Nike Launches New Basketball Footwear System Focused On Specific Movements
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The latest from Nike Basketball includes the NXT Greater Than series that puts a focus on three
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distinct movements.
Nike
Nike Basketball has placed a renewed focus on the run, cut and jump actions with the debut of its new Air Zoom Greater Than Series that will launch three movement-specific basketball sneakers using a mix of technologies and engineering.
“All basketball players cut, run and jump at various point in a game,” says Ross Klein, senior creative director for men’s performance sports at Nike. “They all possess those corresponding skills, but they might be stronger at maybe one or two of them.”
The Greater Than (GT) Series takes the three essential movements from the sport and creates an Air Zoom G.T. Cut for a quick change of direction, an Air Zoom G.T. Run for energy return and an Air Zoom G.T. Jump for vertical jumping and impact protection, all with their own take on the underfoot Zoom Air Strobel engineering.
By engineering the Zoom Air in different ways throughout the three-shoe series, Nike was able to
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help focus on varying basketball-specific movements.
Nike
The Nike NXT research used findings learned during the ZoomX Vaporfly 4% research that showed the type of movement being tested mattered in getting a better understanding of that specific action. By combining understanding from multiple sports to focus on fit, ride and traction, Nike Basketball used materials and engineering from Nike Running’s Breaking 2 footwear, the Mercurial soccer cleats and previous basketball models.
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“This whole family of shoes can play ball, depending on any which way you want to move,” Klein says about the upcoming releases. “The difference is that because one area is the focus for each silhouette, we’ll help enable the player’s ability to do that one thing that makes them greater than.”
A breakdown of the underfoot construction for the new Nike Basketball NXT Greater Than series.
Nike
Each of the three new shoes features support for every movement that a basketball player encounters, but by creating a versatile system designers could concentrate on the three specific areas and tune the engineering of the shoe to fit. With that, the Air Zoom G.T. Cut curves the Zoom Air Strobel to keep players low to the ground for a responsive feel. The Run version add a full-length Nike React sockliner, double-stacked Zoom Air in the forefoot and a full-length Nike React midsole. The Jump design stacks Zoom Air with a full-length Zoom Air Strobel, a Pebax jump frame and a woven upper.
The Air Zoom G.T. Cut, the first of the batch to release, beginning in China on April 1, comes lightweight, the brand says, with a mesh upper that includes zonal reinforcement. The React foam drop-in stacked on the Zoom Strobel improves comfort and a sculptured carrier improves the banking ability of the wearer. The curved Zoom Strobel geometry, something also seen in Nike’s tennis-specific line, was designed to cater to a low-to-the ground sensation while providing a responsive feeling.
The Air Zoom G.T. Run will release in summer 2021 and the Air Zoom G.T. Jump has a late 2021 scheduled release date.