Nike Techs and Their Dominance at the Forefront of Crime

In November of 2025, two male creators on TikTok put on their Sunday best and recorded a video setting the tone for the future of menswear. “We don’t do Nike Techs, we don’t do coffee,” one of the boys started. “It’s straight quarter zips and matchas around here.”

The dapper appearance of the boys, the setting, and the aesthetics garnered the video a whooping 3.9 million likes, and had the comments banding together to start a movement of elegance. People stating that they will be migrating from Instagram to LinkedIn, from DMs to Outlook and Teams, and women in the comments swooning that YNs are finally turning into husbands. It was a celebratory moment that had everyone agreeing that we should deviate from items and consumables that are “lesser than”, with quarter zips being the supreme alternative to Nike Tech tracksuits.

But why are Nike Techs deemed “lesser than”?

In varying regions of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, Nike Tech tracksuits are a uniform associated with young roadmen. For context, roadmen are the individuals who lurk street corners that are often associated with drug dealing and petty crime. The average gangster has a distinct look of sagging jeans and tank tops in Western media, but has a sharper and more athletic look in Europe.

This would not be the first incident in which Nike has been labelled as the criminal’s uniform. In 2018, Nike promoted a balaclava on its website with a black male modelling the item. This product received immediate backlash as it perpetuated menacing stereotypes tied to black youth, and platformed the brand to profit from gang culture. This forced the company to swiftly pull the campaign from the website, and released a statement clarifying that they were in no way condoning or encouraging criminal or gang culture.

Following the video that ushered in quarter zips and mactha as the new status symbol in November of last year, a TikTok was made a few days later with the caption stating that the movement might just lead us as a society into a culture that promotes far right-wing political propaganda. And as of January 2026, this creator has been proven correct.

Images of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in US captivity were released online after he was captured by the United States, and in the images, he was blindfolded, wearing ear defenders, and a Nike Tech tracksuit.

The virality of these images caused a surge in the sale of Nike Techs, and Maduro unintentionally became a fashion inspiration as he is currently detained. This has brought about the discussion of how Nike Techs have become the face of crime and criminal aesthetics on various occasions, with people such as American rapper Plies tweeting, “The Nike Tech Suit Wasn’t By Accident. It Was To Suggest Thats What Criminals Wear!!!!!”

The Nike Tech tracksuit seems to have been cemented as staple piece in criminal attire, and the recent surge in its purchases only feeds more into the narrative.

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