A month after releasing a line of American Basketball Association-inspired footwear via its Converse brand, Nike has whipped up another collection for hoops fans.
The capsule, created in collaboration with the Tokyo fashion label Ambush, features an array of Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets apparel—all designed for female basketball aficionados.
“The project began with a conversation about making women feel proud to represent their favorite teams,” Ambush co-founder Yoon Ahn said in a statement. “We were considering how to balance the culture of the sport without losing style.”
With winter approaching, the collection transforms the archetypal tearaway basketball warm-up pant into a seasonally appropriate insulated trouser—complete with a contrast-color double waist band to approximate the look of game shorts peeking out from under warm-up pants. Also making appearances are a set of form-fitting long-sleeve tops that revisit classic NBA jersey aesthetics and jackets sporting each team’s name in large, “unapologetic” lettering.
“I thought of all these amazing and strong female characters from the ’90s who would come out in men’s clothes, and I wanted to see how we could carry that attitude, but bring in more feminine forms,” Ahn, the first female designer to partner with Nike, continued.
A new update on Nike’s classic Dunk rounds out the collection. “Channeling Japanese bike, car and truck culture,” the footwear giant said, Ambush has given the silhouette an elongated and heightened form with Swooshes that extend off the sneaker.
The Nike x Ambush NBA Collection released globally on Dec. 11.
Nike is not the only footwear company cashing in on Lakers hype. Reebok unveiled its own homage to the 2020 NBA champions late last month as part of a capsule inspired by NBA teams’ alternate jerseys.
The NBA collection is also not the first team-up between Nike and Ambush. Released globally on Nov. 24, the footwear giant’s last collaboration with the fashion label—by way of its Converse brand—featured a weather-ready duck boot inspired by a nearly 110-year-old knee-high wading boot, as well as a more eccentric, wooly Chuck 70.