New: Nike brings out the big guns for their ‘Nike On Air’ event in Paris

Nike brought out the big guns in Paris.

Nike usually flexes their muscle during their innovation/tech summit leading up to the Summer Games. As the games will be held in Paris this summer, Nike hosted “Nike On Air” – an exhibition and live performance at the Palais Brongniart.

The Nike On Air event was the grand unveiling of the footwear and apparel the athletes (and corresponding countries) will wear this summer, as well as a moment to celebrate the hard work and technology of the brand. Through an immersive and sensorial experience that keyed into three things – Nike is the brand of athletes, its innovations continue to lead the sports industry, and its proprietary Air uniquely enables this company to serve all athletes with performance products.

Since April 3rd, tourists and locals alike were invited to view and interact with the 6 massive AR-enabled statues, all done in Nike’s iconic orange. The new 6 – LeBron James, Alexia Putellas, Bebe Vio, Kylian Mbappe, Sha’Carri Richardson and Victory Wembanyama – stood between 8 and 11 meters high and had AR codes to unlock these athletes in action. Their AR heroics communicated their relationship with Nike Air, the shoes that energize them and ultimately position them as timeless athletes among us.

While the statues were an attraction in itself, the Palais hosted a gallery focused on the rich history and limitless future of Nike Air – from its genealogy, culture and reinvention – with key product innovations across running, basketball, football, skate, breakdancing and lifestyle. The space also unveiled the 2024 national uniform and kits athletes are set to wear in Paris. Nike’s partnered with more than 100 federations across team and individual sports, as well as a hunderd athletes who will be competing in the games.

Nike also unveiled their latest Air products, including the sculpted Air unit found in the new Pegasus Premium (more on this later). Contoured to the natural profile of the foot, the sculpted Air Zoom unit in the Pegasus Premium carries a runner’s power through heel to toe transition.

If that wasn’t enough, forty (yes FORTY) elite athletes from around the world were in attendance to unveil the latest Nike Air footwear and team kits. In the finale, 13 athletes declared their visions of the future of Air through AI, 3D-printed one-of-one footwear as part of the A.I.R. – Athlete-Imagined Revolution.

“These groundbreaking Nike Air designs forecast the future of performance footwear, co-created to the exact specification of championship athletes,” says Heidi O’Neill, NIKE, Inc. President, Consumer, Product & Brand. “At the heart of all we do is the athlete. We exist to push boundaries and take risks on their behalf. This summer, the difference-maker is the massive energy return of Nike Air — what you’ll see athletes wear on the road, court, pitch and track. A multiyear cycle of Nike innovation is upon us, and here in Paris, we’ve shown only the beginning of what’s to come.”

Nike On Air was definitely a glimpse and taste of what’s to come from the Swoosh. With innovation at the heart of it all, Nike is giving their athletes more suppot, more choice and more inspiration than ever before to achieve their dreams.