“We are not stopping with Boost, we are innovating within Boost as we showed with the launch of Boost Light last year and more to come,” Amm says. Adidas has also started to incorporate color into Boost midsoles-it was originally only made in white-a highly technical process, Amm says. Boost required a fresh way to construct shoes in order to leverage the Boost potential by adding a denser material on the medial side for stability. “Boost is designed to help you run and perform longer more comfortably.”Īs Boost evolved, Adidas debuted Boost Light, a form of Boost featured in race sneakers, the lightest-ever foam with the same energy return. “With their unique cell structure, these energy capsules provide soft, lightweight cushioning that help store and unleash energy more efficiently in every step,” Amm says. Outside sources have confirmed that Boost cushioning has industry-leading energy return, a tremendous resistance to heat and cold and more durability than EVA midsoles. In the process, says Matthias Amm, global category director for Adidas running, solid granular TPU material gets blown up and turned into small energy capsules, making up the midsole. To make Boost, Adidas partnered with BASF, an international chemical company, using a manufacturing process from the automotive industry that blows pellets together using high-pressure steam. The Boost cushioning, created in partnership with BASF, has given Adidas a singular position in. Now five years into Boost, the cushioning has moved from exclusively a running product into all sports and lifestyle and has continued to evolve beyond its original creation. That fresh approach began to change the foam cushioning world. Adidas captured the comfort, weight and smooth transition of EVA with the energy return, durability and temperature resistance of TPU. When Energy Boost made its first appearance in 2013, thousands of capsules combined EVA cushioning with TPU-thermoplactic polyurethane. Nike wants to expand Zoom X beyond the marathon racer, but will continue to build upon React, updating more sneakers with the new versatility of foam that completely erases the use of EVA. “There are gives and takes to all these platforms,” Holts says.Īs Nike continues to move into the next stages of cushioning, we’ve seen the Zoom X foam on marathon shoes that pairs with carbon fiber plates, all with the purpose of building speed. On the flip side, packaging air requires a more robust manufacturing system, so there remains a limit in how lightweight Nike can make an Air Max shoe. The feel of air simply offers a different experience than a cushioned foam. Credit: NikeĪir’s biggest advantage is it never loses its responsiveness. The Air Jordan 3 offers a classic take on Nike Air. “We needed to make sure we were finding this perfect harmony between the material and the geometry to deliver the perfect running experience,” Holt says. The move to running in 2018 exposed the foam, requiring an algorithm to help create the ideal mixture of React cushioning in certain areas. Nike introduced React in basketball sneakers as an encased spot-solution. React also eliminates EVA, starting with a TPE base-thermoplastic elastomers-a completely different chemistry formula that improves both cushioning and energy return. Now Nike has the one-piece React, maximizing cushioning while removing layers of glue for a lighter weight option. Adding two densities of foam, adding a layer of glue and locking that innovation up was by no means an ideal scenario.” “We had to glue those two pieces together. “That didn’t allow us to maximize the soft, lightweight responsive foam,” Holts says. Nike had to surround it with a protective carrier, a firmer foam that remained in contact with the ground. ![]() Lunarlon, while offering a softer, more responsive foam than EVA, wasn’t able to stand on its own. And the Lunarlon foam Nike introduced around the 2008 Beijing Olympics just received its first major upgrade, as Nike debuted its React cushioning in 2017 before rolling it out as a feature in 2018.īrett Holts, vice president of running footwear at Nike, says React eliminate the compromises required with both Lunarlon and EVA. After introducing the original air, Nike upgraded its air experience to Zoom Air in 1995, a pocket of air that includes a series of highly tensioned polyester or nylon fibers that snap the Zoom Air bag back into position after a compression. ![]() The Swoosh has the most versatile lineup of cushioning options on the market. Since then, Under Armour, Puma, New Balance and more have continued to try to upgrade EVA, creating their own take on cushioning. Asics has embraced gel as its cushioning of choice since the 1980s and Adidas undid the world of foam cushioning by introducing Boost in 2013. Nike broke the mold, introducing air as a cushioning method in the 1970s. Then came ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam, an elastic material similar to rubber.
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