Drake and Nike Team Up to Create NOCTA Brand
Drake has been aligned with Nike for quite some time. And now, the rapper born Aubrey Graham has a new sub-label with the sportswear powerhouse.
NOCTA — which Nike revealed in a statement today is a nod to Graham’s nocturnal creative process — is the name of the new joint project.
“NOCTA is a realization of all these thoughts and everything I had hoped for — from the culture it’s rooted in to the product and, most important, to the partnership and scale that allows me to share it with the world,” the rap megastar said in a statement. “NOCTA is about creating something for people on the move. People who want functional, comfortable fits that are adaptable from one environment to the next.”
The debut Nike NOCTA collection launches Dec. 18.
Although the release date was revealed, the products that will hit the market have not. But Nike did share images of NOCTA co-branded winter jackets in yellow and black as well as hoodies to announce the sub-label’s arrival.
And when discussing the “mindset” of NOCTA — which he described as having “unforgiving drive” and “a relentlessness” — Drake named specific Nike apparel and may have revealed what is to be expected.
“Whether you are in Toronto, London or Paris, there’s this uniform look — Nike Tech Fleece, the gloves, the hat — and it has a real team feel,” he said in a statement. “I wanted to take a piece of that culture that I grew up with, that school of thought, and bring the best to it. With NOCTA, we were trying to make the hardest jacket, the hardest tracksuit, the hardest gloves. Just the best of that world.”
Also revealed today was a website for the brand, Nocta.com, as well as an Instagram handle, @officialnocta.
For Drake, this venture with Nike has been a dream since childhood.
“Growing up Nike was everything,” Drake said in a statement. “It felt like every shoe I wanted, every athlete I liked, everything I owned was Nike. It didn’t mean anything unless it had a Swoosh.”
He continued, “I remember watching all these athletes repping Nike — each doing the unthinkable — and how inspiring it was. I always felt like there was an opportunity for Nike to embrace an entertainer the same way they had athletes. I thought about how crazy it would have been and what it would have meant for an artist to have a flagship Nike deal.”
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