Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Serena Williams and Her Nike Design Crew Debut Their First Collection

Serena Williams and Her Nike Design Crew Debut Their First Collection

The collection arriving for fall is not just a celebration of Williams’s style and an opportunity for her many fans to get the Williams look but a chance for the 10 members of Nike’s initial Serena Williams Design Crew to jumpstart their careers.

Way back in 2019, Serena Williams and Nike teamed up for a first-of-its-kind partnership. Under Williams’s leadership, Nike would select 10 emerging designers from underrepresented backgrounds to work on a new, Serena Williams–inspired and –approved collection from Nike’s Beaverton, Oregon, headquarters. The 10 winners were scouted with the help of Harlem’s Fashion Row and New York’s fashion schools like the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons, as well as from within Nike’s retail stores, and were given an unprecedented 18 months to design and craft their perfect collection of Serena-ready garments. Today, the collection is finally here.



“They took it to a place where I could never have seen it; that was just really exciting,” Williams says over a Zoom call. The inaugural Serena Williams Design Crew collection takes cues from Williams’s life-such as her daughter’s OO initials (a double meaning with zero meaning love in tennis), West African kente-cloth-inspired prints with hidden S monograms, and her 23 Grand Slam titles-and incorporates them into ready-to-wear and footwear. “I feel like they were able to communicate my aesthetics very well through the silhouettes and patterns that they brought and in the colors as well,” Williams says. “It’s something really fun. It’s definitely bold. And it’s definitely different-but it’s also very wearable. I think that’s also really important.”



The sport and style icon admits that even her own sense of style has changed after our months of lockdowns and social distancing. “I went from, you know, red carpets and amazing Off-White sneakers from Nike and Virgil [Abloh] to suddenly sweats, which I love and I’m still loving,” Williams starts with a laugh, “but now I’m ready to go back to fashion more than ever with things that are even more designed.” This collection offers that and more, riffing on Williams’s unbeatable personal style with one-shoulder sports bras and contrast-sleeve tops intended to highlight her serving arm (or yours!). Her favorite piece? “I love the jumpsuit-I think it is so unique.”



Designing the footwear-a large selection of Nike Court Legacy, Air Max Koko, and RYZ 365 2 styles-was more of a challenge-and a collaboration. “It’s going to surprise you, but I’m not a big shoe person,” Williams admits. However hard that might be to believe-ahem, remember the Off-White Nikes at the Met gala?!-she says, “I’m always looking for inspiration. When it came to the shoes, I really relied on the designers. I said, ‘I need you all to lead me because I’m the person that likes to wear the shoes; I’m not a shoe designer at all.‘”



The large collection arriving for fall is not just a celebration of Williams’s style and an opportunity for her many fans to get the Williams look but a chance for the 10 members of Nike’s initial Serena Williams Design Crew to jumpstart their careers. “Of the 10 individuals that were a part of the initial apprenticeship, seven of them actually now work at Nike as full-time employees,” says Jarvis Sam, Nike’s vice president of global diversity and inclusion. “The other three are actually in the fashion industry, so the Serena Williams Design Crew offered the opportunity for them to gain tangible experience where now we truly are seeing the impact on the industry.”



Sam sees the SWDC as a unique extension of Nike’s other emerging-designer and fashion-lover programs, like its Pensole Design Academy, Converse All-Star Design Team, and partnership with the WNBA to work with retired players on new career opportunities. “Our ultimate goal is to drive economic empowerment by positioning people in incredible career opportunities,” he says. “We want to build approaches that are so unique and authentic to Nike. We truly believe that sport has the power to change the world, but with that comes accountability to think about how we are driving congruence between product, marketing, and employee experience.”

What better experience could there be than working with Serena Williams? Before COVID, when the first class of SWDC apprentices met Williams, Sam describes the elation. “Serena walks in the room, and you just see this spectrum of emotion: You see smiles, you see tears, you see such joy because I think in that moment it became clear to them that you are not building a project that’s simply under Serena’s name,” Sam says. “They are building a collection, not only inspired by but influenced by a direct connection with Serena.” Later on in 2020, Williams would join Zoom calls with the team. “It was just such a beautifully inspiring moment,” Sam continues, noting that the direct communication between athlete and designer is what makes every Nike product special-especially Serena Williams’s collection.

As the first collection debuts, the SWDC’s second cohort is working away on their Serena-inspired line, and applications are open for the third group. The promise of the partnership is that the clothing not only gives wearers the confidence of Williams but is made in collaboration with her determination, aesthetic, and care for supporting new talents.


AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
Budapest Pride Parade Draws 200,000 Participants Amid Government Ban
Southern Europe Experiences Extreme Heat
Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Launch Garners Record Pre-Orders Amid Market Challenges
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Lavish Wedding in Venice
Russia Launches Largest Air Assault on Ukraine Since Invasion
Massive Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Belgrade
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Hungary's Prime Minister Criticizes NATO's Role in Ukraine
EU TO HUNGARY: LET THEM PRIDE OR PREP FOR SHADE. ORBÁN TO EU: STAY IN YOUR LANE AND FIX YOUR OWN MESS.
Hungarian Scientist to Conduct 30 Research Experiments on the International Space Station
NATO Members Agree to 5% Defense Spending Target by 2035
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
International Astronaut Team Launched to Space Station
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Alleged Mossad Operatives After Sabotage Claims
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
Oil Prices Set to Surge After US Strikes Iran
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
×