Surreal Photos Taken Inside the Sprawling Nike Factory

Real Hacker StaffApril 3, 2025

5 2 minutes read

Surreal Photos Taken Inside the Sprawling Nike Factory

Photographer Alastair Philip Wiper is no stranger to entering spaces rarely seen by others — having previously visited a cryogenic chamber and a doomsday underground house. Wiper continued his modus operandi of taking viewers inside restricted locations when he was invited to document the inside of Nike.

The global sportswear and athletic brand with the iconic “Swoosh” logo and famous “Just Do It” slogan is headquartered in Oregon. “My work is all about seeing behind the scenes and going places people don’t usually go, so this project was perfect for me,” Wiper tells PetaPixel.

A person in pink athletic wear is jumping on a large gray platform inside a gym. They are in mid-air with arms akimbo. There are computers and graphs on the wall behind them. The background is black with yellow and white lines and symbols. — The vertical jump test is part of the baseline assessment for athletes at the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL). The stickers on the right show how high athletes like Michael Jordan and LeBron James can jump.

A robotic leg wearing sneakers is positioned on a treadmill setup. The apparatus is secured by an orange frame, with wires and a control box attached. The background wall is plain white with a visible electrical outlet and a pipe on the right. — This device at Nike’s Pegasus testing lab revolves continuously for days at a time to assess outsole durability.

A person with gray hair and a mustache stands against a plain background, holding a blue shoe mold in each hand. They are wearing a red jacket, blue jeans, and white sneakers. — The Nike Advanced Product Creation Center (APCC), located at the headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, is a top-secret state-of-the-art facility focused on innovation in product design.

The photographer explored the Nike World Headquarters, exploring the entire campus over the course of five days. Wiper captured foot moulds, freshly-printed prototypes, and jump tests in his hyper-realistic, surrealist signature style that requires flash to light frames evenly.

“It’s an epic place,” Wiper explains. “It was very businesslike — professionals going about their working day — and it was amazing that I was being allowed into the core of this iconic brand, known and worn throughout the world.”

In 1996, Nike introduced Swooshman, a sports mascot. This neoprene suit was supposedly made by the same costume designer who was responsible for the Batman movies.

Stacked Nike shoe boxes labeled "Air Zoom Challenge II" with various codes and "Andre Agassi" written on them, sitting on a bright orange shelf. — The Department of Nike Archives (DNA) in Beaverton, Oregon, is a treasure trove of the brand’s history, housing over 200,000 rare artifacts, prototypes, sketches, and memorabilia. This includes everything from the first Nike “Swoosh” design to early mechanical Shox prototypes, match shoes worn by Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi, and Tiger Woods, and much more.

A mannequin wearing a black headpiece with numerous attached wires is set against a vibrant pink background. The mannequin is dressed in a white shirt. — To fully understand athletes, the Nike Sport Research Lab has incorporated mind sciences (sensory and cognitive tasks in the brain) as a growing area of expertise alongside biomechanics, exercise physiology, and functional anatomy.

Wiper visited the Nike Air Manufacturing Innovation facility, the LeBron James Innovation Center, the Nike Advanced Product Creation Center, Nike’s Bowerman Footwear Lab, Nike’s Pegasus testing lab, all in Beaverton, Oregon. But his favorite site was the Department of Nike Archives.

“The archive was perhaps the most memorable place — stacks of folders with correspondence from Phil Knight [Nike’s co-founder], hand drawings by Tinker Hatfield of iconic Nike shoes, game-worn shoes by Agassi and Michael Jordan,” he says. “Things that should be in a museum, but instead are just in this warehouse where you could reach out and touch them.”

A store display featuring numerous shelves filled with various shades of blue shoes. The modern interior has a sleek, industrial design with exposed pipes and concrete floors. Glass showcases prominently highlight the footwear. — Nike’s LeBron James Innovation Center’s last library includes the personal casts of some of the greatest athletes of all time, including those of the building’s namesake.

Gloved hands hold a shoe covered in white powdery material, surrounded by a large amount of similar powder on a surface, possibly in a manufacturing or artistic setting. — A technician dusts the powder off a freshly printed prototype in the Advanced Product Creation Center (APCC).

This area of the Nike Advanced Product Creation Center (APCC) is mainly used by chemical engineers to develop and test new formulations.

Wiper was invited by Nike to visit the site and his photos will be included in a book and exhibition called Nike: Form Follows Motion which is show at the Vitra Design Museum near Basel, Switzerland until May 4, 2025.

More of Wiper’s work can be found on his website and Instagram.

Image credits: Photographs by Alastair Philip Wiper.

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