Nike’s first maternity collection

Mothers are the ultimate endurance athletes. Nike’s first dedicated maternity collection, Nike (M), supports women during all stages of pregnancy and beyond. Nike (M) designers developed the capsule over three years, spending one year to create the fit foundation for the line, and tested 70 materials narrowing the palette to nine launching September 17.

With the introduction of the Nike (M) Collection, a four-piece essentials capsule consisting of the Nike (M) Pullover, the Nike (M) Swoosh Bra, the Nike (M) Tank, and Nike One (M) Tight, Nike employs universal design philosophy to help play a role for moms as their relationship with their bodies and sport simultaneously change.

An example of Nike’s universal design philosophy, Nike (M) is created by combing through pregnancy data findings with analytics from more than 150,000 comparison scans of non-pregnant women against those of pregnant women. Throughout the design process, designers also gathered detailed feedback on fit, feel, and function from nearly 30 female athletes who were pregnant or postpartum.

“The more we listened to expecting mothers and postpartum mothers, the more we learned, reworked, and innovated through inclusive design,” says Carmen Zolman, Nike Senior Design Director for Apparel Innovation. “It’s the project of a lifetime to work in lockstep with all kinds of mothers to bring to life a capsule that truly supports women’s relationship with sport during such a transformative time in their lives.”

However, overarching themes from professional athlete moms still apply to moms of all backgrounds: be healthy, be confident, be active. Most of all, be kind to yourself — always.

That’s what United States women’s national soccer team member and Orlando Pride forward Alex Morgan had to continually remind herself as her firstborn daughter, Charlie, grew to term.
Although active throughout the duration of her pregnancy, Morgan was seeing slower mile times and lower output in her group cycling classes as she progressed. As a professional athlete who always pushed her body to the limit pre-pregnancy, the Olympic gold medalist talks about the importance of taking a step back and relishing the process of training while pregnant:

“Not only was there a physical shift I had to make, but it was a mental shift to say, ‘That’s okay,’” says Morgan. “As an athlete, you want to see gains. You want to continue to progress. Throughout my pregnancy I had to shift my focus from thinking, ‘I’m getting worse at my mile’ or ‘I’m getting more tired easily,’ to ‘I’m growing a baby, so be forgiving of yourself and your body, and really enjoy this time.”

“When we [husband Jonnie West] were trying to get pregnant, there was definitely a thought in my mind, ‘Can my body actually do this? Can my body actually go through a pregnancy?’” says Wie West. “I had gone through so many injuries, so many things wrong, that I really hoped my body would pull through and go through a healthy pregnancy and labor. I felt so accomplished after. I definitely have a greater appreciation for my body and more of an understanding of it.”

Whether it’s learning to be kind to their bodies as they change or coming to the realization that their bodies can do so much more than propel them to the top of their sport, one thing’s for certain: Nike mom athletes believe that being a mom makes them better athletes, and better people.

“Especially with [Makenna] being a girl, it refreshes my perspective on the world completely,” says Wie West. “I want to play not for myself anymore — but for her. I want her to see me as a strong woman, whether it’s in golf or not.”

The capsule collection is available in North America, Europe, and Africa on nike.com.