Remember when Nike introduced the Air Milano jacket a few months back? The inflatable jacket that promised to solve the age-old runner’s dilemma of overheating mid-run? Well, it just made its official debut at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, and Nike’s chief design officer Martin Lotti is making it clear: this isn’t some novelty stunt.
The jacket’s now being worn by Team USA athletes during medal ceremonies, which is pretty much the ultimate endorsement for any piece of sportswear. But beyond the Olympic spotlight, there are some fascinating new details emerging about why this jacket matters more than you might think.
Designer: Nike
Lotti explained that Nike has been working with air as a cushioning technology in footwear for half a century, but they’ve barely scratched the surface of what air can do. The interesting twist? From a design perspective, they’re working with a medium that’s completely invisible. You can’t see air, you can’t touch it in the traditional sense, yet it’s proving to be one of the most versatile materials in their arsenal.
The real game changer here is how the jacket addresses temperature regulation. According to Lotti, runners face this problem constantly. You start your morning run when it’s cold, you warm up as you go, and then what? Most of us just tie the jacket around our waist without thinking about it. It’s such an automatic response that we don’t even realize we’re settling for an imperfect solution.
With the Air Milano, that problem disappears. The jacket inflates with a small battery-powered fan through a valve on the front, and it takes about 20 seconds to go from windbreaker to mid-weight puffer. Need to cool down? Press the same valve and gradually release the air. The whole process happens while you’re moving, which means you can adjust your warmth on the fly without breaking stride or stopping to fuss with layers.
One of the most compelling arguments for this technology is the weight-to-warmth ratio. Traditional down puffers have a fatal flaw: when they get wet, they lose their insulating properties. The feathers clump together, the jacket gets heavy, and suddenly you’re wearing a soggy, useless shell. Because the Air Milano uses actual air as insulation, water doesn’t compromise its performance. It stays light, it stays warm, and it doesn’t wet out.
Nike also revealed that this jacket showcases what they’re calling A.I.R. Technology, which stands for Adapt, Inflate, Regulate. The whole design is informed by body mapping data from Nike’s Sport Research Lab and uses computational design to create those sculptural baffles you see on the surface. It’s not just about making something that looks cool; it’s about strategically placing air where your body needs warmth most.
The Team USA version comes with some exclusive touches that weren’t part of the original announcement. There are sculpted design elements, a custom ACG pump (instead of the generic battery-powered fan initially mentioned), metallic twill branding, and an interior lining graphic depicting the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, where Team USA trains. More importantly, Nike built in accessibility features like interior thumb loops on the bottom hem and a magnetic zipper specifically designed to help Paralympic athletes put on and close the jacket independently.
What’s particularly interesting is that this isn’t Nike’s first rodeo with inflatable outerwear. They’ve been experimenting with this concept for 20 years, starting with the ACG Airvantage jacket and continuing with the ISPA Adapt Sense Air. But the Air Milano represents a major evolution in both technology and wearability. It’s lighter, faster to inflate, and actually solves a practical problem instead of just being a technical curiosity.
Lotti’s perspective on this is refreshing. He’s adamant that the Air Milano isn’t a gimmick because it addresses a real issue that athletes face every single time they go for a run. That’s the difference between innovation for innovation’s sake and design that actually improves how people move through the world.
The jacket is positioned as part of Nike’s broader FIT system of apparel, which includes Therma-FIT insulation, Aero-FIT cooling, Dri-FIT moisture-wicking, and Storm-FIT weather protection. It’s not meant to replace every jacket you own, but rather to fill a specific need for adaptive warmth in changing conditions.
Seeing Team USA athletes wearing these jackets on the podium in Milan gives the whole project a very different context. It’s not just a prototype or a concept piece anymore. It’s performance gear that’s being tested at the highest levels of athletic competition, which means Nike has confidence it can handle real-world demands.
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