Today, Nike announced the Nike Ease Challenge, which invites innovators, designers, makers, and engineers to contribute their ideas for alternative entry/closure systems. Why did Nike decide to invite outside ideas?
We have a lot of innovative ideas already in motion inside the company, but we're certainly open to the possibility that great minds outside the company are also inspired by these challenges and working on new solutions. Knowing how important - how life-changing - it can be for people who've never tied their own shoes to have a viable alternative, we feel a great sense of urgency to explore new solutions for all. The extensive amount of feedback we received regarding FlyEase taught us two things: 1) We are on the right path 2) There is still more work to be done.
If there are innovators out there with actionable plans, we're definitely listening.
How does this tie back to what Nike is known for, performance products for athletes competing at the highest levels?
Nike excels at designing for extremes in a way that ultimately benefits everyone. When we create products for professional athletes possessing extreme size, strength, or speed, we can confidently assert it will more than meet the demands you or I might place upon that same product. Similarly, if we can design shoes that are easy to put on for a person with limited dexterity, then a person not faced with that challenge will certainly find the shoes easy to put on as well. We've also heard from triathletes and decathletes among others about the benefits of reducing the time and energy required to change their shoes between events. The world's greatest decathlete himself, Ashton Eaton, actually wore a laceless pair of Nike spikes during the Olympic Trials as part of this effort. At the end of the day though, it all comes back to our belief that if you have a body, you're an athlete. We exist to serve athletes of all abilities on all levels and that's what we're doing.
Nike Inc. published this content on 28 October 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 28 October 2016 13:11:04 UTC.
Original documenthttp://news.nike.com/news/nike-flyease-film-the-story-continues
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