Nike To Showcase Protective-Performance Wear In BCS Title Game
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New Nike Apparel Line Takes
Aim At Under Armour |
Nike will make "one of its biggest moves on the small but growing category of protective-performance wear" during tomorrow's Florida-Oklahoma BCS National Championship game, as some players will be wearing the new Nike Pro Combat protective sports apparel, according to Michael McCarthy of USA TODAY. The line includes undergarments featuring "lightweight pads woven into shirts and shorts," and the "foam or plastic pads give athletes extra protection on their arms, legs and hips from bruises, abrasions and turf burns." Nike Creative Dir of Sports Apparel Todd Van Horne said of the new apparel, "This is the future of football, and any sport, that needs protection." Van Horne said that Cavaliers F LeBron James and Lakers G Kobe Bryant, who are Nike endorsers, "wore Pro Combat gear under their Team USA uniforms in the Beijing Olympics." McCarthy notes college football players from schools outfitted by Nike, including Penn State and Virginia Tech, wore the apparel during the '08-09 bowl season. Nike will debut "two types of Deflex football shorts June 1," which will retail at $50-70, and the company will introduce a "basketball elbow sleeve for $25" during the '09 holiday season. Nike's target market for the apparel includes "high school and college football and basketball jocks." Nike's "expansion in football can be seen as a shot across the bow" of competitor Under Armour. Meanwhile, Nike's expansion into protective apparel has "sparked a legal challenge" from Illinois-based sports medicine and protection equipment maker McDavid, which "filed a patent-infringement suit in federal court last year." McDavid VP/Sports Medical Products Terence Fee said that his company "has built a strong business with its HexPad technology" (USA TODAY, 1/7).
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