story

What's kicking? What up, Jon? How you doing? Can't complain. Nice kicks, brother. I'm Jon Kosenick. I'm the lead footwear designer on Nike Sportswear. My name is DePaul Williams. I'm an expert product line manager for Nike Sportswear.

You want to reminisce, talk about DN8? Yeah, go to the studio? Let's go. How was the reaction from kids to the DN informative in what you were asking for us to do on the DN8? Good question.

When we 'shopped the DN, I naturally knew that we're on the right path. Getting DN in front of consumers, they kept asking the question, "what would this look like if you put the air bubbles in the forefoot, you know?" "How would this look if it was a full-length shoe?

And on top of that, they're asking us to push more. Hey, you can be more...give it more attitude, give it a bit more edge. So, naturally when I briefed you in, it was important for us to make sure that one: it was going to be a full-length shoe, and two: that it had

the right amount of attitude and we're starting from a blank canvas and not necessarily creating something that looked like the end. Man, I love the way that the outsole is designed. Talk to me about your thought process and approach.

We really wanted that smooth transition heel to toe to be synonymous with DN. So, we contoured the outsole rubber
directly against the airbags, which creates this wavy design

that really allows the outsole and the Air units to flex and torque with your foot to enable that really smooth heel-to-toe transition. They all loved that one. They liked that one. This is a super-early prototype of the Dn8,

where we had the DN bag in the heel, and then on the forefoot we had the prototype Dn8 bag. And what we actually did was poked holes in it and inserted these tubes, which we hooked up to a pressurizer, like an air pressure machine.

And what that was able to do was inflate all the chambers to different pressurizations. We tried them with low pressure, with high pressure, with different mixes, we tried all sorts of stuff. Inflated the bags, and then ran around to see if people could feel a difference, you know?

The result was high pressure on the toe and on the heel, so you get maximum impact protection, and low pressure in the middle of the foot, so as you're standing underneath your heel and the ball of your foot, you're getting that nice soft, squishy all-day comfort.

What are some of the elements on the shoe that helped bring that sport meets style, just that style and function to life? There are details like we've got this high-density woven for a majority of our upper.

That's a super-protective textile. It's gonna keep the top of your foot protected from stepping on your toes in the subway or spilling a drink. You have that and a TPU toe tip that's gonna keep you protected from the outside, protect you from scuffs.

But then inside the shoe where we've got the slashes, outside of those being super-bold graphic, we talked about it being the icon of the shoe. People are getting a shoe that's lightweight, breathable, durable.

Just a mix of materials that make it sit right for the city. Everything an Air Max shoe should be. All right, enough reminiscing. Time to work on the next one. Don't I know it? Thank you for watching Behind the Design of the Air Max Dn8.

Air Max Dn8

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