear ahead of this summer’s premier sporting event”.
Nike clearly sees this as a big deal. In its release announcing the news, it said that “in fashion and in sport, there are singular moments that are so progressively bold that their arrival creates a clear ‘before’ and ‘after’. In her latest partnership with Nike, designer Martine Rose has seized a moment for both fashion and sport, launching us all into an ‘after’ world — one that is more inclusive, egalitarian, empowering and inspiring”.
So what does that mean in practice? Well
The shoe’s blue and purple colourway “nods to the famously vibrant goalkeeper jerseys of the 1990s, while the silhouette acts as a talisman for equity in football, the ever-expanding culture of sport and a signal of what’s to come from Nike and Martine later in the year”.
The collection will be available exclusively on Martine-Rose.com July 25 and on SNKRS and at select speciality stores July 27.
The company says the pieces “dissolve the boundaries of men and women’s football styling with gender-free tailored player suiting that advances sport style and expands the culture of sport for the next generation”.
It “elevates the look of the elite women’s game and closes the gender gap in considered, crafted tailoring for women’s sport”.
“When a woman wears a suit, it expresses strength, resilience and beauty,” Rose said. “I want women to feel powerful in their suits like men do. More than that, although I’m using women to tell the story, there’s no gender attached to the suit. Anyone can wear it. I hope one day we’re not talking about gender in sport and are just talking about the sport. Once everything is stripped back, it’s just the game that’s left.”
Nike athlete Megan Rapinoe, who’s a US Women’s National Team member, and a muse for the Nike x Martine Rose Collection, added: “I love the mash-up that sports and fashion and culture has become, and as an athlete, I’ve always wanted what we wear to stand for more. I think Martine, as a designer inspired by sports culture, is able to pull so much meaning into her work, and for her to be able to express herself through this moment that is so special to us is really cool — and obviously the pieces are just dope.”
