SNEAKER YEARS MOVE LIKE DOG YEARS by Gary Warnett
GERMAN SPORT UNIVERSITY, COLOGNE words by
JEAN GRAE handwritten by
CURTIS KULIG TOKYO
photography by RIPZinger
LONDON
photography by Shaniqwa Jarvis
NYC
photography by Todd Jordan
THE EXPRESSION OF THE RUN
SNEAKER YEARS MOVE LIKE DOG YEARS
Sneaker years move like dog years. NIKE
Nike craves insight from athletes
This needed to be light, but it was a training
FREE was only introduced in 2004, but it
and coaches because you can’t hone
tool and not a long-distance running
feels like a lifetime. NIKE FREE’s been a
performance on presumption. During a visit
design. Its aim was to work the muscles
constant ever since and it wasn’t just some
to Stanford University circa 2000, Tobie
in the foot and ankle, minimize injury and
leap of faith in the benefits of barefoot
Hatfield and the Kitchen team saw athletes
improve balance.
training or a series of merry coincidences
training barefoot occasionally. They began
that birthed a brand new athletic aesthetic.
to explore the potential foot-strengthening
Several prototypes were created using
properties of this liberated training method.
tactically placed siping — the flex grooves
With NIKE FREE’s emphasis on the bare
But how do you make a shoe with the
that run across the sole to maximize
foot, the project’s prologue occurs in the
freedom of no shoe?
flexibility and the foot’s freedom. Twinned
14th century, when Renaissance man
with an upper that provided maximum
Leonardo da Vinci excitedly proclaims
Imagination fired, Jeff took on the barefoot
ventilation, the NIKE FREE 5.0 shoe,
the human foot to be a masterpiece of
running conundrum presented to him by
designed by Tobie Hatfield and Eric
engineering and a work of art.
Tobie and the Lab went to work, working
Avar, would go through several years of
with some of the world’s great sport
development before completion. Testing
A second prologue would depict legendary
science minds on the project, including the
models were delivered to key athletes,
Oregon-based track coach and Nike co-
team at the German Sports University in
coaches and trainers with feedback
founder Bill Bowerman sat in his home
Cologne. Imagination and knowledge are a
analyzed in terms of biomechanics and
workshop as the 1970s approach, shaving
powerful combination, and the twin forces
perception.
as much as he can from a running shoe
of Research and Innovation set about
and declaring out loud that his ideal track
creating a shoe that would change the
The number scale caused a little confusion
spike would be a nail through a bare foot.
path of sneaker design with a creation that
but it’s a simple concept. The NIKE FREE
The physiology of movement redefined
helped those grass benefits go global.
Run+ 2 is 5.0 on the NIKE FREE scale —
with humble kitchen appliances would
midway between a bare foot (0.0) and a
lead to the creation of Nike’s Innovation
It’s not necessarily about the weight
standard Nike running shoe (10.0). There
Kitchen years later.
reduction. Sure, that helps, but this is
have been a few variations released over
about allowing the foot to engage with a
the years, including the more barefoot-
Before the Kitchen opened for business,
surface, flex, and fulfill its potential, rather
like 3.0 and the more shoe-like 7.0. The
Nike debuted the Nike Sports Research
than cramming itself behind a thick foam
variability between an assigned number on
Lab. For the last 30 years the NSRL has
rubber barrier. It’s all about what Tinker
the scale could be as little as a couple of
tested nascent Nike technologies to
Hatfield calls functional minimalism. You
degrees — JND (just noticeable difference)
painstaking levels, with elite minds like
can’t just make things minimal for the sake
on the scale of perception during research.
biomechanics expert Jeff Pisciotta joining
of minimalism. It has to be beneficial for
the team to rethink the relationship
the athlete.
between the foot and the shoe around it.
On arrival in 2004 — and only available
color assisted running makeup. Each shoe’s
through a network of specially trained
relationship with their urban environment
retailers — the NIKE FREE was treated as
goes deeper than a solitary visual point of
a training system. Each pair of 5.0s came
difference.
with a booklet explaining the benefits of the shoe. Tens of thousands of pairs were
The NIKE FREE Run+ 2 City Series acts
sold to a legion of educated consumers
as an overlap between wearer and the
aware that they might want to start slow
ground beneath them. The upper’s overlays
and that any muscle ache was proof of the
replicate the ligaments of the foot. With the
design’s effectiveness.
shoe and foot operating in greater harmony, they’re connecting with their city setting
Since 2004, NIKE FREE has had a vast
in a physical sense. In turn, the concrete
impact on the language of footwear design.
beneath them has informed the aesthetic
Basketball shoes, skate shoes, tennis
— cement speckle midsoles that unify
shoes and cross trainers — even tactical
each shoe merge with the uncompromising
boots for military use — all display a higher
surface that they’re making contact with.
level of flex emphasis on their soles.
It’s natural motion with extra wear options including a rubber toe application for
The NIKE FREE Run+ 2’s laser-cut paneling,
greater resilience, synthetic microsuede
faintly asymmetric lacing and scope for
and reflective hits in the laces to avoid
glorious color blocking makes it a classic
becoming roadkill.
design — not some cluttered space shoe. There’s no nonsense in that upper, yet it’s
Carrying form, function and a story that’s
utterly unique. The City Pack collection
a decade in the making, this collection
takes the shoe and gives it five lifestyle
demolishes the last outpost of exercise
twists with a global theme that won’t
apathy — your day-to-day sneaker is now
sully the technology’s lengthy hardcore
built to strengthen your feet.
performance legacy. Shanghai, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, New York and London are represented by their own tonal shade that’s not your average pop
German Sport University, Cologne: research partner of NIKE’s NSRL on the training benefits of NIKE FREE
THE EXPRESSION OF THE RUN
For the launch of the Nike FREE RUN +2 City Pack, Nike invited creatives from New York, London, and Tokyo to its campus and offered them a unique opportunity to put the NIKE FREE RUN+ 2 and the Nike+ Sportswatch GPS to the test. The result of their quick runs were recorded and transformed into unique artworks using custom software developed by the creative team YesYesNo.
NY
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