The history of Nike Tech Pack With the upcoming new FW18 season we look back at its rich heritage
With the recent announcement of Nike’s new Fall 2018 Tech Pack, we wanted to take a look back at the line's history to bring you the story behind the range, and its highlights.
Tech Pack roots
Nike Tech Pack was born in 2007, but we need to venture much further back to really get to the source of the tech line. Nike has always had a bit of a dualistic nature, defined mainly as a sportswear brand, their clothing and apparel was from its inception aimed at athletes and sports activities, however, already in the early 70’s saw Nike clothing being worn more and more in fashion contexts by none athletes in a true streetstyle fashion. This meant a whole new demographic and set of demands opened up for Nike’s designers, as the needs of the track will differ from those of the street.
In the mid 70’s and early 80’s, Nike released some key pieces of clothing that would sow the seeds for the techwear development that lay in its future. Firstly Nike’s Windrunner jacket was revolutionary for a number of reasons, its development had been spurred on by the success of the Cortez and Waffle Racer shoes, it was a piece of apparel that had been developed in symbiosis with athletes. Heavy cotton was the standard fabric in use for athletic wear at the time, which wasn’t comfortable when training and sweating in both sunny and rainy conditions. The Windrunner, on the other hand, was made out of single layer lightweight nylon, that along with its cut, aided comfort and mobility while offering some protection against wind and rain. With its vivid colorways, it fused fashion and function and was soon adopted by a number of subcultures, who liked the look and performance it offered. Everyone from b-boys to ravers, to the athletes it was originally designed for, wore it and it opened Nike's eyes for the wants and needs of having apparel that looked fashionable but acted like performance sportswear.
The 90's and beyond
In the wild aesthetic decade of the 90’s that laid ahead, several developments like for example the budding stages of digital aided technology, and working with figures like Michael Jordan and director Spike Lee, who directed many of the Nike ads at time, and two figures who aren’t used to accepting limits or no’s as an answer. Meant designs and performance were pushed to new creative heights at Nike, and lifestyle apparel received a previously unseen focus, as the markets grew.
Enter the 2000’s and 2010’s where the term techwear really comes into its own. Technical fabrics have been around for a while but here incorporating technology with great design really takes off, and soon comfort is to follow. The growing need and wants for having it all, style, comfort, and performance lays this trifecta as the foundation for Nike Sportswear creating its first Tech Pack in 2007.
The First Tech Pack
Returning back to its Windrunner, the first tech pack released a revamped version of the classic jacket, using no sow technology, where the fabric is welded together using ultrasonic waves to avoid raw edge stitch marks. The initial launch also included a track jacket, a fleece crew, hoodie, the pocket tee and later that year, an M65 inspired field jacket in black and chino. All of which had gotten various tech updates. Here two main staples of the Tech Pack range were established, the Windrunner, and the use of fleece material, which both became an integral part of Tech Packs DNA.
The Future
Bringing us then to the present the new up and coming Nike Pack collection for fall 2018 sees completely renewed innovative materials used together with body-informed and environmental data to create functional and focused silhouette forms. The fall 2018 collection will once again feature another round of redesigning the classic Windrunner, as well as a Hooded Tech Pack Woven Jacket, and for women the Tech Pack crew, Pants. and Woven Track Jacket.
In today's highly tech-infused world where we now have a generation that's been born with iPhones and the internet always being everywhere, there's a demand or almost expectation that technology aides us in every aspect of our lives to the point of invisibility, Nike’s evolving Techs Pack are great examples of this, where everyday essentials protect us against all manner of condition without us even needing to think about it.
Ultimately technology is often best when going completely unnoticed, we want clothes that can cope with every situation, keeping us warm, dry, ventilated and comfortable whatever the changing conditions. These are hard tasks to accomplish especially from the same item of apparel, but this is exactly what Nike’s Tech packs are able to do. Packing an incredible amount of ever-evolving technology, into relatively simple items that deal with all manner of challenging conditions so we don’t need to, all wrapped up in truly well-designed fashion, Nike Tech Packs are very much an indicator of the future of clothing.
