Serena Williams Launches a Design Apprenticeship With Nike
Let’s be honest, the ways in which we’d all like to be a little bit more like Serena Williams are too many to count: She is the world’s greatest tennis player; she is a businesswoman and a creative with a successful fashion brand; she’s an advocate for her community, unafraid to speak up and speak out. Starting today, young creatives will have the opportunity to tap into all Williams has to offer with a new program at Nike called Serena Design Crew.
Forty applicants are participating in a design challenge at Nike’s New York HQ. A select group of 10 will apprentice at Nike’s global headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, for seven months, designing a capsule collection alongside Williams and the brand’s designers. “I wanted to introduce a special collection,” Williams says of the program’s genesis, “and with my role in Nike and what I do just in general, I always want to make sure that we are able to increase diversity and inclusiveness. I thought it was a great way to partner with them.”
The semi-finalists have been pulled from the New York area, in partnership with local design schools like Parsons, local universities like Bronx Community College, other creative organizations like Harlem’s Fashion Row, and from within Nike’s own metro-area employee base. The hope is not only to find the best young talents in the design sphere, but to encourage and inspire a more diverse applicant base. “Diversity is our advantage,” says Nike’s chief design officer John Hoke. “So we will continue to build the most diverse creative network we can possibly find.”
For the semi-finalists, Williams had this advice: “Be very creative, think outside the box, and don’t be afraid to just do something extremely innovative, because that’s what design is all about. […] Dare to be different, dare to dream big, dare to be bold.”
It’s a sentiment Hoke echoes as he paints a picture of what the 10 finalists can expect during their time at Nike HQ. “We want these individuals to possess a creative mindset: not a diploma or a desk title, but a mindset,” he says, pinpointing fierce creativity, imagination, and mastery of craft as key qualities of an ideal candidate. “What I love about those three is that it’s not a finish line, it’s a constant pursuit. Nike is powered by design and powered by creativity. Being the chief design officer of this company, a big part of my job is bringing energy and fuel into this future generation of creatives.”
Once at Nike, the apprentices can expect to be fully embedded within the organization’s design teams, working specifically within the tennis sub-group. Over the seven months they will spend in Oregon, they will be working towards designing a Williams-centric collection that performs on and off the courts, possibly building out a new product category in the process. “Our hope is that the collection blurs that line really well between high performance and high fashion. That unique space is what we’re trying to get to,” Hoke says.
Among the resources available to the apprentices is Nike’s Blue Ribbon Studio, a 40,000-square-foot workshop for learning and developing new skills. “We have basically best-in-breed professors teaching washing and dyeing, graphic design, three-dimensional printing, sculpture, printmaking, sign painting, flower arrangements—it’s just this creative oasis inside the company,” Hoke says, noting that the program has just expanded to a second building where things like cinematography and body mapping will be taught.
What does learning the ins and outs of photography or floral arrangements really have to do with designing a tennis skirt? Call it the Nike mindset, one that advocates for a fluidity of creativity that can apply, say, sneaker technology into a great sports bra. “One of the measures of success is when you have a graphic designer that comes in who leaves as a great footwear designer and then comes back and does a bag and then a building and then a film. We have all that potential right there. It’s wide open.”
Nike also hopes to learn from the apprentices. “It’s a great two-way street,” Hoke says, explaining that past programs have resulted in many participants becoming full-time Nike employees. “I get so much out of if because I get to rub elbows with these super-passionate creative minds that are feverishly pursuing their dreams. That’s intoxicating for us to be a part of. All of my leadership team, we enjoy this because it makes you get up and go, ‘Yeah, the world keeps moving and creativity keeps pushing on.’”
That extends right to the top, with CEO Mark Parker writing in an email, “I am honored to have known Serena for many years, and I’m proud to call her a friend. I’ve always been impressed by her insights into design and collaboration. I am excited for what the next chapter of our longstanding relationship looks like with the Serena Design Crew.”
So, now for the bad news: Williams fans and aspiring shoppers will have to wait until spring 2021 to shop the products designed by the athlete and her design crew, but Williams already has a few ideas about what she’d like to make. “I’m really passionate about fabrics and design, so obviously I’m going to be probably more interested in talking about that. But who knows, I might be insanely happy about the shoes.”
Originally Appeared on Vogue
