EXPLOSIVE EDGE: NIKE X TOMS SACHS NIKECRAFT PONCHO

Slowly but surely is the mantra behind the Nike x Tom Sachs Poncho whose simplicity is deceiving as its shapeshifting nature was perfected over the course of four years, dozens of prototypes, countless tests and innumerable hacks. Part of NikeCraft, the ongoing collaboration between Nike and Sachs, the multifaceted designer-cum-artist, the Exploding Poncho was born as a design challenge to transform apparel undertaken by Sachs and Jarrett Reynolds, Nike's senior design director for apparel special projects, and others. It was mission accomplished with the slim pouch bag featuring a quick-deploy poncho that is easily repacked after use. "We used a tear-away zipper for the first incarnation. It allowed for the explosion — the forceful billowing that allowed the wearer to quickly get into the poncho — but it was really difficult to set up," says Reynolds. “Tom and his team are problem-solvers, they look at things from a different perspective than we do and that’s what we needed.” From there, the project blossomed into a collaborative, inventive exercise between the two. When Jarrett showed Sachs the idea and the issues that came with it, the reply was “No problem. We'll just make a movie about it. In doing that, we discovered it was as complicated as Jarrett suggested, so we began to work on different solutions,” says Sachs. With plenty of exploration, drive and testing, the end result is a super cool accessory in super-strong Dyneema materials with ceramic beads created by Sach’s Studio and a Fidlock buckle. The Poncho releases on Feb. 15. Our raffle starts today Feb. 10 until Feb. 14 at 5:00 pm CET.