KNWLS' Milan Fashion Week Debut Came Correct With a Nike Collaboration
Unveiling an Air Max Muse ballet silhouette and a Razr bag referencing Nike’s original waffle outsole.
For Spring/Summer 2026, KNWLS marked a turning point in its trajectory, leaving London to debut at Milan Fashion Week with its boldest project yet: a collaboration with Nike. Titled “Synergy,” the collection fused KNWLS’ fierce, sensual codes with Nike’s sportswear know-how, creating a wardrobe tailored for women who move seamlessly between gym, street and dance floor.
Pushing the boundaries of women’s sportswear, the capsule reimagines athletic silhouettes with luxury precision. A corseted jacket and utilitarian miniskirt arrived in weatherproof plaid threaded with reflective accents. The cult Razr bag was reinvented in nylon and leather with a sturdy sole referencing Nike’s original waffle outsole, while corset-laced sneakers merged the Air Max Muse with ballet, football and KNWLS’ jagged Raptor boot.
This collaboration underscores the wider SS26 lineup, which stretched from medieval armour to futuristic sportswear. Dome-shouldered leather coats bonded with neoprene evoked battle gear recast for a space-age warrior. Slim-cut jeans with anatomical seams, Victoriana blouses trimmed in grosgrain and jersey tracksuits tap into the label’s obsession with structure and craft. Corsets drew on Nike’s Fenom bra for inspiration, their forms crafted in signature Flyknit and highlighted with a mottled, textured surface that mirrored the fabric’s speckled appearance.
With “Synergy,” KNWLS proposes a liberated vision of luxury: fierce, technical and completely wearable.
Continue reading to hear from the brand’s creative duo, Charlotte Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault, about their MFW debut and bringing their Nike partnership to life.
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What does it mean to you to be in Milan with this new chapter of the brand?
It’s quite exciting for us. We’ve been doing this for eight years so, we’ve just been looking forward to connecting with new people. This is the new future of the brand. We love our British community but there’s so much potential in the rest of the world. We want to shake things up.
How did you choose the Air Max Muse as a silhouette to experiment with?
Originally we chose a flatter shoe but then the whole narrative with our Nike collaboration was about how can we talk about sports to women in a way that they can understand, not just taking a masculine framework and making it pink. It’s about feeling powerful. So, we thought it had to be about lifestyle, something you can dress up and go to the club in. We realized quickly that we needed a shoe that has that presence, and the Muse, with the height of the heel, was a natural fit.
What was the biggest creative challenge about blending your two archives?
The main challenges were developing the pieces and the timeframe. The pieces that we developed were quite complicated. We decided to make corsets out of Flyknit which is what the brand uses to make sneakers. It was really hard to make it right but we’re really happy with the outcome.
If your show guests were to leave with one feeling, what would you want it to be?
Strength. Hope. Refreshed.
