story

As a designer, it's refreshing to see where we've been in the past and see where we can take things into the future. My name is Ben, Nike Basketball Footwear Designer.

My name is Brian Moughty, Color Designer in Nike Basketball. I'm Chris Munar, Material Designer in Nike Basketball. Book wanted a shoe that he can wake up, lace up, go about his day...

...get to the court and play basketball at a high level. He wanted us to make sure that the shoe was not an exclusive on-court proposition. Book was really interested in making a future classic. He didn't want it to live in the moment.

He wanted to really shake up the industry, bring something new to the table for Nike Basketball, for something that people could wear for years to come. When you do something that's completely opposite of the current market, it gets people talking.

Some of the materials we actually had to redevelop to make stronger and to meet our Nike performance standards. So I think that was one of the challenges that we really had to push forward and hone in on, in order to create a high-performing on-court shoe.

In terms of cushioning, we used a Cushlon 2 from heel to toe all the way, and then we coupled that with the heel Zoom bag Air unit heel, where he has his impact-protection needs.

And also in the midfoot here, we have a shank plate there, allowing him to feel stable and supported as well. Where it gets really fun is looking at how simple and classic this outsole is. It's just herringbone.

And on the backside of the midsole, we integrated flex grooves in between each handle and track, allowing the shoe to feel lighter and more flexible, allowing him to be quick as he can on the court.

Book came with an idea of a palette that he was really excited about these combos of browns and oranges. What was cool about that is that's not something you traditionally see on a basketball shoe...

...so that felt like we could create a lane there and really own it. So bringing that desert brown as well as the mirage idea of thinking you're seeing water. That's kind of where these two come together. We received a text message from Book...

...where shockingly, as a basketball player, he got really hands on and arts and craft focused, and mocked up his heel tab using Post-it notes to express his idea, this book binding concept. 

I think the one thing that Book did was stay true and authentic to himself. So when you see the shoe, even though it's clean, simple, classic, you can't say that it's not him. It's very true to him and who he is, and it's exactly what he wanted.

I'm Brian. I'm Ben. And I'm Chris. Thank you for watching Behind the Design on the Book 1.