There is no question that Nike Forward, which debuted last autumn with an inaugural hoodie and crew style, is an interesting textile development. But can the current iteration — with its raw details and grey-only colourway — be the ‘game changer’ the brand claims it to be?  

Sports brand Nike isn’t the first to use terms like “game-changing” and “revolutionising” to describe a big launch, but when the brand presents a new innovation as its most significant since Dri-Fit, industry watchers were bound to pause for a closer look.

In September last year, the company unveiled Nike Forward, a platform through which fibre is essentially needle-punched directly into a wearable textile. The brand says it spent five years developing the platform and that the process was the result of ‘hacking’ traditional needle-punch machines. The breakthrough, it stated, was figuring out how to harness a technique more common in automotive and medical industries to create what it claims is premium, sustainable sportswear. In the resulting material, which has a lighter density than traditional knit fleece, multiple thin layers are entangled rather than woven or knitted together; the inaugural products are made with five thin layers, though the company says this can be adjusted to create future pieces of varying thickness and composition.

Removing in-between steps traditionally used to develop knits and wovens condenses the process, thereby reducing the material’s carbon footprint by 75% when compared to the brand’s traditional knit fleece. The first-generation version is composed of 70% recycled content and has no zippers, aglets or extra trims so that pieces can more easily be recycled. The carbon footprint of the material, according to the company, is based on “a cradle-to-gate assessment review by PRe Sustainability. Trims and other minor components are excluded from the result”.

The launch featured a men’s and women’s hoodie and crew neck, both available in grey. (Promotional videos show additional pieces and a men’s trouser made an appearance on the brand’s website, though as of late November clicking the link for the jogger-style bottoms led to a “the product you are looking for is no longer available” message.) The tops have a fairly unisex, baggy, boxy fit, and the women’s version of each is shorter than the men’s. The website describes the collection as featuring “raw edge pockets, exposed seams, and other intentional design choices that help us generate less waste in the manufacturing process and pave the way for future circularity” and says each garment is “designed to break in as you wear it”.

The material requires more care than the average Nike hoodie. The company advises garments be washed after five wears in cold water to preserve the material’s structure and prevent shrinkage, then laid flat to dry rather than put into a dryer. Pilling is said to be “a natural part of the material’s life cycle” which can be addressed with a fabric comb or brush.

The brand has gone all out on its launch, with team members talking in every interview about what a “game changer” Forward is. While the excitement is understandable — there is indeed much to celebrate about the new platform — it’s worth looking outside the company to ask: What constitutes a game-changing development and can Nike Forward really bring about a significant shift in the world of sportswear? 

What works... and what doesn’t

“It’s good that Nike uses this collection to demonstrate ways of creating classic and iconic pieces with a positive impact on the environmental footprint,” says Anne Prahl, a London-based sustainable design consultant who holds a PhD in Sustainable Design. However, she feels the term ‘game changer’ comes across as “rather enthusiastic marketing”.

Dr Prahl works with start-ups, brands and manufacturers in the sportswear and fashion materials sector, helping them to weave more sustainable approaches into every aspect of their work. This patented technology, she says, is “very much based on needle-punching, a process that has been utilised for decades to create nonwoven textiles for the automotive, medical and geotextile industries. [Nike] seems to have taken an existing technology and tweaked it for use in a totally different product category and industry.”

She feels a true paradigm shift will require a change in how recycled materials are used; the recycled polyester that currently makes up 70% of Forward is made from recycled plastic bottles and she would like to see fibre-to-fibre recycled polyester. Take-back programmes would allow end-of-life pieces to be repaired, reused and recycled into materials for new sportswear products, she says. “Nike has talked about the possibility of making the material from manufacturing waste and how the elimination of trims can enable the recycling process in the future, so maybe this inaugural collection needs to be seen as a starting point for something much more impressive.”

Equally pressing is whether the product is ready for the general public, which Dr Prahl became more sceptical of after assessing the product in person. Nike has outdone itself to produce sleek images and videos to show the collection in its best light, she says, but she adds: “Holding my newly purchased women’s hoodie in my hands, I first noticed how lightweight yet stiff it felt, and strangely, how noisy and crunchy the fabric was. When wearing the garment, it felt restrictive, despite the boxy loose cut, as there really is no give in the material. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was wearing a paper-based material, reminiscent of nonwoven Tyvek garments worn as protective clothing.”

This is not too surprising as needle-punched materials are typically rather rigid, she says, “and unfortunately even the boxy, spacious cut could not hide the fact that the material just does not move with the body. In fact, the combination of fit, material and attempts at keeping traditional elasticated cuffs and hem, doesn’t make for a comfortable, fit-for-purpose piece of sportswear.” She also felt the £124.95 price tag was excessive, considering needle-punched nonwovens are typically used for cost-effective, disposable products.

“There are some positives,” says Dr Prahl. “The hoodie felt surprisingly warm and cosy despite its perceived flimsiness. Nike does rate the collection’s thermal efficiency as higher than comparable fleece materials and we may see some more fine-tuning of the layer-enabled material technology in the future.” 

What consumers want

When Nike Forward was first announced last September, omnichannel retail experts Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton discussed the launch on their Omni Talk Fast Five podcast. The pair, who are co-founders of the Omni Talk Retail blog and various podcast productions under the same umbrella, were joined by two guests, and the conversation moved among several key aspects: 

• the impressive sustainability metrics (“I’m excited about the numbers — around 75%”, one guest said, while the other praised progress that “isn’t greenwashing [and is] really moving the needle”); 
• the importance of sustainability to millennial consumers (“Gen Z and millennials care more about this than some [older] executives understand,” said Ms Mezzenga);
• and whether the product in its current state will appeal to consumers (it’s “raw,” they all agreed, and consumers might not be willing to give the material the extra care it requires).

WSA caught up with Ms Mezzenga and Mr Walton after the podcast aired to further discuss these points — and whether Nike Forward really is a “game changer”.

To Mr Walton, a game changer would be a product that “delivers more than 90% functionality at a fraction of the cost”. A great example, he says, was the Crest Spinbrush: “It delivered most of the functionality of an electric toothbrush for [around 10%] of the cost and opened people’s eyes to how an electric toothbrush works.” For Nike Forward to be a true game changer, he says, the new material would have to “recreate all the same colours, feels and washability of a standard garment”.

If the Forward range continues to be only available in grey, he told WSA, “the concept is dead on arrival.” The range must ultimately come in a variety of colours or “it will have limited consumer appeal. People won’t pay more just for grey when they can get cheaper colour options somewhere else.”

Ms Mezzenga agrees that the new platform in its current form is not there yet. “Nike claims the needle punching cuts down their process significantly because it’s removing several steps, however, there’s a reason those steps exist. It creates the garments consumers have come to know and love,” she says. “Lululemon, for example, started using recycled materials and more sustainable processes to create products, but they are finished and are worth the price they are charging. I look at the Nike Forward product, and there is still a raw quality, difficulties in care for the garments, and a high price point. One of these things needs to change for this product to start gaining the traction Nike wants it to.” 

This is likely to be the case even for Gen Z consumers towards whom the new line seems primarily targeted. Even though that demographic is often more “aspirational in their sustainability ideals,” she says, “when the time comes for purchase, many are still choosing price as their priority, not sustainability. This is why it’s important for textiles producers, retailers, brands, to be able to figure out a long-term strategy that helps create products that allow consumers to check both boxes, lower-priced products and those that are sustainably made.”

Not a game changer — yet

Back to the question of whether Nike Forward in its current form is a game changer. Most seem to agree it’s a “not yet”.

Despite the work still to be done, Ms Mezzenga hopes other textiles producers will be inspired to explore how they can remove one or two steps from their own processes. “Seventy-five percent reduction in process may not be possible, but it’s to everyone’s benefit to start making changes that eventually can scale to that level and maintain the quality and sustainability of the garment.”

Mr Walton says he is “waiting to see how big a gap there is between the initial story and what’s next.” That will help him determine “if it is just PR or a real effort with staying power.” 

Dr Prahl feels the design team still has work to do. “The collection’s flaw is that Nike has used what it describes as a game-changing material but has tried to apply this to traditional silhouettes. As the material’s drape, touch, feel and performance are so different from those of traditional fleeces, it should be explored through more radical design options and construction methods. This could in turn lead to the apparel innovation that Nike intended this to be.” 

As a former Nike employee and self-described “superfan,” Dr Prahl eagerly awaits whatever will come next from the platform. “I do hope,” she says, “that they have something up their sleeve to really move this material on to become fit for purpose and the game changer they promise.”

Forward is Nike’s “most significant innovation since Dri Fit”. 
CREDIT: NIKE 

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