Nike, as per, are pushing the boundaries with the way in which they interact with their customers. They have therefore introduced a new type of conceptual ‘retail experience’ called Nike Lab.
This is a physical and digital store with curated items from Nike’s ever-expanding repertoire of collaborations and limited editions. The emphasis on Nike Lab is the ‘storytelling’ experience of purchasing Nike’s releases. The Nike Lab ‘serves to spark consumer discovery in new and unexpected ways’ by presenting ‘a curated collection, defined by product never before imagined paired with new variations of our celebrated performance styles’. This is to say, new takes on heritage Nike gear.
There will be unique collaborations exclusively for Nike Lab that ties in the importance of Nike within subcultures and design around the world.
All in all, this will essentially be a brick and mortar and digital space which will display all the most exclusive and limited pieces that Nike have released in a medium that concentrates more on the storytelling aspect of their drops as opposed to purely aesthetic qualities of their garments/shoes.
To celebrate this launch, they have released the first drop of their new ‘conceptual experience’, the Free Mercurial Superfly HTM, seen below.
We are interested to see what else they drop at Nike Lab, they have already released their collaboration with Japanese geniuses SOPHNET. for a Real Bristol (‘the world’s greatest imaginary football team’) Football Kit.
The physical Nike Lab stores are open in New York, Hong Kong, Paris, London, China and Italy and you can find the website at www.nike.com/NikeLab
Words: Abdullah Ali Jawad
