While it seems late in the season – given that the playoffs are just around the corner anyway – for Nike to introduce new equipment. But enter the Air Zoom Alpha Talon shoes. These feature a fully adaptable traction system, with retractable cleats on the interior of the forefoot. These extend when pressure is applied, giving the player more traction at times when it is needed, and then retracting afterward. The cleats also utilize Nike’s new Flywire technology, which provides lightweight support for sideways movement, and to help cushion the foot the Air Zooms further provide Pro Deflex padding. The new shoes will hit the gridiron this weekend and will be used by a variety of NFL players. Continue reading Nike Hits the Field with Air Zoom Alpha Talon
Category: Footwear
Fitness Journal: Can You Keep a Secret?
Do you participate in a sport or fitness activity regularly? Do you enjoy trying out the latest technology? Can you offer technical praise or criticism of a product? Can you keep a secret? I you answered ‘yes’ to these questions, you might be a perfect candidate to become a ‘wear tester.’
A wear tester is an individual under agreement with a manufacturer to test and evaluate a product before it arrives to market. This is a non-paid position, but can be rewarding if you enjoy testing new products and you can provide written product evaluation in a timely manner. As a bonus, you may even be allowed to keep the product after testing or evaluation by the manufacturer. The downside is you cannot tell anyone that you are participating in the program; you cannot give away, loan or sell the item; you cannot photograph the item; you cannot post pictures on a social networking site… basically the first rule of wear testing is to not talk about wear testing. Continue reading Fitness Journal: Can You Keep a Secret?
Clever Socks From SmartWool
Winter means extra thick socks. These help keep the toes warm, but the right socks can also ensure that they stay dry and in place through athletic activity as well. SmartWool has new pairs of socks for the upcoming ski and winter sport season that are downright clever.
The SmartWool PhD Ski and Snowboard collection offers high performance socks (yes, there is such a thing these ays), which are keep feet warm, protected and dry throughout a day on the slopes. A mesh ventilation zone further helps the feet breathe to reduce sweaty feet – which in turn can mean cold feet as activity slows down. These feature a unique 4 Degree Fit System that ensures that socks stay in place and won’t bunch up or worse slip down. This not only makes for more comfortable socks, but also helps prevent friction and potential blisters.
The SmartWool PhD socks are made from high grade Merion wool, which is a natural insulator and can help regulate temperature to keep feet warm when it’s downright cold outside. Wool in itself is an antimicrobial that can further prevent odor causing bacteria from building up.
Additionally, the socks are nothing short of genius too, and can do much more than just piling on a second pair. These will actually provide cushion thanks to SmartWool’s WoW technology that includes high density impact zones with custom-fit feeling. There is even extra cushioning provided around the shin, heel and instep. This won’t exactly put springs in your step, but will help you feel like you’re walking on fluffy snow even if it is hardpacked.
Run Into the Ground in a Good Way
Running shoes can go the distance but the truth is that most shoes are deemed “dead” before they’re exactly falling apart. This is because it is a good idea to replace shoes long before they reach that state. The problem is that the synthetic materials used to make many shoes can last a long time. Now that’s good when you’re using them, but bad once they’re past the “use by” date.
Currently, there aren’t exactly recycle bins for old running shoes. So instead when the shoes are done, they end up in landfills. The way many of these are built they could be dug by some future garbage-archeologist. One solution is from Brooks Sports with its $100 “Green Silence” shoes, which are designed to break down in a landfill. The process is still more of a distance race than a sprint, and takes 20 years, but that’s a far cry from the marathon pace of many traditional running shoes. Continue reading Run Into the Ground in a Good Way
Nike Moves Toward Sustainability with Collaborative Design Tool
Expect to see more environmental, sustainable products from Nike and hopefully the industry. The company just released its Environmental Apparel Design Tool to foster collaboration between companies, and maximize the use of sustainable materials and processes.
The Environmental Design Tool is an open source tool based on Nike’s Considered Design Index. This is seven years in the making and the company has made a $6 million investment in the software-based system to help designers make real time choices that decrease environmental impact in their process. Continue reading Nike Moves Toward Sustainability with Collaborative Design Tool
Socks that Fit Like a Glove
Each foot has five toes, yet they all go into one sock and get pushed together in the shoe. Some people believe each toe should go in its own fabric, like a glove. The Tetratsock from injinji is designed to allow the entire foot to perform naturally and freely inside the shoe.
Toes provide proper balance, posture, stability and grip. These abilities are kept when toes are in toe socks, as injinji calls them. The company just release a midweight toesock in its Tetratsock line. The midweight sock is designed for sports such as running, walking, cycling. The toesock provides more padding and several additional properties.
Restriction-free movement of the five toes eliminates skin-on-skin friction and therefore blisters, hot spots and other common foot ailments. The socks are designed with a reinforced compression arch and Achilles heel support.
In conventional socks, injinji claims your toes are forced to work together as one unit creating heat and moisture build up. Blood circulation is reduced by skin-on-skin friction that reduces healthy air around your toes. If you want to use the mitten and glove analogy, mittens keep your fingers warmer since they’re all together, though you lose dexterity. Gloves may offer less warmth, but increased dexterity.
The Midweight Performance Toesock ($16) is made from CoolMax freshFX fabric, which bonds wicking CoolMax fibers with anti-odor and antimicrobial silver. The socks also have nylon and lycra added for strength, flexibility, and a glove-like fit. We don’t know if these socks will work with shoes such as the Vibram Five Finger ones, but the concept is along the same lines.
Crocs Move in on the Toning Shoe Market
It’s not difficult to find a pair of shoes that make toning claims, at any pricepoint. But the shoes tend to be on the bulky side, and more athletic or active looking such as sneakers or sandals ready to do some trekking. Crocs, the shoes with the identifiable clog-like look, just introduced a women’s fitness line called CrocsTone. Two styles include Skylar Flat ($49.99), which looks like a mule-style flat; and Skylar Clog ($59.99), which is based on the Crocs form of a clog with a heel strap. A third style, the Skylar Flip ($49.99) is more like a flip-flop. Continue reading Crocs Move in on the Toning Shoe Market
Nike Brings Adaptive Traction to New Football Shoe CR Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II
Imagine you’re on the soccer field, and go for the ball, but the cleats on your shoes are just a hair short for the muddy surface and you slip. The opposing team gets the ball and scores the winning point of the game. Get the a pair of Nike CR Mercural Vapor SuperFly IIs and you’ll have an extra 3mm on the adaptive studs depending on the ground conditions and pressure exerted by the player. The adaptive traction system can extend or retract by those 3 mm, possibly saving the field and maybe even the shoes from undue wear when not needed.
Blades are positioned directionally on the forefoot to maximize cutting and allow for quick changes in direction. Secondary toe traction provides added toe-off power to get you started on that sprint during a play. Continue reading Nike Brings Adaptive Traction to New Football Shoe CR Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II
NBA Bans Shoes – Sure to be a Hit on the Blacktop
Several sports have been rocked with performance enhancing scandals, but most of it has centered around what the athletes have (in some cases supposedly) put in their bodies, but the latest twist could be what athletes are putting on their bodies. Earlier this year swimming’s governing body banned certain skintight suits, while the same has happened with triathlons. Now the National Basketball Association has made a bold move by banishing certain shoes from its court.
The NBA has banned a shoe essentially for violating the rules against any equipment that creates “an unfair competitive advantage.” The particular shoes in question are part of the Athletic Propulsion Labs’ line of Concept 1 that includes the Load ‘N Launch Technology, which supposedly can increase a wearer’s vertical leap. These shoes will not be allowed in the court during the upcoming 2010-2011 NBA season.
This won’t mean the end of the Concept 1 by any means. APL couldn’t buy this sort of controversy. While $300 a pair these shoes are also a bit more expensive than most, but no doubt we expect to see these shoes popular on other courts, as players will look for an edge.
Running Gets a Boost with Karhu Fulcrum_Ride
Stability is an important feature in shoes for those of us runners who overpronate. That’s when your feet tend to roll inward when you walk or run. The fulcrum_ride from Finland-based Karhu addresses pronation in a new way.
An asymmetrical footbed allows for appropriate pronation during the gate cycle. The center of pressure moves along the natural path from heel to toe. Traditionally, running shoes tend to jar the foot’s natural path, creating braking forces and pressure shifts back and forth. The path of energy tends to move from the heel to the arch, then to the outside of the foot due to pronation.
Continue reading Running Gets a Boost with Karhu Fulcrum_Ride
People Choice Tries on GPS Smart Shoe
While there are many tracking programs out there for children and even teens, GTX Corp introduced an innovative product aimed at adults suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Many sufferers are actually in good physical condition and thus aren’t confined to a room or even a house. To keep track of loved ones, the company came up with a novel idea – namely putting a tracking device in the footwear.
Now the GPS Smart Shoe has won the 2010 People’s Choice Award for Most Innovative Connected Location Device at the 4th Annual Locations & Beyond Summit this past week. Continue reading People Choice Tries on GPS Smart Shoe
Nike5 Collection Caters to Three Styles of ‘Futbol’
There’s a group that plays soccer in the North end of Central Park in New York City. They play until the grass wears bare, and there’s nothing left of the field except hard-packed dirt. We’ve wondered why they wear the field down to dirt, but it turns out they’re probably playing a variation of their favorite football, Sala. There’s three variations on football popular in Europe, Central America and North America. Those are cage, caneta and sala. Nike just introduced a collection of Nike5 shoes addressing each sport. Continue reading Nike5 Collection Caters to Three Styles of ‘Futbol’
Brace Yourself, and Your Ankles, for the Basketball Court
Basketball is almost synonymous with hi-tops. That’s due to the tendency for players to sprain their ankles with running, jumping and cutting moves typical of the game. Even with the added support of a higher shoe, injuries are still common and can rack up to $3,000 to $5,000 per sprain, and downtime from the season. A new company, Ektio, wants to reduce the number of injuries due to sprains with its two models the Wraptor and Post Up, which will be available in November for the early days of the basketball season.
The Wraptor is a traditional high top with leather, quilted stitching, perforated leather details and patent leather toe and ankle accents. The Post Up is a three-quarter top shoe with mesh walls to keep cool. The defining feature of both shoes in the Ektio line is built in straps within the wall of the shoe to anchor the ankle and prevent rollover injuries. The shoe’s design incorporates “anti-rollover bumpers” on the outside of the sole as well. Continue reading Brace Yourself, and Your Ankles, for the Basketball Court