As a moderate runner (or perhaps
‘jogger’ is a better description)
I’ve been coveting some Nike running shoes
for a while, so the opportunity to hear a talk on the 2014 Nike Free collection from their Vice
President and Creative Director -
Sean McDowell - was too good to miss.
A basement in Central London doesn’t
seem the most natural place for an exhibition of running shoes. Three flights
of concrete stairs down into a dimly lit Victorian warren, the only sign that
this was the right place came from the wristband given at the door and the two
girls comparing running injuries on the stairs.
As usual, Nike had gone to town.
This was part exhibition, part art installation, part nightclub. The bright,
almost psychedelic, colours that have become synonymous with Nike’s running
shoes illuminated the walls between each dark corner. Pairs of trainers hung
from the ceiling in patterns emulating a running stride alongside a strange set
of oddly-shaped plaster cast feet.
A homage to the hexagon played out on every
stage.
The relevance of the hexagons became
clear during Sean McDowell’s talk. Nike’s focus on natural motion has seen every
element of their running shoes altered, changed, and adapted to support the
natural movement of the human foot. With Nike Free,
this change is particularly
noticeable in the make-up of sole, which has evolved from their ‘ice-cube tray’
mould (first developed by pouring rubber into a waffle iron, apparently) to the
hexagonal flex grooves of their latest shoe.
This development allows the trainers to bend in more than one direction at
once, moving with your individual stride, rather than forcing your foot to move
in a particular way, and so making the shoe suitable for runners of every kind.
It’s clear from such a detailed
presentation that
Nike are investing time and effort to research and understand
the needs of runners, with examples given of the inspiration they have taken
from both professional and grassroots athletics around the world. While the
talk went on, the developments and innovations of the past decade were passed
around the room, with some testing and probing questions being fired back at
Sean McDowell - most so technical that they were lost on me.
Of course, development never stops
with running technology and improvements can still be made.
There was an
admittance of issues with past Nike Free trainers, particularly a lack of rain
protection when the original Flyknit material was used in the shoes - a problem
apparently now resolved. There were also interesting insights into the future;
for instance, the idea that all Nike stores will offer custom measuring
services for running shoes, a service currently available for pro athletes
only.
After the talks had finished, an
organised run was available for those interested. Strangely, most people were -
I was content with the prosecco and prosciutto at the bar.
Hopefully in the next couple of
months I’ll get myself a pair of Nike Free 5.0 - this brand new pair to be precise. Does anyone already
have a pair? If so, what’s the verdict? - Nik
Also see Nik's review of Nike FuelBand.
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