This collaboration is a result of a 2009 conversation that I had with Mark Parker in Paris. We spoke for hours on the merits of individual handicraft versus the economy of scale in factory production. The design triangle: quality, speed, cost - choose two is broken open by the innovative global production techniques and ethics developed and continually refined by NIKE. The “die broke racing philosophy” (starting with 100% and ending with 0% to save weight and increase speed), is a useful strategy, but can also conflict with sustainability, and compromise long-term strength. Before recycling, there is reuse. Before reuse, there is durability. John Ruskin’s Seven Lamps of Architecture, from May 1849: 1. Sacrifice 2. Truth 3. Power 4. Beauty 5. Life 6. Memory 7. Obedience 153 years later, these ideas are the guiding principles of this collaborative capsule collection. Here we shun innovation for its own sake, but embrace the muse of innovation only as a necessity. Fashion is power and truth and beauty and life and obedience, and it’s achieved at great sacrifice - just like athletics. Parker said to me, “If you think you can do better, why don’t you try?” I said “okay,” and three years later, after we both learned a lot, this is result of that challenge. Behold: NIKECraft.
Tom Sachs April 11, 2012
At NIKECraft, products are developed for athletes, not consumers. Our athlete, Tommaso Rivellini, is a mechanical engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Among many other projects, Tommaso invented the airbags used on the 1997 and 2004 Mars rovers. Long gone are the days of wingtipped brouges, pocket protectors, and skinny ties. The rocket scientist uniform of today is faded jeans, a golf shirt, and sneakers. These shoes are built to support the bodies of the strongest minds in the aerospace industry. Special features include: outsoles borrowed from the NIKE special forces boot (SFB), vectran fabric from the Mars Excursion Rover airbags, and detailing from Apollo Lunar Overshoes. These premium athletic shoes thrive in the rugged terrain of the simulated Mars Yard in Pasadena, CA - as well as stealthily creeping the mission-funding hallways of headquarters in Washington, D.C.