Sports tech / 4+ year partnership
Custom gear for elite athletes.
NFL and MLB athletes use the Nike Equipment Builder to configure custom gloves, chest protectors, and fielding gear with millimeter-precision specs. We designed and built the platform that takes a design concept from screen to factory floor.
The problem
Professional athletes need equipment that fits precisely. A fraction of a millimeter off on a glove or chest protector can affect performance and safety. Nike needed a platform that let athletes and designers configure custom gear visually, generate manufacturing-ready specifications automatically, and manage the full lifecycle from design concept to factory production.
The platform had to serve multiple user types: Nike designers creating new styles, pro athletes customizing gear to their exact specs, team administrators managing rosters and approvals, and factory systems receiving production-ready output. Each user type needed a different experience, all connected to the same underlying configuration engine.
What we built
A multi-platform configuration tool that covers the full journey from design to manufacturing. Athletes select their gear type, customize colors, materials, and fit parameters, and see a real-time preview of the final product. The system generates manufacturing specifications with millimeter precision, ready for factory production.
Visual Configurator
Real-time 3D preview with color, material, and panel customization. Athletes see exactly what they're getting before production begins.
Design-to-Factory Pipeline
Configuration choices translate directly into manufacturing specs. No manual handoff, no spec interpretation errors.
Multi-Role Platform
Separate experiences for athletes, designers, team admins, and factory systems. Shared data layer, role-specific interfaces.
Multi-Platform
Web, mobile, and PWA. Athletes configure on the go. Designers work on desktop. Admins manage from anywhere.
The approach
We embedded a design and engineering team inside the Nike Equipment Builder project. The platform evolved over 4+ years as new sports, new gear categories, and new league partnerships (NCAA in addition to MLB and NFL) were added. Each expansion required new configuration logic, new manufacturing spec formats, and new user roles.
The design challenge was making a highly technical configuration process feel simple. An athlete selecting glove colors doesn't need to know about manufacturing tolerances. A factory system doesn't need to know about the athlete's preferences. The platform handles the translation between these worlds automatically.
The outcome
The Nike Equipment Builder is used by professional athletes across the NFL and MLB, as well as NCAA college programs. Nike designers use it to create and manage style libraries. Team administrators use it to manage player rosters and approve configurations. The platform has been in continuous production for over 4 years, expanding to cover new gear categories and new leagues as the partnership evolves.
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