The Year of the Rat (YOR) marks the beginning of the Chinese Zodiac Calendar, and this YOR coincides with the Olympic Games being held Japan. For this occasion, Nike, with its pre-existing powerful image in the Chinese market, have launched the 2020 Chinese New Year collection.
This new line of products incorporates designs from last four cycles of YOR into apparel and footwear from Nike and Jordan Brand. The designs are inspired by Yuxian paper-cutting, a form of art that involves cutting bright colored rice paper with scissors and knives into floral patterns, animal shapes, and landscapes.
The Story Behind the Patterns
The graphic improvisations symbolize and tell the story of Nike’s history in China over the last 4 YOR cycles (1972, 1984, 1996, 2008)
The story narrates right from the establishment of the Nike Brand in China back in 1972, following through to the podium winning achievements of Nike sponsored Chinese National Track and Field Teams in 1984. The year 1996 saw the introduction of some of the most classic and memorable basketball silhouettes. That brings us to the 4th YOR cycle where in 2008 Beijing hosted the world’s marquee sports event, which was a first for the nation’s history.
A Little More About the Shoes
These patterns appear on select Nike performance and footwear and are placed differently within the NSW lineup. The Jordan Brand footwear features a Chinese Coin-inspired pattern on the Air Jordan XIII.
Women’s footwear that feature the Chinese New Year edition patterns include Air Force 1 Shadow, Air Max 270 React, Joyride Run 2, and Air Max 90.
The Nike Year of the Rat Chinese New Year Edition is scheduled to start hitting stores starting January 2020.