History, Tie-Dyed! This Is Nike’s First Global Collab With An Indian Label
- thebedroomjournal
- Jun 16
- 2 min read
After 15 years of reshaping how South Asian design is perceived, NorBlack NorWhite has landed a partnership that shifts the needle. IT'S NIKE!! It’s a blueprint redrawn.
Founders Mriga Kapadiya and Amrit Kumar didn’t just release product — they built a collection that carries the weight of tradition while staying deeply contemporary. The kind of work that feels both ancestral and forward-facing, worn with pride and purpose.
A Collection That Moves, Literally and Culturally
Inspired by bandhani — a tie-dye technique passed through generations of Indian artisans — the pieces are textured with memory. Leggings, tanks, bras, even sneakers are dyed in patterns that echo centuries of craft.
What sets this apart is the form. These aren’t ceremonial silhouettes. They’re gear designed for motion — athletic, casual, everyday. The kind of wardrobe that flows between identities without friction.
A Campaign That Gets the Assignment
Photographed by Bharat Sikka, the campaign is rooted in place — shot in Jaipur — and features South Asian women athletes in their full power: Anshu Malik, Priya Mohan, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Shafali Verma.
This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a portrait of what already exists, but rarely gets center frame: strength, speed, softness, heritage.
Rodrigues summed it up best:
“We’re here to take over, win big, and look fab while doing it.”
No performance. Just presence.
The Footwear Hits Different
The capsule features four shoes — Air Max Craze, Motiva, Pegasus 41, Calm Slide — each colored with a bandhani-inspired palette that feels rooted, but totally recontextualized. These aren’t “India-themed” shoes. They’re design-forward builds that happen to carry an aesthetic language we know by touch.
There’s no overexplaining. Just clarity of form and function.
Too often, global brands borrow from craft without credit. This collaboration flips that script. NorBlack NorWhite didn’t water anything down — they distilled it.
The result: garments that speak in dialects familiar to South Asia, but wearable anywhere. And for once, the artisans behind the technique aren’t buried in a footnote.
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