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: 84%

Nike Ippeas

Equestrian

words & interview by Nick DePaula

While most of you know him as the man behind Jordan Brand’s Carmelo Anthony signature line and the Air Jordan XX1 and XX2, D’Wayne Edwards, Jordan Design Director, indeed designed the Nike Ippeas, Nike’s first foray into Equestrian. In a departure from his daily tasks at Jordan Brand, Edwards was given the project as a design challenge he was eager to face. Equipped with an asymmetrical zipper that allows the rider far greater ease of entry, the Ippeas also embarks on new territory in the traditionally far more conservative Equestrian boot market. Greek for Horse, the Ippeas also features a rubber traction inset at the forefoot, where normally a hard wooden sole can be found, providing the rider with greater traction and control while atop the sometimes unpredictable animal. It also features a full-length Zoom Air liner, improving upon century-old cushioning technologies found even today in competing boots.

Definitely one of the design gems of the Olympic Footwear collection, the Ippeas hasn’t gone unnoticed in the global design community, as it was recently named a reddot Award Winner. Since 1955, the Germany-based Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen, one of the world’s most highly touted institutions of design, has been honoring noteworthy product design across thirteen product categories with its annual reddot award. This past year, a record number of 3,203 entries from fifty-one countries were nominated for consideration, and the international jury named the Ippeas one of 676 product designs worthy of the reddot “quality label for good design.”

I was able to catch up with D’Wayne Edwards for an exclusive phone conversation in which he detailed the design inspirations behind the Ippeas, how he was assigned to the project, as well as his limited history with horses.

Nick DePaula: How were you approached to design this shoe?

D’Wayne Edwards: Sean McDowell had put together an overall design strategy session for designers to come in and contribute to all of the different Olympic sports. He invited everyone to come, but I was unable to make it due to traveling. When I got back, I shot him an email to apologize that I wasn’t able to make it, but I asked him if there was anything that he needed help with. He got back to me, and said, “Actually, I heard that you have done a lot of casual and boot stuff in the past,” and he asked if I wouldn’t mind taking a crack at doing an Equestrian boot. I knew it would be a challenge, because I didn’t know anything about Equestrian and I had never even ridden a horse before. So I just looked at it as a design challenge more than anything else and a chance to expand my knowledge of different types of footwear that I could try and create.

So you’ve never ridden a horse yourself?

Maybe a pony. [laughs] I don’t know if that counts.

How long did the total process take?

Once I got the sketches from Sean, as there were some designs done beforehand of a different concept, it probably took just a couple days. I did some research on the sport and drew a few quick thumbnails and colored it up, and I gave Sean a call. I met with him and Julia Reopher, the lead developer on it, and they liked the sketch and the idea of fusing the Motorsports feel to it. They just didn’t know how the actual riders would like it because it’s such a traditional sport. Once the riders saw it, they actually loved it. It didn’t take that long actually, maybe less than a week.

Could you describe the challenges in designing a high performance Equestrian boot in what is traditionally a very conservative genre?

In my career, before I got to Nike, I was doing casual shoes and boots, so I’m familiar with that world. But what it needed to be as far as construction, I didn’t know anything about Equestrian as a sport. Just like anything else that I try and get after, I just started by grabbing books and starting to read about it and grabbing videos that a young lady who rides provided me with. I spoke with her about the different things that riders look for in their boots. One of the things I noticed in seeing photographs of the boots in action was that they have a lean-forward position on the horse, even though they’re going very slow. I had just come back from seeing the Jordan Motorsports team ride, and I thought it would be cool to influence and add some fast lines from a Motorsports boot to an Equestrian boot. It had the same stance as a Motorcyle rider, it’s just that they’re going about three miles an hour. [laughs] So I thought it would be cool to make the boot look faster than they normally look, plus I also approached it more from the stance that it is Nike, and people wouldn’t expect Nike to just do another clean and simple boot either. So, I just took some liberties from that point and thought about how I could influence and combine Nike design and technology into a design that is generally a lot more traditional. The idea was to make this traditional sport look a little more unconventional, yet not jeopardize the simplistic nature that they’re used to.

Have you heard feedback from riders who’ve worn the boot? How’d they like the Zoom Air feel?

Immediately after we got the first prototypes, we sent them out to the first riders to test it, and they loved it. They loved the idea of taking their sport and making it a little bit more, for lack of a better word, sexy. They loved that it was more aggressive and more sexy. They loved the full-blown Zoom Air feature as well, and the heel stability provided by the heel counter also. Traditionally there’s just a hard wood heel, and there’s really no internal cushioning. You’re just sitting on top of that wood lasted outsole. So elevating the cushioning was a breakthrough. To also add the TPU to the back, it also gives the shoe a more futuristic and aggressive feel than what that traditional sport is used to. They loved the visual, and once they got a chance to put the boot on, they were sold on just how comfortable it was, not only from the Zoom liner, but also because we did some things differently with the internal lining to make it more comfortable.

Did you learn anything new in researching the background of Equestrian boots that might help how you design basketball product?

It’s a little bit difficult, because their stuff is just one piece of leather, and sometimes just two pieces of leather that runs around the shoe. Their stuff is designed with a different mentality. Just the simplistic nature of what the boot is and what it represents is all about the shape and the quality of leather. That is a little bit difficult to do in basketball product, but obviously shape is important there as well. It’d be cool to do a one-piece upper in Hoops, but there’s just no adjustability then. The refined nature of the boot itself would be interesting to apply to a basketball product.

Popularity: 34%

Nike Hyperdunk

Basketball

words by Nick DePaula

There’s been several milestones over the course of Nike Basketball’s history, from the Air Force 1 to the Air Pressure, and onto more modern classics like the Zoom Flight ‘95, Flightposite 1 and Zoom Lebron II. Deep in the Kitchen of the Mia Hamm Building, innovation never stops, and famed Hoops designer Eric Avar was hand-picked to design the latest, and perhaps greatest, offering from Nike Basketball: the Hyperdunk.

Inspired by the classic Tinker Hatfield-created Air Mag from the 1989 movie Back To The Future II, Avar began working on the Hyperdunk nearly two years ago. He set out to create a shoe that carried over similar learnings from the Huarache 2K series that he designed, and also hoped to implement Flywire Technology in what would be the lightest, most supportive shoe designed for the Alpha Player – in this case Nike was able to tap into the perfect subject – Kobe Bryant. “He is a very demanding athlete when it comes to his product,” explains Mark Parker, Nike’s CEO and President. Whether he’s fading away for another jumper or slashing to the basket for a defender-mystifying reverse lay-up, there’s nobody quite as skilled and efficient on-court as Bryant, and also no one that places quite the amount of lateral forces and strain on his footwear.

The goal for Kobe is simple. “[That] I don’t lose seconds,” he says. “For me it’s all about reaction time.” And so, Avar began designing the shoe while simultaneously working on the Zoom Kobe III – both with the aid of regular input from Bryant himself. “I want a shoe that’s light, helps my reaction time and is comfortable,” Bryant definitively says. “It just better not be ugly.” It’s been no mystery that Kobe has long heralded the Zoom Huarache 2K4 as his favorite game shoe, and in the Hyperdunk you’ll notice a similar silhouette, down to the assuring collar height and pronounced lateral outrigger. His needs have varied annually, from the Zoom Kobe 1 that he wore after a summer filled with two-a-day strength workouts in which he gained twenty pounds of muscle, to his current need for a lighter shoe this year in the Hyperdunk, after weighing in at just 200 pounds to start the season, his lightest weight since 1998. “The Kobe 1 was a little heavier than the 2K4,” says Bryant comparatively. “That was done intentionally because I did a lot of running the summer before and I wanted more cushioning that season at the expense maybe of some weight. It changes every year based on my needs.”

Where the Hyperdunk luckily excels is in its light weight and unparalleled amounts of lateral support, allowing for the re-sculpted Bryant to be more swift and nimble in a halfcourt set. It weighs in at just 13.0 ounces in a size nine, a full ounce lighter than the Zoom Kobe III, which was already the lightest yet of the Zoom Kobe line. Bryant even joked that when he first saw the Hyperdunk in person, he naturally tossed it up into the air, uncertain if it would ever come back down. While lighter usually can mean flimsy – dare I remind those of you who played in the Hyperflight – in this case, the Hyperdunk arguably offers more support and stability than ever before, thanks to Flywire Technology. “Lightweight containment is something that people want to have,” says Yuron White, Nike Basketball Product Director. “You’re going to see [Flywire] continue in our stuff, and they are looking to use it in all the other categories.” White also went on to mention that next season’s Zoom Kobe IV will also rely on Flywire Technology to progress Kobe’s demands for lightweight support.

The Hyperdunk is full of its own thoughtful design cues from the legendary Avar. The boldly molded midfoot and heel counters offer stability and lock the foot down, and the shoe’s upper is purposefully designed with an abundance of Nike’s revolutionary Flywire Technology. With precisely placed strands of Vectran aligned over the thin and breathable Polyurethane paneling, Flywire allows for the shoe to weigh in dangerously low, yet also offer enough support for even a brute’s frame. An immediately noticeable difference in the Hyperdunk is also its insistence on going strap-less, as compared to the Zoom Kobe II and Huarache 2K4 and 2K5 before it. To its credit, the lacing set-up is linked by a hidden ghilley eyelet which helps marry the midfoot to the ankle, as compared to the Huarache 2K5 in which the eyelets worked almost independently and at times created a sense of instability. Another sharp design touch from Avar is the eight dimples that can be found on the midfoot, heel counter, and along the toe, an ode to the Beijing Opening Ceremonies to be held this summer on 08.08.08. Even the naming of the shoe appears straightforward, referencing the game’s single most exciting play. “The lighter the shoe, the higher you can get up. We thought the name played perfectly to that,” explains Archie McEachern, Nike Basketball Catergory Footwear Leader.

While the lightweight support story in the Hyperdunk perhaps is seemingly the shoe’s highlight, the cushioning embedded in the tooling is also a first in basketball. At the heel is a standard 8mm large volume Zoom Air unit, which offers an obscene level of responsiveness and impact protection. The forefoot debuts Nike’s new Lunar Foam cushioning, which can also be credited for helping with the shoe’s weight reduction. Lunar Foam is 30% lighter than Phylite, but provides a bounce-back cushioning feel comparable to Zoom Air. “I think it’s more spongy and soft,” says McEachern when comparing the two. The outsole is comprised of a solid rubber traction pattern that underwent quite a few changes through the development process. What began as a solidly blocked outsole configuration soon was altered to include forefoot grooves for greater traction on the final production version, as well as a herringbone inset at the pivot point. There is also a radiused, decoupled heel for smooth transition upon impact. At the midfoot resides one of Nike’s most welcomed commodities, a nicely sculpted chunk of Carbon Fiber for added support.

Nike, rightfully, has big plans for the Hyperdunk, as Kobe Bryant debuted the shoe in the away Black/Canyon Gold colorway on TNT’s April 10th national telecast of the Lakers taking on the Clippers at the Staples Center. On Sunday the 13th, he also wore a more flashy Purple patent/Canyon Gold version of the Hyperdunk as the Lakers played host to the San Antonio Spurs. Keep a keen eye out for both colorways to quickstrike for purchase on Bryant’s www.KB24.com website in the coming weeks. Once the Olympic Games begin this summer, countries like Spain, Lithuania, Australia, Argentina, Russia and Germany will be treated to their own special makeup colorways, all of which will be available at Nike’s House of Hoops store located in Harlem. Look for Manu Ginobilli, Andrei Kirilenko, Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki to headline the list of international stars wearing the shoe this summer. The Hyperdunk will then be made available for ordering in at least eleven Team Bank colorways this fall, through catalog retailers like Eastbay and more traditional brick and mortar stores like Dick’s Sporting Goods. Retailing at just $110, Nike Basketball continues to offer more accessibility to its prized Zoom Air cushioning as well as a first glimpse at both Lunar Foam and Flywire Technology in one of its lightest total package shoes yet.

So – Does It Perform?

A select group of media members and myself actually were allowed to play some pickup games in the Hyperdunk at Nike’s Bo Jackson facility, and while I’ve never been huge on a higher collar height, there’s something so reassuring and yet so effortless about this shoe. I laced them up tightly one short of the top eyelet, and immediately while moving around I could feel the shoe’s benefits come to life. When reaching up for a rebound, I could immediately turn and head right down court, all the while enjoying a buttery smooth heel-to-toe transition, thanks in part to the Carbon Fiber midfoot spring plate. Oftentimes I’d take the ball the full-length of the court, either finishing myself or passing off to the MVP of the day, Christian Grant-Fields from DIME Magazine, who happened to be a little more dunk-savvy.

As Kobe himself entered the gym to catch a glimpse of our open run, surely nerves set in for a quick second, but I was able to re-focus and try and anchor the team with slashing moves to the basket and passes to the open teammate en route to a few 11-3 and 11-4 convincing wins over the competition. I specifically recall one halfcourt set where I became convinced of the Hyperdunk’s on-court merits. I caught the ball in my familiar right wing spot, and as I drove left past my defender towards the Free Throw line, I planted my left foot, dribbled left to right behind my back and finished with a right-handed lay-up. It was while planting my left foot that I recalled Kobe’s demands for improved reaction time, and sure enough he wasn’t kidding. When planting, jab-stepping, or even while defensive-sliding (I’d assume – I can’t promise I attempted this basketball maneuver) the Hyperdunk keeps your foot locked in over the footbed and allows for a great amount of control as you make your next step and take flight. Beforehand, I ranked the Zoom Kobe II as my favorite in terms of its awesomely low-to-the-ground feel and ability to change directions, but the Hyperdunk has surpassed that shoe, with an even more supportive upper thanks to Flywire as well as a more generous lining package compared to the harshly sculpted Kobe II.

While the Lunar Foam indeed helps reduce the overall weight of the shoe, I’d still stick with trusty Zoom Air if given the option, but after only a two-hour session, it’s tough to judge just how the innovative foam will break in during an extended season of play. I won’t go giving the Hyperdunk a letter grade just yet, as I like to play in a shoe at least eight to ten times before assessing it, but I definitely was impressed right out of the box with the overall comfort, fit, feel and support of the shoe. The weight is perceptibly light, traction sticky and reliable, and the cushioning added up to provide a great combination of responsiveness and low-to-the-ground court feel for the active player, which on a good day I’d like to consider myself. I purposefully shot less 3-pointers than normal, hoping to attack the basket and place enough strain laterally on the shoe on each drive to get a good gauge on the claims of Flywire, and sure enough, there’s noticeably a difference. Your foot simply doesn’t budge from side-to-side, and I’ve never felt a shoe where the support was so firm, and yet there was absolutely zero inner discomfort. While the Air Jordan XX3 locks your foot in wonderfully, there’s admittedly some inner chafing issues due to its midfoot chasis. With the Hyperdunk, you’re afforded great support but also gleefully soft inner comfort. Once I’m able to log some more serious time in the Hyperdunk, be on the lookout for an even greater in-depth look at its impressive on-court attributes here at solecollector.com, but for now I’ll say the Hyperdunk definitely gets a passing grade!

Popularity: 37%

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: 10%

Nike Shaolinquan

Wushu

I certainly had no clue as to what this sport entailed, but it turns out that Wushu is actually a traditional combat sport that celebrates the history of Martial Arts. In Chinese, “wu” means “military” and “shu” means “art,” and the name of the shoe can also be translated to mean “Martial Arts” in Mandarin. With a premium Kangaroo leather upper that features traditional art along the shoe, the Shaolinquan also relies on a low profile gum rubber outsole for maximum traction in the swift full contact sport.

Popularity: 11%

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: 12%

Track & Field

This is the single shoe that benefits most from Nike’s striving for lightweight containment with the use of Flywire. In 1996, Michael Johnson’s Gold spike weighed in at just 112 grams, the lightest yet at the time, but it was so flimsy that it could only last for a forty second sprint. Ever since then, Nike has been trying to create a spike hovering around 100 grams that also didn’t compromise the support of the shoe. With the use of Flywire, they’ve finally been able to offer a shoe that’s supportive and sturdy enough as a minimal Track spike, and it also weighs just 92 grams, making it the lightest competition spike Nike has ever created. Unlike the Gold spike, this shoe also features enough support for longer distance runners and is versatile enough for use in several events.

Popularity: 34%

LunarTrainer

Training

Lunar Foam is the big story here, as the midsole is made up of the soft and spongy foam that aims to return a pillow-like feel to the runner. While most soft foams are unable to provide any resilient bounce-back after footstrike, Lunar Foam has been developed to not only reduce weight, but also give a responsive feel closer to Zoom Air. Flexibility and light weight are still at a premium as the Free-principled outsole features a waffled pattern.

Popularity: 11%

Nike Inflict 2
Wrestling

While most categories designed shoes specifically for each sport to solve problems that athletes face, the Inflict 2 is actually an upgrade of a shoe from Nike’s existing archive that first debuted in 1997. While the first Inflict featured suede paneling along the upper, this second iteration relies on a mesh textile along the upper, which helps reduce weight and also increases breathability. The lower-lasted shoe’s outsole also features a similar wet rubber compound incorporated in the Machomai in boxing, allowing for a lower to the ground feel for quicker movements in the intense combat sport.

Popularity: 14%

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: 8%