Here's why the Nike partnership with Mbappé is unconventional 'Bondy Dreams' breaks with the past of the American brand's football collaborations

"It's a sign of recognition. I spent most of my life there and that's where I became who I am. With Nike we have based ourselves on the concept of 'dreaming', because I am a great dreamer and I continue to dream"

Kylian Mbappé spoke about 'Bondy Dreams', his first collection with Nike, as well as the first dedicated to a French player. The entire campaign developed by the American brand is based on Mbappé's strong bond with its roots and with the suburb of Paris where the Paris Saint-Germain striker grew up. Bondy is a town of over 50,000 inhabitants located in the Paris banlieu, which since the '60s has seen an exponential growth of the population. A rapid demographic development is also due to the HLM, the rent-controlled housing that began to accommodate a large number of poor families and North African immigrant families, such as that of Mbappé. The fact that 'Bondy Dreams' emphasizes this context is an absolute novelty for Nike, because it breaks with a recurring trend in the football players's partnerships, in which the dimension of the roots of the player was hidden, as if it aroused a kind of embarrassment.

But in addition to this, as the words of Mbappé suggest, in Nike's project the dimension of the dream is predominant, which in this case follows a common trend over the years, through campaigns based precisely on this theme, such as the recent 'Dream With Us' and 'Dream Crazier'. The factor of hope, of dreams, fits perfectly with a specific target, the children, who dream about following the footsteps of Mbappé, able to get out of a Paris suburb. The presentation of Mbappé's capsule and new signature shoes took place at the Saint-Denis Stadium, with the participation of over 130 children from AS Bondy, to whom Nike gave some pieces from the collection. Their presence in the campaign is therefore not accidental, but is part of Nike's strategy, which associates the brand with the symbol of the next generations of footballers, trying to replicate the same effect that Ronaldo had on Mbappé when he was a child.

"I didn't want it to be just a marketing product, I wanted something authentic that could tell my story. And Nike met all my expectations." Mbappé is happy with the result, because it sums up his path, his roots. And Nike with him, because it knows that it has consolidated a partnership with one of the next faces of world football.