Nike’s Olympic uniforms are where fashion and performance collide

As well as enhancing its athletes’ performance in the way Benjamin and Edra speak about, Nike’s apparel and footwear also has to work for them aesthetically, too. Though this may be the case, performance and aesthetics are never in competition with one another. “It’s not performance versus style, because it’s really performance and style,” says Martin Lotti, the brand’s Chief Design Officer. “Even professional athletes I’ve had the opportunity to work with will literally tell you, ‘I play better if I look better.’ They don’t even see it as a versus they, see it as an enhancer.” When I speak to Benjamin about this, he echoes Lotti almost word for word. “I feel like if you look good, you feel good, and you perform even better,” says the 400m hurdler.

Athletes like Benjamin and Edra put their trust in Nike, not only with their performance but also with their aesthetics, because the brand has been a part of their lives forever. For Benjamin, Nike was a big part of culture in high school. “Having a pair of Js was important. That’s when the Conchords dropped, and the Taxi 12s. I’m from New York – if you didn’t have a pair of Jordans, what were you doing?” he says, laughing. Edra also adds that she grew up wearing Nike as well. “For me, it’s always been the Cortez,” she continues. “I feel like it’s such a West Coast type of style in terms of Hip-hop fashion. It’s a famous running shoe, but a lot of breaking legends from the West Coast have worn it as well, like Frosty Freeze and B-Girl Nadia.” This life-long cultural infiltration is what’s given Nike such a good footing when going into the Paris Olympics, and what’s made it possible to produce a uniform that balances performance and style so expertly. “Nike is the culture, honestly”, says Benjamin, resolutely. “People have been wearing Jordans for forever, the Air Maxes for forever – Nike have a very, very symbiotic relationship that I don’t think any other brand can really get in and break up.”