When Team USA step onto the podium at the Winter Olympic Games in Milan this month, they’ll be showcasing one of the newest innovations in sportswear: Nike’s Therma-FIT Air Milano Jacket. Looking appropriately space-age, the “adaptive outerwear” is the latest arrival in a long line of cutting-edge Nike Air technology, which was born almost 50 years ago from a collision of sportswear and high-tech engineering. 

Billed as an “endless innovation platform”, Nike Air has continued to break new ground ever since its first air-cushioned sneakers debuted in the late 70s, from the arrival of the iconic Nike Air Max 1 in 1987, to the brand’s first foray into inflatable apparel in 2006 with the Nike ACG Airvantage jacket. Keeping up the trend some 20 years later, the Air Milano Jacket is the most technically-engineered garment of its kind to date.

What does that actually mean? Well, the space-age jacket is an example of adaptive outerwear, powered by Nike’s A.I.R. (Adapt. Inflate. Regulate.) technology. In other words, it enables athletes – read: anyone with a body – to respond in real-time to thermal conditions, inflating or deflating sections of the jacket according to their personal preferences, with warmth levels ranging from a hoodie to a mid-weight puffer. This is made possible by a breakthrough two-layer composite laminate material that’s designed to be both durable and soft to the touch, creating a whole new sensation in performance outerwear. And where better to debut this new innovation than this year’s home for the most elite competition in winter sports?

During Milano Cortina 2026, Team USA will incorporate the Air Milano Jacket into their official medal ceremony look. But before any medals have even been won, we’ve been offered a glimpse of the jacket in action via visuals shot by Rory Griffin, in collaboration with Dazed Studio. “From the first point of contact, it was clear this project would be special,” Griffin tells Dazed, noting that the “rare context” of the Winter Olympics mixed with the futuristic innovations gave the project “a real weight and momentum”.

As a photographer, director, and editor-in-chief of Orienteer – a magazine that blends outdoor culture, techwear, and fashion – Griffin is well acquainted with the great outdoors and what it means to move around in extreme environments like snowy mountaintops. “Movement is a constant in my day-to-day life, and it’s closely tied to my creative practice,” he says. “Spending time outdoors, physically placing myself in these environments, is a way of understanding conditions, effort, and limitation first-hand. I’m often testing my own limits, relying on the systems and products designed by outdoor brands to keep me protected.”

As a result, his early conversations with Nike and Dazed Studio felt “immediately aligned” and inspired him to double down on the forward-looking nature of the product. “I wanted to push the project further, to create work that wasn’t just visually pleasing, but something more timeless and impactful.”

“I wanted to push the project further, to create work that wasn’t just visually pleasing, but something more timeless and impactful.”

Ultimately, Griffin and Dazed Studio landed on three distinct scenarios, each featuring a trailblazing talent, including dancers Sam Dilkes and Zahra Van Nguyen, and athlete Pricile Ugena. “Rather than directly illustrating weather systems, we focused on movement and sensory response,” Griffin explains, “using the feeling of the imagery itself to suggest how the Air Milano Jacket behaves within each environment.”

This came with some unique challenges. “Working with a product built around a new innovation naturally brings a level of uncertainty,” he says. The experience of working closely with an athlete was also a novelty. “That unfamiliarity was part of what made it exciting, and it played a significant role in how we approached both the set design and the way we differentiated movement across the three talents.” This was helped along by the choreographer and movement director Benjamin Jonsson, who worked with each performer to explore a wide range of movements, before refining routines that “allowed each performer to stay focused while emphasising movements that complemented the shape, volume, and form of the jacket in motion”.

“Using a thermal camera wasn’t about applying a visual effect, it was about revealing something real.”

Other creative innovations included the use of a thermal camera to capture footage during the shoot. But this wasn’t just about using novel technologies or applying a surface-level visual effect. “It was about revealing something real.” Because the FLIR (forward-looking infrared) system only registers heat and cold, it doesn’t register colour or texture in a traditional sense, Griffin adds, offering a different insight into what’s actually happening on a physical level. “It allowed us to show the jacket performing, quite literally visualising how it interacts with the body. In that way, form and function are inseparable, the silhouette, volume, and temperature all exist within the same image.” 

Dazed Studio is launching the Air Milano Jacket and Radical AirFlow tech, in collaboration with Nike, in Milan on February 10, with the Winter Olympics well underway. In the meantime, catch Griffin’s visuals above.