It’s been 20 years since Nike’s General Manager Sam McCracken’s business idea to provide Nike products directly to Native American tribes in an effort to support health promotion and disease prevention programs came to life. Quietly behind the scenes of other major Nike releases, Nike created the Nike Air Native N7 in collaboration with their design team and various community experts and tribal leaders. These shoes were specifically for the Native American community, and were meant to promote wellness in First Nations communities in the U.S. and Canada.
Nike’s N7 Brand now includes a collection that’s available for anyone who is inspired by Native American athletes and the brand’s N7 Fund, and they’ve got a new collection fresh for summer 2020 that celebrates the beauty of heritage plants in their communities.
Since, 2009, Nike’s N7 releases have always celebrated various Native American traditions.
In the past, Nike’s worked with designers like Tracie Jackson who have brought their own personal traditions into their work, like the beautiful and striking geometric patterns of woven rugs created through looms.
They also work closely with many of their Ambassadors to create designs, like lacrosse player Jeremy Thompson’s footwear and apparel “inspired by the vertical expanse of sky and water, each element a refracted sibling of the other, bending into many blues as the sun drops into the horizon line.”
N7’s summer 2020 line was created by a Navajo designer to promote wellness.
The collection is inspired by an array of heritage plants to celebrate the “inherent natural beauty” of aloe, yucca, wild rose, dandelion, and prickly pear, plants that are often connected to the summer season as well.
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For this campaign, Nike worked with many Native American and First Nations individuals from various communities.
Canadian model Ashley Cullingbull , fitness trainer Chelsey Luger , jack of all trades artist Tomás Karmelo Amaya , and artist and Native American wellness trainer Shalene Joseph are just a few Ambassadors included in the summer 2020 campaign.
The collection includes three new shoes and some apparel.
The Kyrie 6 N7 is a basketball shoe with bright colorful designs that reflect Brooklyn Nets Kyrie Irving’s own Native American roots. The star represents his community and is inspired by Lakota quilt design. The mountain represents his Lakota name, Hela or Little Mountain. These are personal symbols of strength for Kyrie that he carries with him through life.
They’re $130 .
The second shoe in the collection is the Air Max 90 N7.
It’s the same classic Ait Max 90, with an upgrade. The vibrant colors and flowing geometric shapes represent the natural beauty and continuous forward momentum, which is inspired by the Seven Generations principle.
These are also $130 .
There’s also the Nike Venture Runner N7, which features a pretty vibrant floral graphic celebrating many Native American heritage plants.
These are also $130 .
Head to Nike’s N7 page to check out the rest of the apparel in the collection.
