Nike SB will be honoring the late Alexander “Sandy” Bodecker, who was one of the most creative minds Nike history. He left behind a litany of sneaker innovations and marketing triumphs, including the sportswear giant’s first skateboarding shoe. To pay tribute to the visionary Nike leader, the skate brand will be releasing a special edition ZoomX Bruin during the Summer Olympics.
The shoe’s engineering drafts from another boundary-pushing Bodecker project, the quest to break the 2-hour marathon barrier and the subsequent invention of NEXT% running technology. Bodecker believed there was application of the idea to skateboarding, and the Nike SB Sandy ZoomX Bruin transfers that belief through athlete-led insight to deliver the most comprehensive skate competition tool imaginable.
At its core is a drop-in midsole combining the ultra-resilient Nike ZoomX foam for cushioning and a full-length carbon fiber plate for pop. It’s radical, for sure, but also discretely hidden within the decades-favored classic Bruin silhouette. Another progressive twist, again drawn from Breaking2, is a skateboarding-first Flyknit upper, formed from material that has been custom-printed with Mark Smith’s “Blue Sky Dreamer” portrait of Bodecker, which hangs in The Bodecker Foundation space in Portland, Ore.
Check out the additional photos below, and look for the Nike SB ZoomX Bruin “Sandy Bodecker” to release this summer in limited quantities in Tokyo during the Olympics.
Release Date: Summer 2021