Nike injects Olympic spirit into Air technology

Nike is preparing for the Paris Olympics. The global sports apparel and equipment giant will set up a base camp at the Center Pompidou for staff, guests and athletes during the Games. On April 11, Nike instead held a presentation at the Brongniart Palace, also in the city centre. Giant statues sat in front of the portico of the historic building, honoring some of sport's greatest stars sponsored by Nike, as the American giants welcomed staff and hundreds of guests to the event.

Inside the former Paris Stock Exchange building, a giant screen 30 meters long and 5 meters high broadcasts Nike's slogan and introduced the brand's new trainer model, before being pulled up like a stage curtain to reveal the Several athletes showed up wearing sporty competition kits. sprinter Anna Cockrell, German javelin thrower Julian Weber, and Kenyan superstar distance runner Eliud Kipchoge.

The presentation, titled “The Future of Athletes on Air,” was designed to increase viewers' Olympic enthusiasm through the U.S. group's product innovation philosophy. For the second part of the event, the athletes returned to the stage in quasi-futuristic urban attire to show off the stunningly shaped prototypes of the new Nike He trainers, created in collaboration with elite athletes.

For the occasion, many top executives and designers traveled to Europe from Nike's world headquarters in Portland, Oregon, where a lavish exhibition hall showcased the shoes and apparel the brand has developed in recent months in preparation for the Olympics. As an industry leader, Nike invests millions of dollars each year to explore the potential of new technologies and materials. The group operates research and development centers such as the LeBron James Innovation Center and the Nike Sports Research Lab to develop the most attractive products in the shortest possible time.

Throughout its presentation in Paris, Nike emphasized that its products are co-designed with elite athletes using cutting-edge technology, resulting in maximum reliability throughout the product.

Beyond the showcase, what did you take away from the presentation in Paris? First, optimizing the use of data collected from athletes has accelerated product development in recent years. Janet Nicol, Nike's vice president of apparel innovation, said kit designs for athletes in Kenya, the United States and China were optimized in this way.

“Thanks to the technology available at our research and development center, we are able to collect athlete performance information and turn it into usable data. We are able to create kits that match our requirements as closely as possible. This methodology also widens our product range and enables faster deployment,” says Nicol.

Nike staff believe that by employing technologies such as motion capture and body morphing, as well as AI-generated solutions, the brand will be able to more precisely address the needs of athletes. “For athletic performance products, for example, this allows us to more precisely tailor the design of ventilated areas,” said Amy Meltzer-Montagne, vice president and general manager of Nike Women's. . “New sports have been introduced to the Olympics, such as skateboarding at the Tokyo Games and breakdancing this year. Athletes want products that perform well, but they also like their lifestyle. “We've been able to develop sportswear essentials that have the power to protect athletes. Athletes love it,” she added.

Meanwhile, Nike continues to center its flagship product story on its trusted workhorse Air technology. The Paris presentation featured the development of Air Cushion technology that has been featured in Nike's trainers, from the 1978 Tailwind to his latest Air Max DN, released in early 2024. Shoes created by Nike for the Olympics incorporate some of these air cushions, primarily the Air Zoom GT Hustle 3 for basketball, the Air Zoom Mercurial for football, and Nike's lightest marathon shoe ever. Key models of the latest generation, such as the Alphafly 3.

“More than a dozen Olympic titles were decided in Tokyo by less than a tenth of a second. Athletes train for years to prepare for this moment, where everything is decided to the nearest hundredth of a second. “Our philosophy is to do everything we can to capture those hundredths of a second margin by developing the highest performing product,” Nike's Vice President and Chief Design Officer said last fall. said Martin Lotti, who was appointed as

With the introduction of a new version of Air technology into the Air Max DN lifestyle model, Nike looks forward to leveraging Air innovation for years to come. “We have some cushions that create a much more responsive amortization system than before. It took us three years of research to develop this new solution,” says John, who spent nearly 15 years designing at Nike. John Hawke, who was in charge, said: “Air Max DN is the first interpretation, but we are making progress to further deploy this solution. We know what the next deployment will be. It offers the same level of comfort and the same benefits,” Hawk said.

On Thursday, Nike unveiled its Pegasus Premium model with Air Zoom functionality visibly integrated into the sole, and plans to introduce similar features to other sports-focused models starting in 2025. Air technology is an asset that Nike relies on for its mid-range recovery. We expected that fiscal year 2024 would be difficult.