How Nike Used Algorithms To Help Design Its Latest Running Shoe

When Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce headed to the start line of the 100 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics, there was something different about her trainers. Unlike the other shoes on the starting blocks, the Zoom Superfly Elites she was wearing didn’t have spikes screwed in – instead, they were molded onto one complete plate. They were also lighter than traditional sprinting trainers and helped her cut her time down in practice. The trainers were some of the first partly designed by Nike’s algorithms. Now, the technology that helped create Fraser-Pryce’s shoes are starting to trickle down into trainers for the average runner. And that means you could soon be wearing a pair of shoes individually refined by computational design. “All the texture you see on the shoe is done computationally,” says Bret Schoolmeester, Nike’s senior director for global running footwear. “We started with what we call an envelope, which is just a generic form, and then we add all the texture you see there through generative design.” The latest running shoes, dubbed the Epic React Flyknit, are the first to use Nike’s new React foam, which is partially made of rubber. The foam itself is being seen as a competitor to adidas’ Ultraboost and Nike has included more of it on the shoe’s base than in other models. Read more at Wired.