Everything You Need to Know About the Nike Adapt BB

Nike senior design director Ross Klein breaks down the most important aspects of the Adapt BB.

Call it a gimmick. Call it futuristic. Call it whatever you want, but you can’t say the Adapt BB, isn’t a big swing for Nike in basketball, and in general.

Functional power-lacing is something Nike has been inching towards since it brought the fictional Nike Mag to reality in 2011. They brought it to the masses in 2017 in the HyperAdapt 1.0, albeit at a $700-plus price point at retail, and now the technology officially coming to basketball courts during NBA All-Star Weekend.

“We really took the Adapt BB as a moment to study one of the most intense and rigorous sports that exist,” said Nike senior design director Ross Klein about bringing it to basketball. “Once we knew we could conquer there and know the behavior of a basketball athlete, we could really attack the rest of the environments in sport.”

Basketball isn’t the end for adaptive fit either. There are running and lifestyle versions planned for later this year. In fact, designers were testing the adapt platform on a running version of the sneaker as they were developing the Adapt BB.

Here, Nike’s senior design director breaks down the most important aspects of the Adapt BB.

It was one of the most rigorously tested sneakers Nike has made.

Nike Adapt BB Testing

The metamorphosis of a butterfly was main point of inspiration for the design team.

Nike Adapt BB Butterfly

Dots were also a big part of the sneaker’s design language.

Nike Adapt BB Dots

It was one of the most top-secret projects at Nike HQ.

Nike Adapt BB Teaser

The material that helps the sneaker conform to your foot is called Quad-Fit.

Nike Adapt BB Quad Fit

Designers tested the sneaker with every possible cushioning.

Nike Adapt BB Cushioning

The sneakers are waterproof.

Nike Adapt BB Waterproof