Nike didn’t stop last week with the announcement of the upcoming Nike+ apps and footwear for training and basketball — they had one more thing in store for athletes and lovers of shoe-design alike. At the company’s Olympic Innovation Summit last week, Nike unveiled its latest design feat, called Flyknit technology. Just as the photo above might lead you to believe, the latest line of footwear from the sports giant is made from knit fabric uppers that allow the shoes to be extremely lightweight.
The project was the fruit of a collaboration between Hiroshi Fujiwara, Nike designer Tinker Hatfield, and the company’s CEO Mark Parker. The shoe design stemmed from requests from athletes for a snug sock-like fit. Because knits are difficult to keep stiff enough for a practical athletic shoe, the knits used include a special Flywire thread to maintain a sturdy structure. To give you an idea of just how lightweight these shoes are, the single-layer upper and tongue portion of the shoes weigh an insane 1.2-ounces only. For a size nine, the entire shoe weighs in at only 5.6-ounces. This should satisfy the needs and wants of any athlete who prefers a lightweight and formfitting design.
The Racer version was designed with marathon runners in mind, and according to Nike, many of the world’s top long-distance runners will be wearing the shoes at the Olympics in London this summer. The versatile Nike Flyknit Trainer+ weighs in at just 7.7-ounces and will be a good options for other kinds of athletes. While some athletes will be getting their hands on these unique kicks in the coming months, the Flyknit designs will be available to the public starting this July.
