Nike’s Boldest Innovation of 2025 Harnesses the Brand’s Secret Weapon

At Nike, few things carry as much weight as air.

For nearly half a century, the brand has looked for ways to channel one of earth’s most basic elements into sportswear, starting with the Tailwind in 1978.

The running shoe, developed in partnership with a former NASA engineer, was the first of many to feature a pocket of air in the midsole.

Today that technology continues to pave the way for Nike, and not just with footwear (although it continues to be plenty influential in that department, too).

In conjunction with the launch of the ACG Ultrafly, Nike has pulled back the curtain on its boldest innovation of the year: a long-sleeve running top called Radical AirFlow.

Nike

Top of the funnel

From afar, it might be easy to mistake the garment for a sweater, when really, the desired effect is just the opposite.

At the most basic level, the top exaggerates the way traditional mesh works, mainly by encouraging airflow through funnel-shaped “ducts,” as Nike calls the hundreds of oversized holes across the arms and torso.

Nike

But they do more than direct air onto the skin of an overheated runner. They speed it up — similar to the way liquid increases velocity when passing through a narrow pipe.

“We tried all kinds of airduct configurations, sizes and zonal placements,” says Jahan Behbahany, a senior director in Nike’s apparel innovation department.

“We found that a funnel-shaped construction of larger to smaller gradient holes, uniformly placed, would best ‘funnel’ and accelerate air to the skin,” he adds.

Nike

Nike

This is why, counter to conventional logic, the garment carries long sleeves to cover as much of the runner as possible. That said, small decisions — which include a cropped hem, oversized fit and large cutouts under each arm — keep mobility high.

As for the material itself, Nike calls it a brand-new engineered knit constructed from recycled yarns. It also claims that it carries a “hydrophilic chemistry” that’s activated by water, which only enhances its cooling properties.

Nike

Soft launch

Unfortunately for everyday runners still battling summer’s worst, Radical AirFlow is still stuck in the soft-launch phase, with a retail launch scheduled for 2026.

That said, the brand is already teasing applications well beyond trail running.

Nike

“We can’t wait to apply what we’re learning with our … athletes to how we solve athlete problems in other sports,” Behbahany says.

“Between our athletes, our innovators and our resources, we’re finding new cooling solutions for athletes to perform at their best, whatever their sport and wherever they play it.”

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