When Nike branded the NBA

Year 2017. Los Angeles.

John Hoke, Nike's chief designer answers the call of the National Basketball Association. He amusedly accepts the challenge as designer as the official clothing partner for all teams. From new team uniforms to training suits. He is confident of success because hundreds of his 1,000 creatives are passionate fans of the league. He is excited about the assignment because he strongly believes in taking the league into the future and making it a global brand.

The 30 teams had always worked individually with Nike to develop or revise the design of the uniforms. Now it was time to put it all together. Approaching each team individually presented a challenge simply in terms of the amount of information. Decades of past iconography to deal with. "The challenge was exciting," says Hoke.

"We wanted to be respectful of the past, but move forward. To try to remain recognisably familiar, but with an eye to the future."

The uniforms have a more customised cut designed to fit the players more comfortably. In an effort to dry sweat faster, Nike has made the jersey lighter than any in the past and with a special thread that slightly lifts the uniform away from the body to promote air movement and drying.

On the technology side, all adult uniform labels sold to the public feature a near-field communication chip that allows a smartphone scan to launch the Nike NBA Connected Jersey app for access to team and player content.

The biggest aesthetic change Nike brought to the uniforms was an extensive colour study. Hoke says that from the beginning they have worked with the NBA to bring more colour to the court, from sneakers to socks to warm-up suits, but especially to the uniform.

"There will be more colourful matches, we will play in an explosion of colours," says Hoke enthusiastically.