Nike's Swoosh Fly Line Designed to Fit Female Players, Not for Women to Fit Into

Photo courtesy of Nike

Inclusivity. If you're a girl and you grew up playing basketball, you most likely purchased boys' hoodies and basketball shorts. For as long as the game has been in existence, there's always been a void when it comes to basketball clothing specifically designed for the female body. Now, Mistie Boyd, Nike Basketball apparel manager and former center for the Phoenix Mercury, is spearheading a solution.

"There's an entire culture of needing those pieces," Boyd said.

Swoosh Fly is a basketball apparel collection for women, by women. The collection at its core is centered around creating pieces that fit women's bodies. Nike Basketball apparel designers have long heard from female players frustrated with trying to adapt to men's basketball shorts that really weren't tailored to the female form.

Mistie Boyd, who designed the Swoosh Fly line for Nike, played for 10 years in the WNBA and won the league title in 2014 with Phoenix.Barry Gossage/Getty Images

"Swoosh Fly is multidimensional," Boyd told B/R Kicks. "It represents an attitude, it represents a style that she carries with her on and off the court."

The results are promising, based on what some stars at Boyd's old workplace apparently think.

For WNBA star Sue Bird, the line offers an understanding of how women move, evident in how easy it was for her to slip on the Swoosh Fly hoodie over her hair, according to a Nike press release.

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"Swoosh Fly is a moment to finally say we have something that's our own," added A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces in the press release. "We don't need to share it with the guys."

Sylvia Fowles of the Minnesota Lynx and A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces model some of Nike's new Swoosh Fly line.Photo courtesy of Nike

Indeed, the new line has won over converts by acknowledging, in its own way, that hoops wear has to work for all players.

"You need to have that one piece of apparel that fits you just right," Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury told Nike. "Swoosh Fly is that—but in an entire collection. And it's so authentic that players like Mistie are helping move this gear forward."

The entire Swoosh Fly women's basketball collection is available now.