Nike Unlaced as a concept is as groundbreaking as it is long overdue. First previewed during Paris fashion week in February but officially launching today, it is: ‘a fantasy sneaker destination for women.’
For too long the world of sneakerheads and hypebeasts have been dominated by men. Even Nike, a progressive brand in terms of fabrication, production and product development, has waited until 2018 to create a women's-only corner of the internet dedicated to trainers - both for performance and lifestyle.
The founders of Supreme, Palace, Off-White, Thames London amongst many other streetwear labels are men. The people who model their collections are men. And, yet the clientele isn’t solely men. ‘Most streetwear originally grew out of male-dominant industries but that doesn’t really answer why it’s still seen as a mens-only thing now, it doesn’t really make sense,’ explains Hypebeast’s editor Jason Dike, ‘a shoe is a shoe at the end of the day.’
It’s not about making footwear unisex, but catering to women’s feet in a new manner. For instance, sizing has been expanded so women with their nuanced shape feet (higher arches and slimmer silhouettes than men) can shop collaborative collections such as Virgil Abloh X Nike The TEN. New personalized styling and installations and collaborations with the brand’s creative voices, like A.L.C.’s Andrea Lieberman and i-D’s Julia Sarr-Jamois, form the backbone of this new project.
Julie Igarashi, VP, creative director for Nike Women’s brand explains the thinking behind Unlaced: ‘We talked to a lot of women as we were developing this concept about their experience buying shoes and found that there’s something that actually changes in the chemistry of somebody’s body when they’re on the hunt and when they’re shopping for shoes in particular. And women asking us to just give me my fantasy. Give me this dream sneaker closet. Give me access to it.’
The 411 on Nike Unlaced
The Debrief: What has ‘Unlaced’ taught you about the female consumer?
Julie Igarashi: ‘I think first and foremost that women are multi-dimensional and women have many different ways of expressing our style and connecting of to product. And, women are leading the future of the emergence of health and wellness in culture and connecting the dots between that desire to be good to our bodies with what we put on them and sneakers becoming an extension or obstruction of self and identity.’
TD: How many shoes do Nike design for men versus how many are designed for women?
JI: ‘I don’t know the exact numbers - I will say that our interest here in Unlaced is to open up all of Nike and the best of Nike for women. It’s about providing access to men’s sneakers in unisex sizing that women will have access to. It’s about tuning and designing for women and sometimes that’s taking a unisex model and changing the colour, the materials, the finishes and the details and even sometimes changing the performance attributes of it. We’ve tuned our airbags slightly differently for women than for men so on the surface you might see very similar shoes but the sensation of when you put your foot in it is going to be tuned to the fact that women prefer a softer, more cushioned feeling on their foot. If you look at the shoe and the men and women’s version are very similar but it’s just a softer vibe. So we’re tuning the performance, we’re redesigning from the material-colour standpoint and offering these favourites in a wide range of colours.’
TD: May I ask – why was the Virgil shoe not available in female sizes to begin with?
**JI: **‘I don’t know the answer to that. I know that we’ve had a great response from women when we offer a product in her size. Our One-Reimagined product, which launched this past month, had women queuing up around the store for it, so there’s obviously a really big demand and women want access to Nike products.’
TD: Why do you think the expectation is that sneakerheads are men?
JI: ‘People like Julia Sarr-Jamois wouldn’t call herself a sneakerhead but has such a knowledge and a connection to sneakers. You know, when I think about it to the context of women today I think that definition is opening and broadening and becoming a lot more multidimensional and interesting because it’s about a passion for your style and how you express it.’
TD: Who do you find is more adventurous with their shoes – men or women?
JI: ‘I’m really inspired by what women are doing with sneakers. It is incredible to see how they’ve taken styles that are very familiar to us like the blazer, the AJ1 and what they’ve paired it with has been wildly inspiring.’
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.