Hasta La Ideas

Innovations in sustainability and design unveiled and immediately remixed

As the most innovative company in athletic equipment and sporting lifestyle, Nike rarely leaves a year’s calendar unmarked by groundbreaking product launches. This time around the brand has just unveiled a slew of Olympic-focused, sustainably-driven innovations for the upcoming 2012 summer games in London. Of the products announced the ultra-lightweight Flyknit running shoes have drawn much attention weighing in at only 160g, with the HTM variant designed by the wonder-trio Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tinker Hatfield and Mark Parker taking center stage among those equally interested in performance and style.

To eliminate material waste during production the one piece upper on all Flyknits is constructed of a woven yarn specially engineered to produce an unbelievably lightweight, ultra-breathable, formfitting shoe that performs like a second skin. Upholding both the sustainability and performance hallmarks of the broad-release Flyknits, the HTM Flyknits are upgraded with a handful of tweaks to raise the design bar.

The marathon-centric HTM Racer maintains the standardized form and function while sporting the US Track and Field team shade of blue. Conversely, the HTM Trainer+ comes in two black-and-white variants and features the ever-comfortable Lunarlon midsole while also integrating the tongue into the shoe’s body for a glove-like fit. This adjustment also increases surface area for potential personalization with knit-in numbers.

Although not available yet, the Nike Flyknit technology will be released for general consumption by July 2012 in time for the London Summer Olympics.

photos by Josh Rubin