Young Running Brands Are Setting the Pace — Nike Is Taking Very Literal Notes
In late 2024, a new Nike Running Division shirt quietly released on Nike's website. Offered in bright blue and dark grey, the $100 "Dri-Fit ADV Short-Sleeve Running Top" has one weird detail: a spate of tiny holes around its chest and back.
Nike's product copy describes this as "targeted ventilation," which is a pretty loose description.
Perhaps that's because Satisfy Running, a Parisian running brand, has trademarked the technique's actual name.
"MothTech isn’t just another running shirt — it represents the genesis of Satisfy’s DNA, crystallizing the intersection of culture, performance and functionality," Tommy Hubert, Satisfy's head of PR and communications, tells Highsnobiety. "We were equally surprised to see this product surface. To clarify, Satisfy has no involvement in this project, and the design does appear to imitate our signature MothTech shirts."
Satisfy's $140 MothTech T-shirts have been a brand staple since 2015, though the brand itself properly debuted in 2016. Like so many technical innovations, their genesis was a eureka moment.
While jogging in his vintage band tees, Satisfy founder Brice Partouche began to wonder if his worn-in tees' holes were providing extra insulation. Thus, after a body-mapping process that perfected the placement for streamlined breathability, MothTech was born.
MothTech tees, with their deliberately placed pockmarks, have remained a Satisfy staple throughout the years, symbolic of the French label's intelligent balance of style and sport.
Beyond the holes, MothTech tees are also typically printed with partially reflective graphics, another element borrowed for Nike's Dri-Fit T-shirt.
However, whereas Nike's T-shirt looks more like a shotgun-blasted sportswear top, Satisfy's MothTech T-shirts more closely recall Partouche's vintage band shirts. They're pre-faded and stylish enough to almost casually obscure their technical qualities, indicative of Satisfy's inimitable balance of style and sportswear.
"By ripping us off, Nike is making a lazy move that feels like an acknowledgment of the shift we’ve sparked in the running world," Hubert continues. "While we’re disappointed by what feels like a shortcut from a major brand like Nike, it’s also a reminder of the impact we’re making. Independent brands like Satisfy are reshaping what running gear, and the culture surrounding it, can be, and this response only underscores the movement we’re leading."
In a press release provided to Highsnobiety, Satisfy elaborated: "The design appears to draw heavily from our signature MothTech aesthetic, which is disappointing to see from a major corporation known to defend its own image and intellectual property so fiercely."
Highsnobiety has reached out to Nike for comment.
Amidst all the coverage of Nike's battle to regain relevance, between dipping share prices and CEO switch-ups, there's much lauding of the challenges Nike's facing from sportswear upstarts.
Indeed, household names like Nike and adidas have been responding to the ascendance of younger companies like HOKA for several years, with the results only recently becoming especially apparent. Consider the way that adidas has attempted to stylistically update its sport-centric adizero line, perhaps aiming to imitate HOKA's success in marketing its chunky running shoes as crossover lifestyle sneakers.
Given Satisfy's collaborative nature — the company previously partnered with labels was disparate as Levi's, Oakley, and even HOKA itself — this moment could've presented an opportunity for a symbolic passing of the torch as Nike, a company quite literally founded on the sport of running, cosigned one of the industry's most promising emerging stars with a shirt in place of a handshake. Why not?
However, if nothing else, Nike's Dri-Fit shirt does indicate that Satisfy is very much racing down the right path.
"What’s clear to us is that the most exciting innovations in running - particularly at the intersection of sport, style and culture - are increasingly being driven by indie brands like Satisfy," Hubbert says. "This wave of authenticity and creativity challenges the sportswear establishment, and it’s telling when big corporations appear to follow our lead rather than setting new directions themselves."
