innovation
nike joyride
Nike’s newest innovation features a proprietary cushioning system made of thousands of “TPE beads”
Why beads? According to Nike: “They’re soft, they’re bouncy, and they form the core of an innovative new cushioning system designed to help make all the ways you move feel easy.”
According to Nike, the beads are placed within zonally-tuned pods, which allows the foam to expand in all directions
Here’s how it works: Every time you take a step—or stride—10,000+ beads shape around your foot to provide personalized cushioning and support, before responsively bouncing back to propel you forward.
The tech is based on how the foot strikes the ground when in motion The tech is based on how the foot strikes the ground when in motion. The heel pod, for example, is bigger to absorb impact, while those at the forefoot are prepared to facilitate a smooth transition as the runner strides forward.
According to the description from Nike’s website, the unique sensation created by the bead technology is “almost like running on bubbles”
Before launch, the Joyride underwent intense and rigorous product testing. One hundred and fifty materials were tested before landing on a TPE (a copolymer of plastic and rubber) for the beads.
Engineering the Pods also helped solve the problem of the beads migrating too much around the foot and becoming uncomfortable. With Pods, Nike designers were able to create a zonal-tuning for each respective iteration of Nike Joyride.
Beads are dispersed within the pods to match the zonal-tuning that aligns with the performance needs of specific points of the runner’s stride. (For example, if there are 8,000 total beads in a running shoe, some 50 percent of the beads would cover the heel strike while 5 percent would offer cushioning at the toe.)
discussion questions
What is “innovation” as it relates to the sport and entertainment product? Why is innovation particularly important to athletic apparel and footwear brands like Nike? How would you describe Nike’s latest innovation with the bead technology in the new Joyride running shoe?
Can you think of another example of a sports or entertainment product innovation? How much of these product innovations from sneaker brands is marketing? How does innovation help sneaker brands to sell more product?
If you were tasked with engineering a new innovation for an athletic shoe (any sport), what type of product feature would you introduce? If you were tasked with marketing a new athletic sneaker or performance apparel innovation, how would you go about promoting the product?
sources: https://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/innovation/joyride https://news.nike.com/news/nike-joyride-cushioning