10 Years of Nike N7 Gets Personal with Pendleton Prints
"Self-representation, for me, is being authentic to my people and who I am," says Nike designer Tracie Jackson, who created this season's Nike N7 x Pendleton pattern inspired by the weavings of her great-grandmother, Phoebe Nez. Proceeds from the Nike N7 x Pendleton Seven Generations blanket, featuring Jackson's pattern, benefit the American Indian College Fund. Upon going blind in old age, Phoebe Nez continued to weave rugs in the Navajo tradition, teaching her young great-granddaughter Tracie Jackson how to take up the craft. The member of the Black Streaked Wood People clan of the Navajo Nation ("Tsi'naajinii") taught Jackson that every color and shape has a purpose that can be altered by many influences, such as creation stories, the environment and individual experiences. Nez committed her designs to memory, continuing to teach Jackson as her eyesight slowly faded. “My great-grandmother was still weaving right up until she passed at 92,” says J...