Design
systems
at scale.
Two decades turning discovery into shipped product — 19 years and two VP roles at Nike, from first material research through global launch. Each platform a designed system — grounded in craft, backed by patents, and built to outlast the season.
Vice President
Platforms
Nike (M) Research
US & EU
Nike
Forward
"The biggest Nike apparel innovation since Dri-FIT." — WWD, 2022
Five years in development, Nike Forward rewrote the rules of fleece construction. By hacking industrial punch-needle machines to turn fiber directly into textile — bypassing traditional knit and woven processes — the platform achieved a 75% reduction in carbon footprint compared to conventional knit fleece. Built on 70% recycled content and designed from the start for circularity, Nike Forward became the most significant sustainability-led material innovation in Nike's apparel history. As Global Vice President of Apparel Innovation Design, I owned Nike's apparel innovation platform portfolio and led the team behind Nike Forward — setting the vision, sponsoring the multi-year material development, and presenting the platform to Nike's Board of Directors and global media on its way to global launch.
Nike
(M)
Nike's first maternity platform — designed and tested by mothers, for mothers and so much more.
Three years in development, Nike (M) was built on 150,000+ body scans comparing pregnant and non-pregnant women — the most comprehensive body-mapping study Nike had ever conducted for a single collection. The team tested 70 materials before narrowing to nine, including recycled polyester composites ranging from 78% to 88% recycled content. The result: a four-piece system — bra, tank, tight, and pullover — engineered to adapt to a changing body across all stages of pregnancy and postpartum. The Nike (M) Swoosh Bra became the first Nike bra designed for both sport and nursing. Developed in collaboration with 30 pregnant and postpartum athletes, Nike (M) expanded from a North American capsule launch into a global platform with the Nike (M)ove Like a Mother program. As Senior Design Director, Apparel Innovation, I led the team that built this platform — directing the research strategy, championing inclusive design at scale, and partnering with athlete advocates and Brand leadership to take Nike (M) from North American capsule to global program.
Nike
Pro
Creative direction for a named performance franchise — seasonal material palettes, construction systems, and visual identity, all grounded in sport science research.
As Design Director for Athletic Training, I set the creative direction for Nike Pro across multiple seasons — defining material palettes, construction approaches, and the visual identity of one of Nike's largest apparel franchises, a $165M business (FY12) within Nike's $600M+ training portfolio, spanning Hypercool, Hyperwarm, and Pro Combat and produced with 70+ textile partners across international manufacturing. Every design decision was grounded in direct partnership with the Nike Sport Research Lab: thermal imaging, body scanning, sweat mapping, and impact analysis translated into zoned construction — differentiated knit densities for warmth, mesh ventilation for cooling, and Dri-FIT Max positioning calibrated by sport and position. The NFL Points of Impact program mapped collision data by position to inform padding architecture. This was design embedded in the research lab — prototypes tested in environmental chambers, validated on thermal manikins, and iterated until the science said they were right.
Current Work
Nike
After Dark Tour
A first-of-its-kind race medal reimagined as wearable jewelry — where sport meets adornment.
Engineered at a factory in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, the After Dark Tour pendant translates elevation data from each race course into the sculpted surface of the piece — a finisher's medal designed to be worn long after race day. It shipped from Space Kitchen, the deep-exploration studio I lead at Nike Innovation: a hand-picked, cross-disciplinary team of twelve — apparel, footwear, accessories, digital, and storytelling — chartered to define Nike's 3+ year innovation horizon, head-to-toe, with no briefs. The jewelry platform continues as a multi-year program with city-specific carabiners and a commercial accessories range, refreshed for the 2026 tour.
Also shipped from the studio in 2026: the Nike × Hyperice Air Zoom Hyperslide — heat-and-compression recovery footwear.
Additional Platforms
Protection: Period
Before Nike
Creative direction for Ralph Lauren's luxury performance collection — technical outerwear, performance golf, and functional sportswear positioned within a world-building brand narrative. Designed and managed the US Open on-court uniform program across its first three tournaments (2005–07) — at signing, the most significant sports-marketing deal in Ralph Lauren's history, still running two decades later — and designed RLX Golf tour apparel for Luke Donald, then world No. 10. An early immersion in the intersection of performance design and luxury identity: engineered garments that had to perform on the mountain and resonate in the showroom.
Building
platforms
that last.
These platforms represent a thread running through 20+ years of innovation work: the conviction that lasting performance design begins in material and craft — and endures because it's built as a system, named and patented, that outlives any single season. The brief changes. The methodology doesn't.
The next chapter is about bringing that methodology to new territory — where material innovation meets craft, where performance meets culture, and where design leadership can shape not just product but the creative vision of an entire line. The most interesting problems are the ones that haven't been framed yet.
carmen@zolman.net