Inside the Made in Italy collection by Nike

Yesterday, Inter beat Torino 2-0: their journey towards the championship victory has been incredible, and for the occasion, the Nerazzurri players wore the Every Stitch Considered collection in the moments leading up to kick-off.

More than the gaze, to be relevant during a creative or communicative process, it's the perspective that matters: having the awareness and ability to choose which side to act on to introduce disruptive innovation in one's own industry. Today, teaching this lesson in sportswear, footwear, and clothing overall is Nike. The Swoosh representing excellence in the clothing sector is well-known, and the realization of the ESC collection confirms it definitively. The acronym ESC stands for Every Stitch Considered, and it's a project that aims to combine Nike's approach to technical materials with the rich culture of Made in Italy to define a new type of wardrobe that reflects the needs of the modern audience and the values of quality essential for the entire industry. To achieve the desired result, Nike worked alongside family-run businesses in Lombardy, with the goal of enriching their products with the legendary craftsmanship of Italian producers. ESC made its debut last November 25th, in the ESC x Inter version, during a special occasion: the women's football derby between Inter and Milan held at the Arena Civica Gianni Brera, a highly significant event that emphasized the longstanding relationship between Nike and Inter, which has lasted for 25 years. On this occasion, players from the Nerazzurri team, Flaminia Simonetti, Chiara Robustellini, Agnese Bonfantini, wore some unisex pieces from the collection. Probably, many, witnessing the pre-game scenes of a women's derby that has already become part of football history, were intrigued by a formal uniform that is very different from the garments seen in recent history on the playing field.

But the ESC collection doesn't stop at aesthetics and recognizability, which are instead the result of the values and forward-looking vision of the Beaverton company, also through the desire to elevate the product from a productive and qualitative perspective. The Nike design team tells us that ESC's goal is to serve individuals living in urban environments like New York, Milan, or Tokyo, who explore new scenarios every day to move around—using means of transportation such as motorcycles, subways, or trams—within huge buildings. Amid meetings and other work commitments, time is scarce, and one is always on the move. For this reason, ESC's main mission revolves around creating versatile items distinguished by sophisticated materials that don't force the worker to change outfits throughout the day. All materials used in the creation of Every Stitch Considered exhibit extremely high quality, refined in the best Italian factories.

Building on the legacy of blokecore, we should have learned that even those not attracted to a particular sport can be interested in apparel or accessories designed to be used in a sports context. It's legitimate to wonder, though, if a luxury collection like Every Stitch Considered can also be successful for a much broader and more general audience. There are many examples that speak to how the presence of luxury clothing in sportswear (Zegna, Prada's Linea Rossa) can have more than a few good reasons to exist. But the novelty didn't stop at the product alone and also had further reflections in Nike's modus operandi: the Beaverton brand, working on the collection, was able to observe Italy from a new perspective, analyzing the country from a work-related point of view. The success of Every Stitch Considered highlights its extremely varied nature: it can satisfy everyone's tastes with an offering that ranges from finely crafted knitwear to outerwear. Additionally, the success of Every Stitch Considered enhances both Made in Italy and the technical innovation Nike aspired to from the beginning. The speed at which some of the garments were produced in Italy was incredible; there was total focus on this collection.

Every Stitch Considered is an ambitious project that represents the meeting of two different worlds, born also from Swoosh's fascination with Italy. It has long been known that Italian know-how is often associated with footwear, just think of Montebelluna, one of the most important and authoritative sites for the manufacturing and finishing of football shoes. For this reason, it recognizes even more the importance of ESC. There is a need to pay great attention to the craftsmanship of sportswear, so the collection worked on by its team can be a truly successful experiment and an opening towards greater care for the quality and details of this type of clothing.

After answering our questions, it's the design team that is interested in our ideas. We are asked what we think of the collection after having the opportunity to preview it. We can only express our amazement, due as much to the impeccable craftsmanship as to the uniqueness of the silhouettes. If this Every Stitch Considered signature is just a taste of the steps Nike is taking towards the future, we can only be eager to discover what the future holds for luxury sportswear in the coming months.