Legendary designer Tinker Hatfield needed a shoe that could handle any outdoor activity: mountain rides, canoeing, mountain biking or canyoning. Starting from the cross training models as well as from one of his own creation—the Nike Huarache—Tinker created a multifunctional shoe with references to the moccasins of the Native Americans, the first inhabitants of those territories. With those Mowabbs you could, according to the ads of the time, run on trails, climb mountains or run away from bears. 

Mowabb was a name that recalled the trips with his Nike colleagues and that has its origins in a joke with the Moab desert, turned into a playground for the team of designers.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Nike has brought back the Mowabb with new materials, heel pull tabs for slipping in and out of them more easily, a stretchier inner bootie and softer foam in the midsole.

Having named a shoe after a desert started a new tradition at ACG: giving each product the name of the place where it was put to the test. “Deschutz” was for the Deschutes River, “Yewtah” sounded like Utah and the “Air Azona” recalls the state of the Grand Canyon.

For the HO21 collection, the Nike ACG team traveled to Iceland, whose icy landscapes reminded them of the lunar surface and were perfect for naming the Primaloft vest they were working on: the Nike ACG Lunar Lake Vest. They weren't the first to appreciate its resemblance to the moon, however, as from 1965 to 1967 Iceland's Lake Mývatn served as a training center for astronauts before the first trip to the moon, with Neil Armstrong as their commander.

In 1991, almost parallel to ACG, Nike had developed Nike FIT (Functional Innovative Technologies), a series of sweat-wicking, rain-protection and cold-weather technologies. Among them there were the Storm-FIT system, the Therma-FIT, and the most prominent one—the Dri-FIT, which over time has become the standard for measuring the breathability of garments.
Three decades later, came the FIT ADV, a new concept developed through a specific approach to the needs of each garment, with the information obtained in Nike's research labs allowing designers to create materials that work specifically in different zones.
Previously, FIT ADV was available only in performance products. Now, Nike ACG is the first lifestyle collection to take advantage of a system that offers solutions for both sports and active lifestyle.

The new Nike ACG HO21 collection is now available at SVD. 

Text by Kike Marina

Photos by Nike