Nike is one of the biggest sporting brands in the world, renowned for its innovative yet practical and effective sportswear.
Securing the services and support of some of the world’s biggest sporting superstars such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer has only helped reinforce the brand’s global influence and industry dominance. At Nike, innovative design and unique styling is everything, company spokesman Ryan Greenwood: “We are tireless in our pursuit of innovation.
At Nike, we constantly challenge ourselves to think the ideas nobody else thinks of ideas nobody else thinks of, to create products and services nobody else creates, or to improve things that already exist.”
Pioneers of innovative footwear
For decades, Nike has pioneered a range of footwear solutions to suit every athlete and training style.
In 1972, the company’s founder, Bill Bowerman created the legendary ‘waffle’ outsoles, which had waffle-type nubs for traction. These were much lighter than those of traditional training shoes. In 1979, they launched Nike Air cushioning technology, and in the late 1980s, Nike unveiled the world’s first ever cross-training shoe.
Whilst Nike Shox offered a revolutionary cushioning and support system, NikeID allowed consumers to design footwear and apparel to their preferred design and performance requirements. The shoemaker also made the Flywire.
“This is a revolutionary upper technology,” Greenwood points out. “It features high-strength threads that work like cables on a suspension bridge with support engineered precisely where a foot needs it, allowing Nike to make its lightest and strongest footwear ever.”
Today, the company remains at the forefront of technology as it continues to go from strength to strength with its vast offering of innovative sports shoes. There are also a number of trends that the company is currently tracking.
Nike meets Apple
In pursuit of its goal of working with the best, in 2006, the company teamed up with technology giant Apple to offer runners a unique training and motivational experience in the form of Nike+.
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Athletes can now run with Nike+ ready footwear, an iPod Nano or Touch and the Nike+ iPod sport kit, which contains a sensor and receiver. This sensor is the first step in connecting to the experience. It slips unobtrusively into a pocket under the left sock-liner of the Nike+ ready shoe.
“Together with the receiver, the in-shoe sensor uses patented technology to measure the length of time the foot is on the ground, not impact like some pedometers, and translates and records the data into the receiver,” says Greenwood.
In fact, the iPod Nano tracks the progress of the workout and provides real-time feedback directly through the earphones.
“Nike+ is innovative in a number of ways,” Greenwood adds. “We have not only created an innovative digital training tool, we have created the world’s largest community of runners at www.nikeplus.com, which has more than three million members.”
Since the launch of Nike+, a variety of Nike+ enabled devices have been introduced to help comrunners reach their full potential. The technology is compatible with cardiovascular machines and the Nike+ Heart Rate Monitor. There is also a new Nike+ GPS App for use with the iPhone.
Barefoot running
The Nike+ technology works with Nike’s Barefoot Free range, ...
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