Nike Unveils Air Milano Olympics Jacket And Powered Footwear System


Nike’s latest slate of technologies spans powered footwear to a Nike Air jacket United States athletes will wear at the 2026 Olympics in Milano Cortina.

As part of a wave of new technologies, Nike announced the Therma-Fit Air Milano Jacket featuring a new version of Nike Air technology, a future-looking Project Amplify design that uses robotics to augment natural lower leg and ankle movement, a fresh Aero-Fit cooling technology and Nike Mind footwear meant to use receptors in the foot to create a mind-body connection for the wearer.

Therma-Fit Air Milano Jacket

Nike has long embraced air in footwear, but the Oregon-based brand is now taking it to apparel. The new A.I.R. (adapt, inflate, regulate) Technology will be worn by Team USA athletes in Milan in winter 2026. The jacket features the ability for athletes to regulate temperature in real time without changing layers by inflating or deflating air within the jacket’s baffles, offering warmth levels from a lightweight hoodie to a mid-weight puffer.

“Air Milano signals a new and exciting era in Nike’s legacy of air, bringing forward a distinctive innovation that offers responsive and intelligent insulation to all athletes,” says Danielle Kavembe of Nike’s apparel product innovation management team.

After years of studying athletes competing in cold weather, Nike believed air offered a simple answer to heat regulation during movement, allowing athletes to moderate temperature without the change of layers.

While most outerwear designs are limited by the horizonal construction required to contain down or synthetic fill, the new Air Milano design is based on air to free designers from those constraint and use new volumes body mapped on the wearer. A two-layer composite laminate material makes it all possible and allows the jacket to inflate or deflate in seconds.

The debut jacket will serve as Team USA’s medal ceremony look in Milan.

Project Amplify

The world’s first powered footwear system for walking and running isn’t here yet, but it’s on the way from Nike. Engineered to augment natural lower leg and ankle movement, Project Amplify uses a motor, drive belt and batteries within a robotics system to help everyday athletes walk or run more often.

“Our job is to dream big while keeping athletes at the center,” says Michael Donaghu, vice president of Create The Future, Emerging Sport and Innovation at Nike. “Project Amplify started with a single question: What if we could find a way to help athletes move faster and father with less energy and a lot more fun?”

The product is designed to make slower running, jogging and walking easier and more fun. The first-generation product, created alongside robotics partner Dephy, isn’t for competitive runners, but to help everyday movements. The system can help make walking or running uphill feel like moving on flat ground.

Nike expects a broad consumer launch in the coming years.

Nike Mind 001

The Nike Mind 001 mule and Mind 002 sneaker offer the brand’s first neuroscience-based footwear meant to activate sensory receptors in the feet to awaken the mind.

The footwear features 22 independent foam nodes per shoe bonded to the footwear all meant to move with the wearer. The interaction of the nodes with the foot is designed to heighten sensory awareness. “Nike Mind is a new sensory-footwear concept that helps reawaken the foot, the body and the mind,” says Eric Avar, vice president and creative director of innovation.

The new products come from Nike’s new Mind Science Department, part of the brand’s Nike Sport Research Lab.

Aero-Fit Cooling

Nike’s focus on apparel cooling comes in the form of new Aero-Fit technology, meant to more than double the airflow between skin and fabric for athletes while supporting evaporative cooling and seating efficiency.

To make it work, elliptical mesh zones with lighter mesh provide greater airflow in high-heat areas. The zones feature channels to move air.

The new fabric will make its debut in 2026 at the FIFA World Cup in federation kits.