Sportswear
company Nike has just unveiled the new Undercover Gyakusou Spring 2014
collaboration collection which has just landed in stores. Working with
technology to create innovative and one-of-a-kind pieces, designer Jun
Takahashi has also taken the season's inspiration from the age-old idea of
'ying and yang', creating simple balance and harmony throughout. Featuring
printed t-shirts, light jackets and a mixture of trainer styles, the pieces are
sporty but versatile. Nike commented: "Jun Takahashi knows running is
a battle between two opposite emotions. To him running is a struggle between
joy and agony, elation and exhaustion, persistence and surrender. It is a
crusade waged by both the body and the mind. The Nike x Undercover Gyakusou
Spring 2014 Collection visually articulates this yin-yang with contrasting
colors and materials. It also employs the latest performance running
innovations, including Nike Sweat Map ventilation, to give runners an edge
against adversity."
The
company also add that Takahashi worked with the company's technology department
to create new products that have never been seen before and are new on the
market: "Working closely with Nike’s Apparel Innovation Design Team,
Takahashi is exposed to the latest advanced technologies informed by
body-led research. Taking thermal body mapping—a diagnostic technique that
charts changes in body temperature—as a starting point, Nike Sweat Map
ventilation combines an engineered jacquard weave with pinpoint laser
perforations. The sophisticated weave optically and tactically articulates the
upper body’s heat map, while the perforations provide aeration at the points
where body temperature is the highest and likely to rise with exercise."
