Nike Basketball is charting a new path in product innovation. Celebrating the brand’s 40-year history in basketball with a nostalgic look back is not a top priority. The future is now, and the goal remains to deliver trailblazing product design that accelerates the game.
With the 2013 basketball season tipping off, the game is experiencing growth and popularity exceeding its global expansion of the early 1990s. Basketball is hot. An estimated 15% of the world’s population plays the sport. Product innovation continues to fuel a lifestyle and Nike Basketball takes its role in the sport very seriously.
THE SPECIAL FORCES
With a group of pioneering designers, Nike Basketball operates as a collective team. The team builds on each other’s creative juices. From footwear to apparel, to accessories and equipment, the team thrives as an extremely connected unit.
Armed with diverse design experience across a variety of industries – automobiles, toys, furniture, luggage, and more – the Nike Basketball design unit builds on and learns from each other’s expertise.
APPAREL
Michelle Walter The basketball uniform has evolved – from the patterns, to materials, to construction and graphics. Led by Nike Basketball’s Apparel Design Director Ryan Aanderud, the apparel design team works on a variety of projects that include collegiate uniforms, outdoor apparel, and signature products for some of the world’s top athletes such as for Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and LeBron James.
The apparel design team challenges convention with new materials, fabrications, and altogether new products. Senior Designer Michelle Walter, who has worked closely with Kobe Bryant over the past eight years, shapes the industry standard with technically superior product based on insights from the one of the game’s best players.
