Remember when Nike put air bubbles in sneakers and everyone thought it was the coolest thing ever? Well, the Swoosh just did it again, but this time with a jacket that you can literally pump up or deflate like an air mattress. Meet the Therma-Fit Air Milano Jacket, and yes, it’s as wild as it sounds.

The jacket, which Nike is calling its most technically engineered garment ever, features what the brand has dubbed A.I.R. Technology (that stands for Adapt. Inflate. Regulate., not artificial intelligence). At first glance, it looks like any other sleek Nike puffer. But here’s the clever part: you can adjust how puffy it actually is depending on how cold you are. No more sweating through your coat after walking up a flight of stairs or shivering because you dressed for the wrong temperature.

Designer: Nike

The concept is brilliantly simple. Instead of stuffing the jacket with down feathers or synthetic insulation like traditional puffers, Nike filled the baffles with air. Using a small pump (think inflatable pool toy, but make it fashion), you can inflate the jacket in about 15 seconds. Deflate it, and it compresses down to something closer to a lightweight windbreaker. Nike is marketing it as “four jackets in one,” which honestly isn’t far off.

This isn’t Nike’s first rodeo with inflatable outerwear. The brand experimented with air bladders in jackets for about two decades, most notably with the 2008 ACG Airvantage jacket that’s now a grailed collector’s item. But the Air Milano takes those early experiments and refines them with nearly five decades of Nike Air innovation (the same tech that revolutionized sneakers in 1978).

What makes this jacket particularly interesting from a design perspective is how it breaks free from traditional puffer construction. Most down jackets are limited by horizontal quilting patterns because you need those channels to keep the insulation evenly distributed. With air as the insulator, Nike’s designers could create body-mapped volumes and customize the jacket’s shape without those constraints. The result is a two-layer composite laminate material that can transition from slim to puffy in seconds while maintaining its structure.

Team USA athletes will debut the Air Milano at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan as part of their official medal ceremony look, which feels fitting given the jacket’s name. It’s a smart showcase for technology that sits at the intersection of performance, design, and just plain cool factor. After all, watching someone pump up their jacket courtside or in the stands is going to turn heads.

The jacket integrates with Nike’s broader FIT system, working alongside familiar technologies like Dri-Fit moisture-wicking and Storm-Fit weather protection. This positions the Air Milano not as some gimmicky one-off, but as part of Nike’s ongoing commitment to performance innovation that actually solves real problems. And the problem here is universal: temperature regulation during activity is annoying. You’re either too hot or too cold, constantly adding or removing layers like some sort of fashion onion. According to Danielle Kayembe, Expert in Apparel Product Innovation Management at Nike, the jacket represents a blend of athlete science and data-driven design to create responsive, engineered garments. The brand studied years of data illustrating the challenges of competing in cold weather before landing on this solution.

The big question, of course, is whether this will hit the consumer market, and if so, when. Nike hasn’t announced a release date yet, though they’ve confirmed it won’t be cheap when (or if) it does launch. For now, it remains a Team USA exclusive. Beyond the practical applications, the Air Milano is just fun. In an era where so much tech feels either invisible or overly complicated, there’s something refreshingly tactile about pumping up your jacket. It’s the kind of design that makes people ask, “Wait, what is that?” And in a market saturated with similar-looking puffers, that’s no small feat.

Whether the Air Milano becomes as iconic as the Air Max or remains a fascinating footnote in Nike’s innovation archives remains to be seen. But one thing’s certain: Nike just reminded us that sometimes the best innovations come from asking a simple question. If we can put air in shoes, why not jackets?

The post Nike Just Made a Puffer Jacket You Can Inflate in 15 Seconds first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nike reinvents movement with powered footwear, aiming to do for running what e-bikes did for urban mobility. The sports giant unveiled Project Amplify, the world’s first powered footwear system designed to make running and walking accessible to millions who previously found sustained movement intimidating or physically out of reach. Unlike elite performance gear designed to shave seconds off race times, Project Amplify targets everyday athletes who want to move more, go farther, and actually enjoy the experience.

Designer: Nike

While several startups explored exoskeletal running concepts, Nike’s Project Amplify is the first to reach this level of integration and scalability. The announcement positions powered footwear as an inclusivity tool rather than a performance enhancer, explicitly designed for recreational athletes running at a 10-12 minute mile pace. For a parent jogging with a stroller or a new runner tackling hill repeats, Project Amplify promises a new layer of agency. This approach echoes Nike’s founding ethos that “if you have a body, you are an athlete,” updated for an era where assistive technology can remove physical barriers to participation.

System Design and Human Integration

The system combines four components into a wearable exoskeleton: a lightweight motor, a drive belt, a rechargeable battery cuff, and a carbon fiber-plated running shoe that functions with or without the robotic assist. Built on motion algorithms developed at Nike’s Sport Research Lab, the design targets natural lower leg and ankle movement patterns. Athletes who tested the system describe it as feeling like “a second set of calf muscles” or “part of their body” during use.

The design goal centers on augmentation rather than replacement. Nike’s approach makes uphill terrain feel like flat ground and turns a typical 12-minute mile into a 10-minute mile with less perceived exertion. The carbon fiber shoe maintains performance credentials even when disconnected from the motor system, addressing concerns about dependency on powered assistance.

Testing involved over 400 athletes across 2.4 million steps (equivalent to 12,000 laps around a 200-meter track), with Nike iterating through nine hardware versions to achieve the seamless integration athletes reported. Michael Donaghu, VP of Create The Future, Emerging Sport and Innovation at Nike, positions the technology as something that “adds movement to your life,” whether that means exploring new routes, extending outdoor time, or making exercise adherence sustainable long-term.

Notice the seamless integration of the drive belt and the sculpted battery cuff in Nike’s official imagery. The ergonomic and aesthetic details set a new standard for wearable robotics.

Inclusive Performance Philosophy

What distinguishes Project Amplify is the user-centered design philosophy behind it. Rather than optimizing performance for competitive runners shaving seconds off race times, Nike explicitly designed for recreational athletes running at a 10-12 minute mile pace. The target users are people who want to extend their walking commutes, run longer without fatigue, or simply make movement feel less intimidating and more fun.

This inclusive approach to performance design updates Nike’s founding ethos for an era where assistive technology can democratize access to movement experiences previously limited by physical capability or conditioning. The development process reflects this commitment to real-world usability, with testing focused on achieving the seamless integration that makes athletes report the system feels like part of their body.

Project Amplify launches alongside three other Nike innovations this October: Air apparel technology in the Therma-FIT Air Milano Jacket, advanced cooling systems in Aero-FIT performance gear, and neuroscience-based footwear designed to promote calm and focus. Still in performance readiness testing, the powered footwear system is being developed in partnership with robotics company Dephy, with broad consumer availability planned for the coming years.

With Project Amplify, Nike lays the groundwork for a new era of accessible, technology-driven movement. Expect follow-ups as the story develops.

The post Nike Project Amplify: Powered Footwear Designed to Make Movement Accessible first appeared on Yanko Design.