The high energy highlights from Nike’s 2020 Future Forum
Nike has revealed its latest performance innovations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well as highlighting the products that will take centre stage this summer
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on the horizon, Nike unveiled its latest product innovations, poised to catapult its athletes to success, in an inspiring showcase staged at The Shed in New York City earlier this week. Centered around creating a better future for sport, the comprehensive presentation unveiled new goods at both the performance and lifestyle levels, ranging from the competition apparel athletes will wear during the 2020 Olympics to new spike, basketball and football shoe designs, boasting new technologies that upend traditional standards.
At the core of everything lies Nike’s mission to unite performance results with a sustainability slant. More so now than ever, athletes are having to train and compete in new conditions due to climate change. Tokyo 2020 is set to be the hottest Olympic Games on record and the new product innovations have been designed with this in mind on variety of levels. For one, the new track and field kits feature Nike Dri-FIT Aeroswift material, which wicks away sweat and disperses it evenly throughout garments for better management of heat and moisture in hotter conditions.
Sustainable materials also feature heavily in Team USA’s medal stand collection, which includes a 100 per-cent recycled polyester jacket cut in a kimono-inspired design that reduces waste, track pants constructed from 100 per-cent recycled nylon and trimmings made from Nike Grind recycled rubber. The uniform is complemented by Nike’s lowest impact trainer, the Vapormax, that is made using 75 per-cent recycled manufacturing waste.
‘We are always looking to make athletes better and make the world a better place,’ says Nike’s Seana Hannah, Vice President for Sustainable Innovation. ‘Nike does a great job of bringing innovation to scale. We’re really looking at our entire carbon footprint and where we can have the most impact. You’ll see that we have used as much recycled material as possible and we have designed out waste in every opportunity. And then we’ve also used waste as a new resource in our new Space Hippie shoes.’
As the brand’s lowest carbon footprint shoe ever, the Space Hippie footwear collection is composed of Nike’s own ‘space junk’ – a myriad of scrap materials found on the factory floor that have been reincorporated in a circular way. In addition to championing a new aesthetic in footwear, Space Hippie’s knitted body also utilizes yarn made from recycled water bottles, T-shirts and yarn scarps. It’s eye-catching foam sole is made from a layer of recycled factory foam offcuts and another layer of ‘crater foam’ made from a blend of standard Nike foams and 15 per-cent Nike Grind recycled rubber.
‘Nike does a great job of bringing innovation to scale. We’re really looking at our entire carbon footprint and where we can have the most impact.' — Seana Hannah, vice president at Nike
‘Space Hippie product presents itself as an artifact from the future. It's avant-garde; it's rebelliously optimistic,' says John Hoke, Nike Chief Design Officer. ‘Space Hippie is also an idea. It is about figuring out how to make the most with the least material, the least energy and the least carbon. It's changed the way we look at materials, it's changed the way that we look at the aesthetics of our product. It's changed how we approach putting product together.’
INFORMATION
nike.com (opens in new tab)
Pei-Ru Keh is the US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru has held various titles at Wallpaper* since she joined in 2007. She currently reports on design, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru has taken a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars and actively seeks out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
Designer Tokujin Yoshioka on his new light-filled store for Issey Miyake in Ginza, Tokyo
Titled ‘Issey Miyake Ginza / 442’ the new store is summed up by ‘light, future and sustainability’, says designer Tokujin Yoshioka. Here, he takes Wallpaper* inside the new four-storey Ginza outpost
By Danielle Demetriou • Published
-
‘A crossover of ideas and emotion’: Simone Rocha on introducing menswear to her label
As the collection arrives at London’s Dover Street Market with a special installation and zine, Simone Rocha speaks about the roots of the menswear offering, the art of collaboration, and a campaign which subverts ‘the archetypes of masculinity’
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Colour Clash is a bold compendium of dazzling supergraphics and logos that pop
Polychromatic perversity in graphic design is celebrated in Colour Clash, a monograph that looks at the new wave of visual expression
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
New beauty brand challenges our perceptions of reality
The Unseen, an innovative material science company, is launching its beauty brand with an eyeshadow that looks different in physical and digital realities
By Mary Cleary • Last updated
-
Aether audio eyewear takes care of sound and vision in one
With compact speakers embedded in high-quality sunglasses or glasses, Aether audio eyewear offers a very different listening experience to earbuds
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated
-
Crafted to last: Ten c unveils S/S 2022 collection
The new S/S 2022 collection from label Ten c takes military-inspired technical wear to the next level
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated
-
Nike GO FlyEase breaks free from convention
We go toe-to-toe with Nike's Kathy Gomez in an interview that discusses the new GO FlyEase technology
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated
-
3D make-up artist Ines Alpha’s favourite Instagram filters
Digital artist and 3D make-up creator Ines Alpha shares her favourite Instagram filters for futuristic facial transformation
By Mary Cleary • Last updated
-
Robotic tailors to AR trainers. Fashion retail is evolving digitally.
There's a host of innovative and immersive solutions which brands and retailers are bringing to shopping online today, from Savile Row tailor Huntsman to bricks-and-mortar boutique Browns
By Laura Hawkins • Last updated
-
Virtual life coach: Fitbit introduce Sense
The Fitbit Sense has been designed to feel like a natural extension of the body
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated
-
Bang & Olufsen hit the road with new running shoe collaboration
Music and physical activity are combined in Bang & Olufsen's latest collaboration ‘Cloudboom' with running tech brand On
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated