C’mon Nike, Talk to the Construction Industry. Just do it!
Nike Out-thinks its Competitors Again
Iconic sportswear brand Nike has just unveiled a ventilation system to keep athletes cool. It’s called Aerogami and it works according to each wearer’s level of workout at the time. I’m sorry but my thesaurus hasn’t given me a better alternative to describe this tech. So I’m going to have to use the word cool. It’s way cool. Nike don’t often put a foot wrong and they’re expected to always be at the sharp end of innovation.
Aerogami is their latest example of validating the athlete in all of us. This highly innovative technology will be available in a running jacket. By the end of the year, I know at least five of my friends will be wearing it. Nike is undoubtedly developing Aerogami’s use in other sports apparel, which will be great.
But I’m wondering if this isn’t an opportunity for Nike to go…
Beyond Sport
To the construction industry. Air-, and water-cooled tech for clothing has been around for a while, but has proved too expensive for use by construction workers. Actually, I felt ashamed when I typed that last sentence. But nonetheless, construction workers are not being provided with such apparel. Death through heat exhaustion is a real problem for this type of employment. There are figures coming out of the Americas that number in the hundreds. But there are no figures coming out of the Middle East and Asia, where developers have been accused of turning a blind eye to worker welfare. Whether this was, or is, true the amount of construction going on, particularly in the Middle East, is matched only by the speed in which buildings, big ones, are adding to urban skylines.
The genius behind Aerogami is brilliantly simple, using the mechanics of the body as its technology. Once developed, the cost per unit cannot be a whole lot more than a standard pair of overalls.
Call me naïve, but I saw a poor Bangladeshi worker drop dead of heat exhaustion right in front of me, in 40+ degrees centrigrade conditions. That’s an image that stays with you.
If you’re in any business related to construction, tell me this is a possibility or not, or even if it’s being considered right now. If you’re in any business related to marketing, tell me this idea for the construction industry could only reinforce Nike’s importance to our consumerist society. Or not.
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