FANTASY IS FREEDOM

Nike ReCreate reframes how product begins, using existing materials as the starting point. Working with local designers, the initiative transforms deadstock and secondhand garments into one-off and small-run pieces shaped by the communities they come from. For this capsule, Nike partners with London-based studio YAKU, whose Afrofuturist universe draws on personal history, RPG narratives and speculative world-building. Across a three-year collaboration, YAKU reconstructs Nike garments into entirely new forms, preserving original seams and functions while pushing each piece into unfamiliar territory. 

The result is a collection of one-of-one pieces and limited runs that merge performance heritage with YAKU’s material experimentation. Familiar silhouettes evolve into armour-like structures, creature-inspired accessories and hybrid garments informed by mythology, nature and play. Each piece carries traces of its past while extending its life into something else.