Nike celebrates the LGBTQ community with this year’s BETRUE collection that supports inclusion on and off the field of play.

BETRUE started in 2012 with a grassroots effort led by passionate Nike employees. To connect with the LGBTQ community in a personalized way, they made a few styles with NIKEiD in celebration of Pride month. United by a common mission to innovate for all athletes* and provide equal access to sport, these employees developed a plan to bring BETRUE to more people.

The key for us was to create something that people could unite around to show their support for LGBTQ athletes,” says Robert Goman, LBGT Network Leader at Nike. “Sporting your rainbow in the gym or on a run became a way to feel like you belonged to something larger – you were connected to being ‘out’ or being an ally. The rainbow has and always will be incorporated into the BETRUE product in some way.”

The 2017 BETRUE footwear and apparel collection pairs the rainbow with other prominent symbols of Pride, including the color pink and the triangle, with Nike innovations and the encouraging message, RUN FIERCE, printed onto the shoes’ sock-liners

These innovations include a number of “firsts” introduced in the 2017 collection, including the first eight-color, HD rainbow Swoosh design (on the Nike Flyknit Racer) and the first rainbow VaporMax Air unit (on the NikeLab Air VaporMax Flyknit). The collection also includes the Nike Cortez, one of the company’s first footwear releases, with “BEEN TRUE” written on the sockliner — underscoring Nike’s longstanding commitment to equality and expression. It is also the first time the BETRUE collection will be available in key cities globally.

NIKE CLASSIC CORTEZ BETRUE – Dually marking the 35th anniversary of the Nike Cortez, the suede Cortez BETRUE pays homage to one of Nike’s first footwear releases with BEEN TRUE printed onto the sockliner. A six-color rainbow ribbon spans the length of each shoe’s tongue; underneath, the left shoe’s tongue is pink tint, and the right shoe’s is blue tint. Designers imagined a rainbow flag draping over the shoe to mirror the idea of a person wearing one. The shoe’s dubraes read BETRUE in cursive.

NIKE FLYKNIT RACER BETRUE – Using vacuum-printed sublimation to achieve maximum brightness and a smooth, HD gradient, Nike designers achieved the first-ever eight-color, rainbow Swoosh design on the lateral side of the black and white Flyknit Racer BETRUE. The rainbow gradient references the original eight-color Pride flag. The medial-side Swoosh design is pink, referencing the color’s widespread use in the LGBTQ community.

 

NIKE AIR ZOOM PEGASUS 34 BETRUE – The Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 34 BETRUE draws inspiration from unicorns with a platinum upper, pink Flywire technology, a multicolor midsole and outsole and pearlized, reflective accents, including a white aurora Swoosh design. The shoe connects to the BETRUE Muscle Tank, which features a unicorn against a black, triangular background. The foxing has a reflective unicorn horn detail, while collar lining creates a neon rainbow spanning across both shoes.

NIKELAB AIR VAPORMAX FLYKNIT BETRUE – The NikeLab Air VaporMax Flyknit BETRUE has the first-ever rainbow-colored VaporMax Air unit, maintaining the eight colors of the original 1978 Pride flag beneath a dark violet Flyknit upper. Each VaporMax Air unit is created at the Nike Air Manufacturing Innovation facility in Oregon, where Nike designers and manufacturers came together to create an entirely new process for dyeing an air bag with more than two colors for the first time.

www.nike.com