Nike has announced it will donate 140,000 pieces of sports equipment to healthcare workers around the world.
Working in partnership with nonprofit company Good360 in the US and local organisations across Europe, Nike says it will provide medics with footwear, apparel and other equipment.
The sportswear giants says it will donate 30,000 pairs of its Nike Air Zoom Pulse to medics working in hospitals in Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis and New York City, and within the Veterans Health Administration.
Nike says the Air Zoom Pulse, first released in November 2019, was designed specifically for healthcare workers.
Before designing the trainer, a team from Nike went to OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon, to observe medics at work.
They took into account the challenges of those on the job — including long hours on their feet and liquid spills — and the comfort needed for long shifts.
2,500 pairs are being donated to hospitals across Europe, including Barcelona, Berlin, London, Milan, Paris and in Belgium, Nike added in a statement on Monday.
Healthcare workers in New York City and Los Angeles will also receive about 95,000 pairs of football socks offering mild compression.
“The effort is led by messages of gratitude to healthcare professionals,” Nike added in the statement.
“From one athlete to another, Nike athletes recognise the physical and mental resilience of healthcare athletes.”
As of Tuesday morning, there was a total of 3,606,038 confirmed virus cases across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Over one million of those cases are in the US which has recorded over 68,000 dates.
In the UK, confirmed cases stand at almost 200,000, with further 28,909 deaths.
