Name: Nike Races to Capture the Outdoor Market
Uploaded: 2026-02-22T21:35:49.000Z
Duration: 7 min 27 s
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Milan, Italy, one of the design capitals of the world.

Its narrow and winding medieval era streets now doubling as global runways of luxury Gucci, Prada, La Russa, Miani among the glitzy storefronts.

But beyond the outdoor catwalks, the Via montanapiglioni, Brera and Tortona.

US based sportswear company Nike is choosing to strut its stuff in a revival for its All Conditions gear line, an almost 40 year old sub label that in February was elevated to a standalone brand akin to Jordan or to Converse.

It's a formalization of ACG as a dedicated outdoor performance brand that Nike CEO Elliot Hill felt was best appropriate to unveil at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy.

These sport moments are critically important to our brand and frankly to the industry.

They're tent pole moments, whether it's an Olympics and a Winter Olympics, a World Cup, a Super Bowl, NBA All Star Game and frankly, they're really, I think, galvanizing moments for our teams.

Internally, it's also a reflection of the core ethos Hill has pushed since taking over as CEO in late 2024.

Everything Nike does should focus on the athlete and athletic performance.

We thought there was no better place to do it than here in Milan when the eyes of the world were watching.

There's no question that there is a movement to getting outdoors, whether it's in China or Europe or the United States.

And we looked at the overall outdoor market and the opportunity that exists there.

Think ultramarathons, rock climbing, mountain biking.

It is in fact booming, posting a record 181 million participants in 2024 with trail running a key driver.

And that is exactly where Nike sees opportunity in its outdoor comeback.

So we decided to go after that through the lens of trail running, which is a point of strength from us where we can bring innovation to the market and newness and freshness, and

decided to do it with the ACG brand because there is some awareness already around that brand.

ACG's roots, they go back decades, to the late 1970s when mountain climbers Rick Ridgeway and John Ruskelli scaled K2 in Nike long Distance Vector running shoes.

Legend has it that they mailed the worn out shoes back to Nike with suggestions for how to make them more rugged and durable for extreme outdoor conditions.

That correspondence led to the introduction in the early 80s of the lava Dome.

The approach and the magma though the actual ACG branding that didn't come about until 1989.

The line partly because some of the marketing decisions Nike made would eventually suffer from consumer misperceptions about what ACG was exactly supposed to be.

It was later discontinued, then relaunched more than a decade ago, but

struggled to regain its footing within the quirky counterculture community of outdoor enthusiasts.

ECG has been through some fits and starts, and I am curious as to why.

There hasn't been that continuity in the brand with anything.

So you think about the outdoor world with a little bit of an attitude and a swagger, with an element and an approach around design and innovation.

Are you at risk of maybe alienating some of those folks who just kind of want to be on the fringe?

No, I think, I think that's an, that is a risk if we just showed up as the big bad Nike.

But I think this team, they live and breathe this space so they understand it deeply.

One of those team members is Martin Lottie, Nike's chief design officer.

In a push of the button, you can just release the air and then it adapts to your needs.

From the inflatable Air Milano jacket to the radical airflow shirt worn by ultra marathoner Caleb Olson, the design team at Nike is relying on, yes, design, but

also on science and technology to make a mark.

It goes from bigger holes to smaller holes and it creates hundreds of air vents.

So these holes aren't just for show, they're not just for design.

It's literally physics in play here of imagine air being funneled through a funnel and it actually helps you to create, cool down the body.

The balance of physics and fashion is central to Nike's process under Lottie.

He is, after all, the man behind that iconic little black dress that Maria Sharapova Wore at the 2006 U.S.

It was a thin head turning, tennis taboo breaking garment that was both athletic performance wear and the statement of high fashion.

Lahti has walked that line for decades, this year creating a custom head to toe look for Italian tennis phenom Jannik Sinner.

Lahti's work, it reflects an effort to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

One where industry surveys show trail runners are increasingly opting for competitors like Patagonia, Hoka and Smart Wool.

If you think about the outdoor industry, it's pretty serious, very top of mountain.

So with acg, it allows us to bring an attitude to it with high performance all at the same time.

You've been with the company for what, almost 30 years now as a designer?

There was a period in recent years where a lot of people said the company kind of Got a little boring.

Maybe it wasn't being as risky, if you will.

And I do wonder, under the new leadership and under the new conditions that we're seeing right now, are you taking risks?

You know, if you think about our heritage of the brand, it's about taking calculated risks.

Athletes take calculated risk every single time they go on the court, pitch or on the ski slope.

Like if we truly listen to the voice of the athletes, that's what we do.

I don't think you can ever just elbow your way in.

And part of the sport offense is small, cross functional teams working against a consumer segment, in this case trail running.

We have a really talented team that comes to work every single day and thinks about the trail running consumer.

I mean, there are a lot of names that already dominate Salomon.

Is this strategy of going for that outdoor consumer, Is that actually playing offense or you.

You catching up to the rest of the folks?

We have actually have a maxim that says on the offense always.

And so the team's definitely approaching it from an offensive perspective and trying to make certain that, you know, that we're coming with something new, fresh perspective.

forgive my French, but there was some mantra going around, some memo saying create epic.

That's one of the mantras coming out of that building.

And I keep telling this team, run, don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.

And they're bringing some really interesting things to the marketplace.