An athlete who is able to develop his or her innate natural abilities is able to run farther or faster, jump higher, become stronger, and thus challenge the boundaries of athletic performance. This is the key insight that drives natural motion, a philosophy that emerged from Nike’s singular design approach, where ideas are hatched with some of the world’s greatest athletes and cultivated by the industry’s top researchers, designers and engineers.
Nowhere is support for natural motion and the implementation of Nike Free innovation more impactful than the realm of the young athlete. From toddlers to adolescents, young athletes tend to have a wide range of movement. As they grow, children’s movement patterns change, which alter their strides. Adding flexibility into their footwear helps children develop better natural motion. This fundamental insight led Nike designers to incorporate Nike Free-inspired flexibility into new children’s shoes that enable natural development patterns.
In traditional adult athletic footwear, the heel typically stands around 10-12 millimeters higher than the forefoot. And while this offset is reduced to exactly four millimeters in a shoe like the Nike Free 3.0 Flyknit for adults, the Nike Free for toddlers is designed with a zero-millimeter offset. By bringing the foot closer to its natural stance, the shoes work in greater harmony with the body’s natural movement. This is especially important when that body is growing; unnecessary restriction could negatively influence tnatural growth patterns.
Nike Free 5.0 footwear for young athletes includes significant new features designed to provide the foot strengthening benefits of natural motion, along with cushioning, traction and protection. New outsole hexagonal flex grooves allow the foot to move more naturally and the Flywire-reinforced knit mesh upper provides great ventilation and fit.
The new Girls Nike Free 5.0 and Boys Nike Free 5.0 are available now at Nike.com and select retail locations.
Source: Nike, Inc.
