Nike’s Drake sub-label Nocta returned with a new apparel line Wednesday that the Swoosh brand says “expands the culture of basketball for a new generation.”
The Nocta Basketball collection includes a fleece pant and hoodie, socks, shooter sleeves, wristbands, headwear, tees, shorts, long-sleeve tops and single-leg tights. Prices start at $12 for a pair of finger sleeves and top out at $120 for a fleece hoodie.
The collection consists mostly of all-black pieces with minimal branding, including Nike’s Swoosh, Nocta’s triple-star logo and the slogan “Sometimes you. Sometimes me. Always us.” Several items feature an all-over purple-orange-and-yellow “thermal” design. It is available for purchase on Nike and Nocta’s websites.
The Nocta Basketball campaign stars athletes from this year’s Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, a basketball circuit for boys and girls ages 17 and under. A 30-second promotional video shared on Nocta’s Instagram page shows the young athletes playing basketball decked out in Nocta’s new on-court performance apparel.
Launched in December 2020, Nike’s Nocta brand debuted with a small collection featuring a sweatshirt, bubble jackets, Tech fleece, gloves and hats. The next September, it launched a golf line. Nocta’s first sneaker, the Nocta Hot Step Air Terra, arrived in March in black and white colorways. Nike restocked the $180 Hot Step “Triple Black” earlier this month.
This month’s Nocta releases follow the June debut of Drake’s seventh studio album, “Honestly, Nevermind.” The “Certified Lover Boy” promoted his latest release on Instagram, where he has 118 million followers, including via a Wednesday post that received more than 141,000 likes.
“Sometimes You Sometimes Me Always Us…the next generation of superstar athletes are family members already,” the Canadian rapper wrote.
Earlier this month, Nike debuted its latest retail concept, Nike Style, in Seoul. Created to serve a “distinct sport lifestyle audience,” locations will feature “gender agnostic lifestyle product zones” for fleece, tops, sport lifestyle footwear, accessories and other “style-led collections,” as well as curated collections inspired by the local area. A second store is slated to open this fall in Shanghai.
