Jun Takahashi’s Gyakusou Collection Champions Fluid Functionality

Some people run fast. Others run far. Some do both. Some run races — against time, another person or even the mind. Many cherish solo moments on the open road while just as many prefer to share the experience with fellow harriers. Running can energize; but it can calm, too.

For UNDERCOVER founder Jun Takahashi, running is a source of creativity — a meditative exercise that allows him to contemplate ideas for his next collection and visualize them.

With his Gyakusou collections, now almost 10 years deep, Takahashi’s intent is to blend high-performance wear with the urban landscape. This forms, in some respect, a symbiosis between fluid movement and static environment, a desire held for all of his output.

“I intentionally include earthy colors. It is important to bring together my aesthetics with Nike’s functionality,” he notes.

Gyakusou SP19 continues to pair Takahashi’s style with Nike’s latest running apparel advances. This includes garments designed for packability, as well as those formed through body-map engineering to ensure sharpest functionality.

The Transform JKT, as the name suggests, “transforms” the jacket by unzipping the front and stuffing the top part of the jacket into its pocket. The Gyakusou version of the jacket gives the lightweight woven outer that protects runners from wind and rain a distinct color and graphic treatment, while the soft Dri-Fit base is designed to wick sweat. A second jacket, the Lightweight JKT, employs skin temperature maps to ensure properly placed laser cut holes to maximize breathability.

The men’s tight and women’s short are built with scientifically-informed knit (based on vibration maps) that reduce seams and deliver targeted compression where most needed.

Complementing the apparel are muted colorways of the Nike Vaporfly 4% and the Nike Pegasus Turbo. The Nike Gyakusou SP19 collection releases globally on February 28.