The tennis great wanted to create a pipeline for young designers of color to break into Nike. The Serena Williams Design Crew does just that. Here’s a first look at their collection.

Tennis superstar Serena Williams has been a Nike-sponsored athlete since 2003.

But as she developed her latest fashion collection with the activewear giant, she wasn’t content to tap the company’s existing slate of designers.

“I have been at Nike for many years and I want to see more people in design that look like me,” she tells Fast Company. 

“I wanted to cast our net further, to areas where Nike generally wouldn’t go.”

Two years ago, Williams proposed that Nike launch a design apprenticeship program—the Serena Williams Design Crew—to bring on young designers from communities of color to help design pieces for her collection. Williams helped pick 10 talented designers from New York who were invited to apprentice at Nike for six months starting in January 2020. This cohort worked closely with Nike designers to create Williams’s newest collection, which launches this fall. It’s inspired by ’90s looks that influenced Williams’s aesthetic sensibilities and reflects her own history and personality. 

From its colorful jumpsuits to asymmetrical body suits, this bold collection is just the first to acknowledge that inclusivity has to start with who’s actually designing the pieces—not just who they’re being designed for.

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Source: USA Today