Introduction
Earlier this week, Apple has released its annual, special Pride Edition bands ahead of June, which is also known as Pride Month. From a large company whose CEO is an LGBTQ+ member, this has been a tradition for Apple for years, especially to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.
Here are some of the most recent Pride bands that Apple released to this year:
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As you can see, I’ve been expanding my Pride Band collection, and as expected, I purchased both of this year’s bands as soon as Apple announced those. Interestingly, the Nike counterpart has arrived yesterday, but the default one has not arrived until this afternoon. Maybe because there has been more demand for the standard Pride band, who knows? While the press images for any Watch band might not do enough justice on what the bands look like, I now have a chance to look at both of those in person. Without further ado, let’s look at the Nike Sport band for this year.
Nike Sport Loop
At first glance, this year’s Nike Pride band is basically a black version of last year’s counterpart. In fact, this is the first Pride band in Apple’s collection that’s been offered in black for the background color. If you look closely, you’ll see that along with black stripes, this band has brought additional colors to the original rainbow ones for the first time on a Nike Pride band. These new colors include – light blue, pink, and white, which represents transgender/non-binary individuals and black/brown, which symbolizes Black and Latinx communities. If you have a Nike Apple Watch Series 7, it will certainly go well with the rainbow-colored Nike Bounce watch face. Otherwise, it will still go well with the new Pride Threads face with the black background.
Standard Sport Loop
Usually, I’d be saving the best for last because this year’s Sport Loop is by far the most unique one that Apple has released in its Pride collection. I’ve always appreciate Apple’s attention to detail across all of its products. For this band, Apple took some inspiration from its “hello” trademark that famously debuted in the original Macintosh from 1984. The designers of the band have removed some of the textile loops to reveal the word “pride” in the same cursive form as the original “hello” trademark. This band looks a bit similar to the 2021 Nike Pride Sport Loop, except it also features the additional colors that represent the aforementioned communities. It should be worth noting that as with other light-colored bands, my big concern is that this band could get dirty quite easily. If this concerns you, then you should probably opt for the darker Nike version instead. Other than that, this is by far my favorite Pride Edition band that Apple has released because of those design details.
Complimentary Watch Faces
As previously mentioned, Apple has released its all-new “Pride Threads” face to accompany both this year’s Pride bands. You will need an Apple Watch Series 4 or later (including the SE) with 8.6 to get this watch face. Even better, both of the bands’ packages feature an App Clip that lets you easily install the complimentary watch face. If you have an iPhone running iOS 15.5, you can go to the Camera app to scan either of these App clips to get either of the matching faces shown here. I’ve included both of these App Clips here for everyone’s benefit.
Conclusion
Both of these watch bands are now available to order for $49 each. Additionally, the Braided Solo Loop (Pride Edition) from 2021 is still available to order for the foreseeable future. Both of this year’s bands are compatible with any Apple Watch model while the Braided Solo Loop is officially compatible with only Series 4 or later. Apple’s Pride Edition Watch Band collection has not only been important to the LGBTQ+ community, but also to me personally. Even though I don’t consider myself as an LGBTQ+ member, I have a friend who’s non-binary, and I know how much inclusivity/diversity means to them. I’ve known what it feels to feel left out just because you may consider yourself different. But in reality, you don’t have to be afraid to be true to yourself. After all, everyone is unique, and we just got to accept that regardless of their differences. With these new bands, not only will they stay in style for Apple Watch lovers, but also they’ll hopefully spread awareness even further. Let’s make the community more inclusive to everyone because in the end, love always wins.
