words by Nick DePaula

With the upcoming Olympic Games to be held in Beijing, adidas is planning to release two versions of the TS Litespeed, said to be inspired by elements of Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain and drawing from classic Chinese war methods. The two shoes, one a white base and the other a black base, both feature a rich leather upper texturized medial panel, with laser etched graphics along the lateral heel and a well-done splatter print along the heel. June marks the release month for the black colorway, while the white based version will launch in July. Both are said to retail for $140 and will only be exclusive throughout China.

(All images courtesy: Kenlu)

Popularity: 26%

words by Nick DePaula

While Kobe Bryant already wore patent leather versions of Nike’s Hyperdunk to end the regular season, here’s two more Lakers-related colorways you can expect to see him showcasing on-court both at home and on the road. The black colorway features a rich full grain leather upper atop Nike’s Flywire panneling, while the home white edition incorporates purple suede along the midfoot wedge as well as clear Flywire.

Milwaukee Bucks budding phenom Yi Jianlian will also be wearing the Hyperdunk while representing host country China this summer at the 2008 Olympic Games, and his player exclusive colorway features a deep red leather upper with a gold midfoot wedge and accents.

Wallpapers Below!

Popularity: 76%

words by Nick DePaula

Say what you will about Jordan Brand’s colorful new approach to commemorating this summer’s 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, but the Air Jordan VI is once again the subject, after an Olympic colorway of the Retro VI was first released in 2000 at the Sydney Games.

This summer’s Jordan Retro VI is inspired by the Olympic Rings, designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1913 and introduced at the 1920 Olympic Games held in Belgium, after the previous Games were cancelled due to World War I. The five interlocking rings represent the five continents that originally participated in the competition globally recognized for featuring the world’s greatest athletes.

Aside from the colorful midsole, the upper features white cobec, a patent leather-like synthetic, as well as an intricate stitching pattern along the toe inspired by Italian craftsmanship. The stitch pattern is also featured along the Jordan Olympian, which Carmelo Anthony is planning to wear this summer. The Olympic Retro VI will be released on June 7th at select retailers and is priced at $150.

Images Courtesy: Kenlu

Popularity: 93%

Nike Grigoros

Kayaking

I’ve personally never even approached the thought of entering a Kayak and taking on the at times unpredictable current ahead, but I am determined to somehow get my hands on these. The Grigoros, Greek for ‘Quick,’ is more sculpted and contoured than any other shoe in this collection, and for good reason. Many athletes would normally compete barefoot, but the Grigoros provides more traction and protection in an often rugged and dangerous whitewater rapid sport. The form-fitting, one-piece upper shoe is made entirely of a sticky rubber compound and is meant to slip right onto the foot for a close fit that will mimic a second layer of skin. If I had to pick a favorite design in the collection, this is certainly in the top three, and if I found out Nike will be bringing this shoe to retail I will certainly update everyone out there, as I’m sure the Zvezdochka fan in all of us will gravitate towards these hypersleek and shaped shoes.

Popularity: 24%

2008 Nike Beijing ’08 Innovation Summit:

The Unrivaled Platform to Innovate

words by Nick DePaula

Oftentimes at Nike and at other footwear brands, a season or initiative comes along that demands extra attention and innovation, whether it be the fall’s new team shoe built for a brotherhood, or a hand-crafted and deeply sculpted twenty-third rendition of the venerated Air Jordan line. Developed over the past several years to be launched this summer in competition, Nike was met with perhaps its most difficult task yet: creating twenty-three unique footwear items for the world’s greatest elite athletes to wear in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games for twenty-eight specific events – a challenge no other brand has ever dared.

After outfitting just eleven sports in the 2004 Athens Games, Nike wanted to offer product for athletes representing forty countries across literally every sport and event. From Taekwando to Rowing, and of course to more traditionally classic Olympic sports like Basketball and Weightlifting, you can expect to see Nike footwear worn by each sport’s most advanced athletes. As Kris Aman, Nike Global General Manager of the 2008 Olympics puts it, Beijing will be “an unrivaled platform to innovate.” They’ve developed new cushioning technologies, new upper containment materials and also new apparel solutions for heat dissipation and climate control. The innovation here never stops. The increase in sport participation from Nike means their products will be worn by more than 7,000 athletes at the Olympic Games, and over 10,000 athletes were interviewed in conceptualizing and designing the footwear. “Nike really knows and better serves the athlete than anyone,” says Mark Parker, Nike CEO and President.

In getting to the final stages of production for this cohesive collection, Nike began developing and designing footwear for the Games over three years ago. Just after the 2004 Athens Games had closed, the endless creativity bunkered across the 193-acre Nike World Campus in Beaverton, Oregon began grouping and teaming up across all categories to provide their most innovative and compelling footwear story yet. The company has seen more innovations than any other brand over its thirty-six year history, from the first ever Air-cushioned Nike Tailwind in 1978, to the first basketball shoe designed to have no break-in period in the Air Jordan III, and even to the decade-old, hyper-responsive Zoom Air cushioning unit that no other brand can match up with today. Despite all of the company’s achievements, milestones and industry standard-raising innovations, Nike still set out to push the envelope even more this summer, under the direction of Sean McDowell, Creative Director for Nike’s Olympic Footwear. Nike, named after the Greek Goddess of Victory, also aimed to pay homage to the origins of the Olympics, naming the majority of the footwear in Greek. The premium focus for all footwear was on lightweight, cushioning and reaction time, allowing for an athlete across all sports to perform at their best in this summer’s 29th Olympic Games.

The two most heralded innovations that Nike created specifically for the Olympics are Lunar Foam and Flywire Technology. Developed in conjunction with NASA engineers over the past few years, Lunar Foam is a high-rebound and resilient spongy foam that is actually used in the seats of NASA’s space shuttles. While Kobe Bryant might demand a light shoe that allows him to explode forty inches off the hardwood for a crowd-silencing dunk, NASA’s space shuttles must reduce weight wherever possible in order to leave earth’s orbit; quite a difference. So in creating Lunar Foam, Nike mixed Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA for short) with Nitrate rubber, allowing for a foam cushioning unit that is 30% lighter than Phylite, which Nike has been using for over the past decade. Lunar Foam’s responsive properties stem from the rubber compound included in it, and the lower impact and more cushioned ride along with a lighter weight are certainly a welcomed innovation. In basketball shoes, it is implemented much like how Air-Sole and Zoom Air units have been in the past, as a sculpted unit embedded into the midsole just under the ball of the foot.

Flywire is not so much a cushioning development as it pertains more to lightweight containment along the upper. No matter what sport an elite athlete is participating in, reaction time and the ability to change direction are crucially important, whether you’re splitting a double-team in the halfcourt and headed straight to the rim or you’re stopping on a dime to return a shuttlecock in the game of Badminton. After examining the history of bridge designs, Jay Meschter, Innovation Director of Nike’s Innovation Kitchen, noticed an advancement along the timeline that would go on to shape the development of Flywire. From more traditional brick structures that didn’t age well, to our more modern cable-suspended bridges, which can support not only the weight of the bridge across vast distances like in San Francisco, but also the weight of massive daily traffic, he discovered that a structure can become more supportive when it is designed with, in the case of footwear, long strands for support along the side of a shoe. Meschter realized that by creating a cradle for the foot in a similarly arranged alignment along the shoe’s lateral and medial sides, any given sport’s unique and unpredictable movements could be better supported for quicker reaction time. The result is Flywire.

With a thin film of Polyurethane providing the structure of each Flywire panel, the thin strands that provide the support are made of a material called Vectran. Over six years ago, Meschter first aligned strands of nylon along a shoe last as he conceptualized Flywire, and after much deliberation over several materials, Vectran proved to be the most supportive material to fit the project’s needs of support, light weight and flex resistance. It was actually down to Kevlar and Vectran as the strand material of choice to be used in Flywire, after Nylon and several other fabric strands proved to be far too flimsy. In Vectran’s favor, Kevlar, when flexed, can lose up to 25% of its strength, compared to 0% strength loss in Vectran. When used in product like athletic footwear, any strength loss is crucial to athletes who depend on tenths and hundredths of seconds in competition. Another major factor in deciding upon a material for the groundbreaking upper construction was also the measured breaking strength between the two. Vectran boasts a higher breaking strength than Kevlar, requiring more force to compromise the high-performance multifilament yarn. Most clutch also is Vectran’s ability to not only allow for weight reduction in Nike’s products, but also the fact that the liquid polymer based material is naturally very thermally stable. In an extreme climate like that of Beijing, which is being forecasted to host a sweltering summer nearing triple digit temperature with 70% humidity, it’s also very important that Vectran can perform under any circumstance. While it seems like lots of tech talk and the material to the naked eye may appear to be just a thin layer along the shoe with nicely placed weaves, in fact there’s quite a bit of technology and research that goes into constructing something as performance-fused as Flywire.

Several shoes in the Olympic footwear catalogue will feature the panel construction, and most notably the Hyperdunk in basketball, as well as the Zoom Victory Spike and Zoom Victory+ in Track & Field will offer its athletes the lightest, most supportive footwear products that Nike has ever created.

Click here to see what else we have in the “2008 Olympic” category. You’ll catch more features on upcoming Olympic footwear as well as more interviews… and of course a few surprises.

Popularity: 30%

Nike Dunk Gyrizo

BMX:

It may look like an iconic Dunk that we’re all too familiar with, but surely this is like no other Dunk ever released from Nike, as it will debut along with the sport’s inaugural Olympic inclusion. John Martin, Creative Director of Action Sports at Nike, helped give this shoe its vision with the help of BMX legend Bob Haro, as they aimed to provide protection and durability in the Gyrizo, Greek for ‘wheel.’ The shoe features a supportive midfoot strap, as well as a fully modified Dunk outsole that includes a forefoot herringbone inset for added traction and a clip to latch onto the bike’s pedal for maximum control. A few nice touches on the shoe are also the Kevlar laces and metal eyelets, offering the rider even greater durability. Aside from helping with this shoe’s design, Haro also inspired the matching racing kits that will be worn by BMX athletes and feature lighter materials and classic patterning.

Popularity: 5%

Nike Dynami

Canoeing

One of the sweetest shoes in all of the Olympic collection, the Dynami, Greek for ‘Power,’ provides an undeniable visual swagger in the sport of Canoeing. Inspired by the sport’s boats, the Dynami aims to offer stability and steadiness for the rower to power through each long and arduous stroke. Canoeing is traditionally a barefoot sport, so the shoe in this case offers support and traction before unseen. The sticky outsole rubber compound is just 1.6 mm thin, and along the outsole at the pivot point you’ll also notice a nod to 08.08.08, the opening day of the Olympics.

Popularity: 4%

Nike Team Destroyer FH

Field Hockey

The turf in China is quite unique and far different than what we see on fields across America, as in Beijing it is known to be shorter, more dense, and oftentimes, become extremely wet. In researching the specific field properties that athletes will be competing in, Nike re-designed its outsole traction pattern to be lower to the ground and more rugged. The shoe also features a midfoot support strap for lateral assurance, and most importantly, the entire upper is water resistant, keeping the foot dry in competition so the athlete can perform at their best. It will be worn by several countries, and each will feature unique and inventive graphics along the upper in country-specific base colors. Cushioning is provided by way of heel Zoom Air, and there are noticeable upgrades in durability and abrasion resistant materials along the toe cap to withstand the crushing blow of an opposing player’s sticks.

Popularity: 3%

Nike Pidima

Gymnastics

While it may not look like a traditional “shoe,” indeed the Pidima, Greek for ‘Leap,’ in inspired by a track shoe’s outsole stance and aims to provide the athlete with much needed traction and support just before a short exploding jump in the Vault competition. The forefoot pad of the shoe hopes to mimic the bare foot as much as possible to provide the athlete with a natural feel, all while simply offering some extra traction and control to make a difference. To go along with the shoe’s minimalist nature, the athletes are given the shoe in a small silk carrying pouch as compared to a more traditionally cumbersome shoebox.

Popularity: 3%

Nike Naftikos

Sailing – Crew

Unlike the Fila Helmsman Prada America Cup, long heralded as the most notable sailing shoe the industry has known, the Naftikos, Greek for “Navigator,” features a higher cut with a full neoprene inner sleeve that serves to not only reduce inner heat build-up, but also helps keep water out to prevent it from becoming a lugging, heavy shoe should water overtake it. It has a non-traditional look, but the front half is purposefully designed to incorporate a nubby rubber material that provides breathability as well as protection. The full herringbone outsole is made up of a wet-rubber compound proven to work on the fiberglass hulls used in the sport.

Popularity: 2%

Nike Romaleos
Weightlifting

The Romaleos, Greek for “Strength,” is one of the most unique shoes in the collection, as it is far more stiff and weighty than others hoping to stress flexibility and light weight. In this case, the Romaleos must provide the foundation for three-hundred pound men to lift nearly one thousand pounds in sudden explosive bursts. In order to fulfill the unique demands of a weightlifter, Nike developed the contoured TPU heel bridge, coined the Power Bridge, which wraps up and around the heel to more accurately lock the foot in during competition. The outsole is also a major feature of the shoe, as it rests entirely flat to provide ample stability and prevent the athlete from tipping over or leaning back – oh yeah, and with hundreds of pounds potentially falling on them. With a dual-strapping system for even extra support, the Romaleos is the most powerful shoe aimed at the Olympics’ most strenuous sport.

Popularity: 4%

2008 Nike Beijing ‘08 Innovation Summit:
The Unrivaled Platform to Innovate
words by Nick DePaula

Oftentimes at Nike and at other footwear brands, a season or initiative comes along that demands extra attention and innovation, whether it be the fall’s new team shoe built for a brotherhood, or a hand-crafted and deeply sculpted twenty-third rendition of the venerated Air Jordan line. Developed over the past several years to be launched this summer in competition, Nike was met with perhaps its most difficult task yet: creating twenty-three unique footwear items for the world’s greatest elite athletes to wear in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games for twenty-eight specific events – a challenge no other brand has ever dared.

After outfitting just eleven sports in the 2004 Athens Games, Nike wanted to offer product for athletes representing forty countries across literally every sport and event. From Tae-Kwan-Do to Rowing, and of course to more traditionally classic Olympic sports like Basketball and Weightlifting, you can expect to see Nike footwear worn by each sport’s most advanced athletes. As Kris Aman, Nike Global General Manager of the 2008 Olympics puts it, Beijing will be “an unrivaled platform to innovate.” They’ve developed new cushioning technologies, new upper containment materials and also new apparel solutions for heat dissipation and climate control. The innovation here never stops. The increase in sport participation from Nike means their products will be worn by more than 7,000 athletes at the Olympic Games, and over 10,000 athletes were interviewed in conceptualizing and designing the footwear. “Nike really knows and better serves the athlete than anyone,” says Mark Parker, Nike CEO and President.

In getting to the final stages of production for this cohesive collection, Nike began developing and designing footwear for the Games over three years ago. Just after the 2004 Athens Games had closed, the endless creativity bunkered across the 193-acre Nike World Campus in Beaverton, Oregon began grouping and teaming up across all categories to provide their most innovative and compelling footwear story yet. The company has seen more innovations than any other brand over its thirty-six year history, from the first ever Air-cushioned Nike Tailwind in 1978, to the first basketball shoe designed to have no break-in period in the Air Jordan III, and even to the decade-old, hyper-responsive Zoom Air cushioning unit that no other brand can match up with today. Despite all of the company’s achievements, milestones and industry standard-raising innovations, Nike still set out to push the envelope even more this summer, under the direction of Sean McDowell, Creative Director for Nike’s Olympic Footwear. Nike, named after the Greek Goddess of Victory, also aimed to pay homage to the origins of the Olympics, naming the majority of the footwear in Greek. The premium focus for all footwear was on lightweight, cushioning and reaction time, allowing for an athlete across all sports to perform at their best in this summer’s 29th Olympic Games.

The two most heralded innovations that Nike created specifically for the Olympics are Lunar Foam and Flywire Technology. Developed in conjunction with NASA engineers over the past few years, Lunar Foam is a high-rebound and resilient spongy foam that is actually used in the seats of NASA’s space shuttles. While Kobe Bryant might demand a light shoe that allows him to explode forty inches off the hardwood for a crowd-silencing dunk, NASA’s space shuttles must reduce weight wherever possible in order to leave earth’s orbit; quite a difference. So in creating Lunar Foam, Nike mixed Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA for short) with Nitrate rubber, allowing for a foam cushioning unit that is 30% lighter than Phylite, which Nike has been using for over the past decade. Lunar Foam’s responsive properties stem from the rubber compound included in it, and the lower impact and more cushioned ride along with a lighter weight are certainly a welcomed innovation. In basketball shoes, it is implemented much like how Air-Sole and Zoom Air units have been in the past, as a sculpted unit embedded into the midsole just under the ball of the foot.

Flywire is not so much a cushioning development as it pertains more to lightweight containment along the upper. No matter what sport an elite athlete is participating in, reaction time and the ability to change direction are crucially important, whether you’re splitting a double-team in the halfcourt and headed straight to the rim or you’re stopping on a dime to return a shuttlecock in the game of Badminton. After examining the history of bridge designs, Jay Meschter, Innovation Director of Nike’s Innovation Kitchen, noticed an advancement along the timeline that would go on to shape the development of Flywire. From more traditional brick structures that didn’t age well, to our more modern cable-suspended bridges, which can support not only the weight of the bridge across vast distances like in San Francisco, but also the weight of massive daily traffic, he discovered that a structure can become more supportive when it is designed with, in the case of footwear, long strands for support along the side of a shoe. Meschter realized that by creating a cradle for the foot in a similarly arranged alignment along the shoe’s lateral and medial sides, any given sport’s unique and unpredictable movements could be better supported for quicker reaction time. The result is Flywire.

With a thin film of Polyurethane providing the structure of each Flywire panel, the thin strands that provide the support are made of a material called Vectran. Over six years ago, Meschter first aligned strands of nylon along a shoe last as he conceptualized Flywire, and after much deliberation over several materials, Vectran proved to be the most supportive material to fit the project’s needs of support, light weight and flex resistance. It was actually down to Kevlar and Vectran as the strand material of choice to be used in Flywire, after Nylon and several other fabric strands proved to be far too flimsy. In Vectran’s favor, Kevlar, when flexed, can lose up to 25% of its strength, compared to 0% strength loss in Vectran. When used in product like athletic footwear, any strength loss is crucial to athletes who depend on tenths and hundredths of seconds in competition. Another major factor in deciding upon a material for the groundbreaking upper construction was also the measured breaking strength between the two. Vectran boasts a higher breaking strength than Kevlar, requiring more force to compromise the high-performance multifilament yarn. Most clutch also is Vectran’s ability to not only allow for weight reduction in Nike’s products, but also the fact that the liquid polymer based material is naturally very thermally stable. In an extreme climate like that of Beijing, which is being forecasted to host a sweltering summer nearing triple digit temperature with 70% humidity, it’s also very important that Vectran can perform under any circumstance. While it seems like lots of tech talk and the material to the naked eye may appear to be just a thin layer along the shoe with nicely placed weaves, in fact there’s quite a bit of technology and research that goes into constructing something as performance-fused as Flywire.
Several shoes in the Olympic footwear catalogue will feature the panel construction, and most notably the Hyperdunk in basketball, as well as the Zoom Victory Spike and Zoom Victory+ in Track & Field will offer its athletes the lightest, most supportive footwear products that Nike has ever created.

Popularity: 2%