In Jerry Lorenzo’s view, the mesh practice short carries the same emotional weight as classic, five-pocket denim.
While the latter has decades-old roots and is firmly established in the fashion canon, the former has built equity in our collective imagination since the ’80s and ’90s.
Through Lorenzo’s studied eye, the mesh short, along with other auxiliary staples of basketball, are elevated to the stature of American classic.
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“These garments provoke a subconscious desire,” says Lorenzo. “Each references an authentic piece of an athlete’s wardrobe; these are functional items that have become iconic because of the effortless cool of the people who wore them in the ’80s and ’90s.”
Visions of sport history manifest through Fear of God, not as 1:1 replication, but through evocation of an era when style was defined by how things were worn.
“This is how we think players should come to the arena — we’re really trying to take it back to more honest times,” says Lorenzo. “It was different then, it wasn’t so much about the garments in the way that it is today.
It was really about the guys. They could have been stepping on the backs of their shoes, because they just didn’t feel like putting them on …but it just looked so cool.”
The Nike x Fear of God partnership, established in 2018, has always aimed to awaken the emotional elements of sport.
This new apparel collection continues the approach, reimagining classic NBA warmup and practice pieces through Fear of God’s aesthetic prism.
The garments combine old- and new-school elements with clean silhouettes and premium materials for a comfortable, modernized expression of shoot-around style.
The Nike x Fear of God collection releases globally November 19.