Nike and Hiroshi Fujiwara are announcing the latest chapter in their decades-long partnership, debuting a trio of futuristic silhouettes reimagined through the lens of Hiroshi’s latest project: Fragment Concept Testing.
Hiroshi, the founder and lead creative force behind Fragment, crafted exclusive expressions of Nike’s new Air Liquid Max, Mind 001, and Mind 002 for his Fragment Concept Testing initiative with Nike. His curated, minimalist design language is on display in each silhouette, bringing an experimental look and feel to Nike’s latest innovations.
“I’ve always been interested in new technology and innovation, and when I had the opportunity to quietly preview several new Nike sneakers and hear about their concepts directly, Liquid Max and the Mind series immediately stood out,” says Hiroshi.
“When I first started working with Nike in the late ’90s, I learned how the brand was constantly creating new sneakers for athletes using the latest technology. Both Liquid Max and Nike Mind feel very much like ‘true Nike’ products in that sense,” he continued.
Hiroshi applied subtle design changes to the new Nike Air Liquid Max, a boldly conspicuous sportswear silhouette that debuted earlier this week, merging superior comfort with four decades of Air Max learnings and heritage. His exclusive expression of the new silhouette, the first among Nike collaborators, is awash in an all-black look with distinctive Fragment Concept Testing branding on the lateral upper.
Hiroshi took a similar approach with the Mind 001, reimagining the mind-altering mule in a sleek black colorway with foam nodes awash in an eye-catching blue — adding a unique touch to the silhouette’s innovative design.
Hiroshi’s Mind 002 offers a noticeably different look than Nike’s original neuroscience-based sneaker, pairing entirely new upper materials with a black colorway and blue nodes that reinforce the partners’ enduring influence on sport and style.
“I approached the Nike Mind 002 from an experimental perspective — wondering what would happen if we combined it with completely different materials, swapping the existing upper to something else,” says Hiroshi. “The result is almost an entirely different product. It’s a sneaker I’d want to wear in the summer.”
Hiroshi’s three Fragment Concept Testing styles are the latest in a longstanding partnership that includes his work as a founding member of the influential Nike HTM design collective and heralded expressions of classic NIKE, Inc. footwear, including the Air Jordan 1, Nike Air Force 1, and Nike Dunk, among many other silhouettes.
The Nike x Fragment Concept Testing Mind 001 and Mind 002 will be available exclusively across Fragment retail on March 14, before launching globally on March 19 across SNKRS and select retail partners.
Hiroshi’s Nike Air Liquid Max will be available March 31 across Fragment retail before its global debut April 3 across SNKRS and select retail partners.
