In recent months we have been contacted by Nike ACG®, the Nike’s outdoor line since the early 90s, to start a common project.

We always indirectly collected and gathered information about their past collections, during the years many of the research Nike ACG did about materials and manufacturing has proven to be futuristic. If we think about it, we remember some of the first shoes produced on a large scale with an hemp upper and the entire Nike CONSIDERED project (which was absolutely ahead). If we nowadays reflect about it, it was one of the most sustainable and ethical systems available, even right now. Imagine that a leading shoe manufacturer produces soles, uppers etc. and sells them on the free market disassembled. Suddenly anyone could participate by selling shoe parts made by them with the materials available in their area, investing in durability and engineering. Anyone could choose who to buy from or simply adapt what exists on the market to their need. Thus extending the life of the products and reducing the costs of transporting raw materials. It was something similar to the modular smartphone project but many years before.

When Nike asked us to collaborate together, because they were interested in our approach to the outdoors and the self-production idea behind Rayon Vert, We were enthusiastic. The idea of ​​being able to reach as many people as possible with this project and maybe, through our experience, inspiring someone to unlock his hidden abilities and to dream of a desire for autonomy, has thrilled us. Our common point is certainly the passion for the outdoors, the idea of the exploration of the wild could be a parable of a soul searching aimed at improving everyone’s skills. If the cities provide everything we need (or maybe not) with its market rules and capitalism, the outdoors symbolize anarchy and independence.

We therefore decided to start from a series of guides, and expand the concept more and more in the future (with workshops, collective journeys…), with all the information that can help anyone who wants to start approaching hiking, bikepacking or in general looking for something beyond their habits. We are going to start with a series of small guides and routes in the landscapes we know best (northern Italy and the Alps), hoping in the future we’ll be able to expand the area more and more. We will also try to make guides as diversified as possible, both in terms of difficulty level, duration and reachability so that they can be accessible to as many people as possible.

We hope “HIKING TIPS AND TRIPS” could be a small seed which could inspire anything that starts from small and becomes something big.