Creating all-conditions gear has quite literally always been the name of the game for Nike ACG, but the outdoorsy imprint is taking that mission more seriously than ever. Nike is relaunching its almost 40-year-old lifestyle line as an “outdoor-performance brand for athletes,” and its products are consequently getting kicked up a notch.

Beyond creating a bright orange alpine train, a reinvigorated Nike ACG has been toying with new technology like inflatable jackets for lightweight and adaptable insulation and $1,000 compression boots to aid Olympic athletes' recovery. Even the brand's sunglasses are getting technical upgrades. The extra benefit is that they also look better than ever.

The ACG Vista Vert and Vista Peak sunglasses are an example of Nike ACG’s renewed focus on balancing performance with taste.

Built for “the world’s roughest terrain,” according to Nike, the eyewear’s barely-there semi-rim allows for an unobstructed sightline and reinforcements at the center of the lens to protect it from breaking under impact while also looking downright futuristic, even for an era where techy shades are daily drivers. 

Nike’s “Max Optics” lenses, with an anti-reflective coating to combat light reflection, sit inside the majority of glasses but the most advanced (and most expensive) pairs are the $259 photochromic sunglasses where lenses adapt to light intensity in real time, getting darker or lighter depending on the conditions.

When Nike announced that its trail division was being folded into Nike ACG it signalled heightened competition for crossover outdoor sneaker brands like HOKA and Salomon, but these hi-tech Nike ACG shades could have Oakley sweating too. 

Nike ACG’s new goal is to “shape the future of outdoor performance,” says Scott LeClair, a Nike executive overseeing the brand’s move from stylish semi-functional clobber (like its killer clogs) to proper high-performance gear that also happens to be stylish.

These glasses are an early example of what the future of sports equipment looks like.

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