Susan Fang's Futuristic Nike Collection Illustrates How Softness in Sport Can Soar

These days technological advancements are developing quicker than most people can keep up with. AI-led technology and digital design software is making its way into more industries than not – and fashion is no exception. Arguably there are many advantages that come with the territory, but there's one huge risk to consider when diving in head first: losing the essence of human touch that makes our clothing so loveable.

London-based fashion designer, Susan Fang is well aware of this fact, but it's not one she's concerned about, instead she's proving that innovation and emotion can – and should – exist side by side.

Fang's eponymous brand is recognised for its dreamlike silhouettes, ethereal color palettes and intricate craftsmanship, all rooted in a desire to evoke joy, memory and connection. From adorning garments with hand-formed flowers, or the creation of 3D-printed accessories, to designs shaped by fractal-inspired algorithms, beneath the brand's surface lies a singular vision: to maintain the harmony of nature and technology.

Fang recently brought this spirit to the runway at Nike's Victory Lap Show for Shanghai Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2025, which saw the designer transform the Air Max Muse and Air Superfly into ultra-feminine creations. As Fang says, "I think now is the time for women to be bold in expressing ultra-femininity – showing how softness, love and vulnerability can actually be a great strength."

For our latest installment of Baes with Kicks, we stepped into the world of Susan Fang to chat about her partnership with Nike, why women athletes are at the forefront of her mind and how emerging technologies support her design process.

Name: Susan Fang
Occupation: Creative Director and Fashion Designer
Location: London

What's your relationship with sneakers? Do you have a favorite pair?

80% of my shoe wardrobe is sneakers, and I wear them just as often. My favorite pair keeps changing as Nike keeps having new fun ones coming up. Currently my favorite is the Air Superfly, it's like wearing something as light as a ballerina flat. I customized it for myself using soft, black cherry blossom flower that my husband designed. The perforation in the upper is perfect for ease of beading and customizing. My other favorite for daily walking is the light blue Field General. I have to have a range of colors across all of my shoes, as I always dress in colors based on astrology.

If there was one particular thing you wanted people to know about your eponymous brand, what would it be?

On the surface, it might seem like our focus is all about creativity, innovation and personal emotion, and that's true. But at the core, what really drives everything is something more invisible: the energy that connects us all. That's why every collection starts with the word "air" – it represents nature's patterns, love, memory and those intangible forces that shape our lives. Through craft and innovation, we want to create joyful, meaningful designs that bring a sense of connection and positivity to people.

The juxtaposition between delicate, feminine couture and the pragmatic nature of sneakers has become widely accepted in fashion today. How do you interpret this dichotomy in your own brand DNA?

It's something we constantly reflect on in everything we do. Sneakers are so universally relatable; for many of us, they go back to childhood — like sports class in elementary school. I remember in university, I got really into collecting different types of simple white canvas sneakers. They all looked quite similar, but I think that nostalgia connected me to a more innocent, personal time.

Today, with so much noise, marketing and even talk about artificiality in the world, I think it's more important than ever to stay connected to real feelings, to embrace what genuinely brings us joy, energy and hope. That's what I try to reflect in our sneaker designs. Growing up, I wasn't the fastest runner, but later on I'd come to love sports like tennis, not for competition, but for the memories and encouragement. I noticed how limited softer feeling feminine sportswear options were.

A few years back, the industry seemed more athlete-focused. So, when we design sneakers, we want to infuse them with a sense of dreaminess. Whether it's surreal, emotional or delicate, now is the time for women to be bold in expressing ultra-femininity – showing how softness, love and vulnerability can actually be a great strength.

How did your relationship with Nike first come about?

It was quite interesting timing. Nike was wanting to focus more on their female sports line and coincidentally, the Nike China female team members were wearing our dresses and accessories.

At the same time, we had our show in Shanghai, inspired by a children's book called Ami-the Child From the Stars.  After the Nike team saw that show, they invited us to be the first designer to make their charity basketball court focusing on empowering female youth in sports. We were so inspired by the topic. I instantly wanted to design a basketball court that could give young girls hope, happiness and energy. The basketball court was entirely made of Nike Grind – recycled sneaker soles. We used the concept of a heart shaped pebble dropping into water to create abstract heart shape wings ripples, glowing into rays of sunlight.

It was amazing to later see it in real life and play sports with the kids at that school, and super heartwarming to hear how they love this new designed space in their everyday life. Afterwards, Nike continued to sponsor our shows and we customized Nike shoes to style into each collection, including our latest "Iceland" campaign. Most recently, we created four full looks for their first Nike Catwalk in China and also customized their newest sneakers.

That collection included garments and sneaker customs for the Nike Victory Lap Show at Shanghai Fashion Week. One of the themes was "An ode to power, grace and joy of women in motion…" What can you tell us about this experience?

It was Nike's first show in China and their focus was on female athletes. So, I wanted to dig deep, with my research leading me to a tennis champion called Suzanne Lenglen. She was the first sports diva ever, and when you just look at her she is so charming, she has her own style and the way she played tennis was like dancing ballet. She seems so powerful yet so graceful, she was embracing ultra-femininity in clothing style, yet she seems so powerful and warrior-like. So, we also added elements of biker jackets to the collection to add a bit of wildness, the speed of racetrack lines, with touches of ballet, using bubble beads to resemble sweat, symbolic of pride. When I looked into more female tennis champions, I loved seeing their powerful energy and love for fashion.

How was the process of designing the collection for the Nike Victory Lap Show different to the design process of your other collections? Are there learnings you'll take with you?

I'd say that the timings were super tight and of course much more sports focused. But luckily we started the research before the actual finalized brief, so that we could maximize our output for their show. We also wanted to make sure we stayed true to the female athlete focus and the beauty of that, as opposed to just a surface level appearance. It was actually super fun in the end and we made a lot of fun experimental pieces from a sports cap with 3D cherry blossoms, sports bra and couture sports gloves.

The collection, like your others, blended 3D printed pieces and accessories with traditionally made items. What do you enjoy most about this combination of creating?

When we use handcrafting techniques to create new designs, we like to express something abstract from nature and add elements of human energy into it. Our team also utilizes the latest programs that aren't really used in fashion yet. It's quite fun and has a lot of elements of surprise during the design, for example, we will design a silhouette first and symbolic flower elements, then by programing the coding, we can allow the element to grow naturally over the surface just how a real flower or plant or tree would. Sometimes there are extra sprouting branches and that seems super fun, just like how nature will have surprise elements. We really like to design with the flow, just like when we create our prints or our air-weave or air-flowers dresses on the mannequin.

We loved your sneaker customs for the Air Max Muse and the Air Superfly. Was there anything that surprised you in the making process?

We wanted to give off the sense that the shoe was blossoming with the passion and love from amazing female athletes. For this, we chose a symbolic flower that represents love in Chinese: the cherry blossom.

Luckily the 3D printed, soft TPU flowers were possible to color dye by hand, so we dyed them in the studio and they ended up matching the shoes perfectly. First the flowers were placed on the silhouette digitally, then we made modifications when we received the actual samples. When we finished the ballet-inspired ribbon bow embellishments on the knee high sports socks, we changed the shoe laces for matching ribbons, and that was a great finishing touch! Maybe the surprise element was how much we liked designing the customs, which was quite a fast customization.

Are you working on any new Nike collaborations at the moment?

Yes! We love our partnership with Nike, the Nike team is super visionary and ultra energetic. They think a lot about what is meaningful for female youths, for the future of female sports and their charity projects such as the Nike Grind & Boundless Girls basketball courts for schools in rural areas. In September, we will have a full collection with Nike including apparel, footwear and accessories. I can't wait to share it with you!

What's next for you in the year ahead?

Well, I just had my wedding ceremony in Shanghai. The dresses were from our Milan Fashion Week show and they were handcrafted by my mom. I felt super grateful and blessed wearing those meaningful dresses, and I decided for next season, we will officially launch our wedding line. We noticed in the past years women are getting bolder and bolder, they don't just follow trends. They do what they truly want for their celebratory days. They often choose our show pieces, and we wanted to create more options for them. We will start showing them in our new Spring/Summer 2026 collection in September and we also have some more exciting shoe collaborations in different materials coming out this year.

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