Basic HTML Version
14
SOURCING & SUPPLY CHAIN
I
t has been praised as one of the great marketing victories
of the London 2012 Olympics: Nike’s fluorescent running
shoes designed in the colours scientifically proven to be
the most noticeable. The neon yellow and green mix,
which Nike calls volt, was unmissable on the track. It was almost
as if the US sportswear giant had its own ‘Team Nike’, despite
not being the official sportswear partner of the Olympics. And
with 400 athletes wearing the Flyknit Volts, that team could
have been a country in itself—it would have had more
representatives than India, Turkey and South Africa combined.
But aside from the clever marketing and inspired colour
choice, the technology that underpins some of the shoes in the
range has the potential to make a lasting impression on the way
we produce footwear. Three years in the making, the Flyknit is
made from a lightweight knitted upper, woven in one piece and
engineered to create the feeling of a second skin. It is the
brainchild of Nike CEO Mark Parker, Fragment Design founder
Hiroshi Fujiwara and Nike vice-president of creative design
Tinker Hatfield. They took an “organic approach” to their
collaboration, according to Mr Fujiwara, with “no rules, no time
limits and not too much thinking about a budget”, until they
perfected the technology and the product.
“The revolution is in the process of manufacturing, how we
can engineer structure and support and breathability, and do it
all in one layer,” says Mr Parker. “The Flyknit has the potential to
change everything.”
Bold words – but he might not be far wrong. Until now, shoe
construction has always involved several parts, being glued,
moulded or stitched together. If the technology is adapted to
other types of non-leather shoes, it could mean a reduction in
material, time and labour. On a global scale, this could result in
entirely new manufacturing processes for athletic shoes, with
an impact on materials, location, machinery and cost. Shoes
that no longer need to be cut out no longer produce waste. If
they are knitted in a single layer the need for multiple machine
operators diminishes and the quality of work standardises. What
would this mean in terms of location if labour costs were no
longer a major consideration?
Shoe-making processes have evolved over the years,
sometimes gradually through refinements of machinery and
processes, other times at exponential rates, with the
introduction of digital lasts, numerically controlled milling and
WORLD FOOTWEAR | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
Nike’s Flyknit running shoes shone at the
2012 Olympics, but this new method of
manufacturing could end up changing
more than just a few medal places.
Footwear construction experts believe it
could have the potential to revolutionise
shoe construction the world over.
Purls of
wisdom
Nike Volts modelled by a
member of Team USA.
CREDIT: NIKE