Nike Reboots ACG as an Outdoor-Performance Brand With Jeff Tremaine

Nike is reintroducing its All Conditions Gear (ACG) line as a standalone outdoor-performance brand.

And it's doing so with a bold new campaign focused on trail running, hiking, and exploration for athletes.

The lead spot was handled by Wieden+Kennedy and anchored by a grainy, irreverent launch film executive produced by "Jackass" co-founder Jeff Tremaine. 

Its main goal is to clearly separate ACG from Nike’s broader performance and lifestyle offerings and establish it as a distinct platform for outdoor athletes.

“This is a defining moment in ACG’s history — a recommitment to all conditions and an invitation to athletes: unplug, get outside and explore,” said Scott LeClair, VP and GM of ACG.

“ACG has the foundation to shape the future of outdoor performance while pushing into spaces that feel fresh and unexpected. It is going to be a fun ride.”

LeClair’s comments point to Nike’s intention to lean harder into performance and community.

Wieden+Kennedy and its partners are also aiming to deliver solid brand storytelling that matches this renewed energy.

Trail and Community Efforts

In the launch film, a narrator with an Attenborough-style delivery starts speaking with a visual of a slowly rotating Earth.

"If you're looking at the world from the horizontal comforts of your couch, bag of chips in one hand, doomscroll machine in the other, of course, the Earth is just dirt and sticks and moss and bugs and stuff," the narrator says. 

The frame suddenly freezes, flipping quickly into rapid and chaotic shots of trail running, hiking, and other outdoor pursuits.

The spot ends on a dry punchline, "Welcome to the world of ACG. Apologies."

ACG is also switching up how it engages with outdoor communities.

Nike Trail will fold into ACG, uniting all of Nike’s off-road running efforts under the relaunched brand and giving it a more unified performance narrative.

The ACG "All Conditions Racing Department," which is a growing roster of elite trail runners, will test products in real-world conditions and provide feedback on future innovation.

These athletes, drawn from the U.S., Japan, and Korea, are intended to strengthen credibility in high-end performance gear development.

Partnerships with independent races like Broken Arrow Skyrace and Gorge Waterfalls further establish ACG within the growing trail community.

Retail plays its part, too.

The first standalone ACG Base Camp opened in Beijing’s Taikoo Li Sanlitun as a physical expression of the brand’s identity, with additional in-store brand activations planned globally.

Lessons From Nike’s Outdoor Pivot

Nike’s ACG shows us how to rebuild a legacy sub-brand from scratch without losing the roots that built its name. Here, we learn that you can:

• Reframe a decades-old line with performance focus and community credibility rather than nostalgia alone.
• Embed the product story in real athlete engagement, not just advertising.
• Create physical and cultural activations (like Base Camp retail and race partnerships) to reestablish your brand identity beyond screens.

The company reported revenues of about $46.3 billion in its fiscal year 2025, a meaningful figure as Nike seeks new growth engines amid mixed performance.

Our Take: Can Outdoor Identity Drive Growth?

Nike's renewed focus is what will be crucial to the success of ACG.

Nowadays, audiences are quick to dismiss brand efforts as inauthentic, cash grabs, or "corporate slop."

The case is different for ACG. There’s something quietly powerful about seeing a heritage line like ACG lean fully into its original purpose.

It's as if you're watching an old explorer swap the map for a compass.

The sublabel has long been a household name among outdoor sports aficionados, which will help reinforce its new look and feel in the coming months ahead.

In other news, New Balance launched a star-studded global campaign titled "We Got Now" that will continue to unfold throughout the year. 

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