Nike + NBA / Filip Pagowski

In 2018, ICNCLST partnered Filip Pagowski with Nike Basketball to reimagine the 30 NBA team logos. The Polish artist, renowned for creating the Comme Des Garçons Play logo and his editorial and fashion illustrations, brought a fresh perspective to the league’s franchises.

Reworking 30 designs is no small task. However, for Filip, it was the starting point for his first collaboration with Nike — a re-imagining of each NBA team motif in his own unique illustrative style.

“The idea behind the project was not to replicate the original or the official logos of each team, but rather come up with something that portrayed the team or the place they are coming from, or both, and to have it done in some fun way,” explains Pagowski.

To tackle the challenge, Pagowski decided on three elements of each team to toy with: the team name, the city it represents and its mascot. While sometimes intertwined, these three aspects allowed the artist space to dive into the history of a given franchise and the facts or associated imagery related to the source of a nickname.

Throughout the collection, a balance of history and humor gives new voice to NBA characters, as well as forms distinction between them. This collection was launched concurrent to Nike’s “Connected Jersey” App.