NEW YORK — Nike is stepping out for spring with the launch of its first fitness dance apparel and footwear collection, as well as a cobranded teen line, called Maddie, developed with Finish Line.
Fitness dance is a new category for Nike. It was born out of the rising interest in hip-hop and dance classes at gyms and health clubs, said Darcy Winslow, the company’s global general manager of women’s fitness business.
“We have done a lot of research in this category and saw that dance is gaining in popularity,” Winslow said in an interview on Thursday. “We looked closely at what dancers do and what they need from head-to-toe to develop this collection.”
In conjunction with the launch, Nike tapped celebrity choreographer Jamie King to develop a dance-based workout series under the title “Nike Rockstar Workout,” which will bow next month at Crunch fitness locations throughout the country.
“The workout is designed to turn everyone into a rock star,” quipped King as he previewed moves from the workout.
The fitness dance apparel offerings include such items as mesh tops with built-in shelf bras and racer-back tank tops, as well as low-waist knit pants and capri pants with an attached mesh skirt, and footwear offerings have extra ankle support. Many apparel items have moisture management and incorporate Nike’s proprietary Dri-Fit technology, while the footwear styles use Nike Shox cushioning. Wholesale prices range from $18 to $32 for apparel.
Winslow said distribution is targeted at gyms and health clubs as well as boutiques and department stores. The line will begin retailing this spring. The collection was scheduled to be feted Thursday night with a soiree in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood featuring King and his dancers showing moves from the new workout.
Winslow also noted that Nike reorganized some of its operations earlier this year to fall under the women’s fitness division. Yoga, running, walking, cardiovascular and dance fitness all now fall under fitness, and there is greater coordination between the product categories, design, sales and marketing teams across these categories, she said. She declined to give any sales information for women’s fitness, and Nike doesn’t break out sales of this division.
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In a separate development, the new Maddie line hits about 400 Finish Line stores today. Maddie is an extensive collection of brightly colored apparel, footwear and accessories designed for active teen girls that is codesigned by Finish Line and Nike.
“We wanted to create more excitement in our apparel offerings,” said Tim Geis, senior vice president and general merchandise manager at Finish Line, who said he approached Nike about doing the cobranded line. “We had tremendous success with young women’s footwear, and we wanted to build on that momentum. We want to encourage that customer to come into our store.”
The mix-and-match collection includes performance and casual apparel and footwear as well as accessories such as sunglasses, watches and hats. The name stems from a Nike sneaker sold in Finish Line and other stores last year that was named after the shoe designer’s daughter of the same name.
Retail prices range from $4 for a mini water bottle to $28 for a print tank top—to $40 for capri pants to up to about $70 for some of the footwear styles. While Geis declined to give specific sales targets, he said Finish Line has big goals for this collection and that sales will likely be in the multimillions.
The launch also will be accompanied by an advertising campaign in magazines such as Teen People and Seventeen and on special in-store signage, and, for a limited time, shoppers will receive a CD as a gift-with-purchase.
A Nike spokeswoman said the company has no plans currently to do similar collections with other retailers. Geis said that while there is no specific time frame for the collaboration, Finish Line executives will meet with Nike’s team later this month to develop Maddie products for the holiday season.
“We feel this is an opportunity that could be long-standing,” Geis added.