Monthly Archives: February 2011

A barefoot-like sneaker, one of the concept products for nike designed by students of tama art university’s product design dep

Two shoes developed in a collaborative concept project between nike and the tama art university product design department approach the technical development of new products with a sense of the needs and craftsmanship of tradition.

Araki’s foot hugging sneaker design (whose prototype is depicted in the first picture of the article)

araki’s redesign of nike’s shuzu is created as a protective but unintrusive option for the thousands of city children that spend their days barefoot. in sports like football, having direct contact between ball and foot increases the player’s ability to respond with specific muscles and actions, but at an increased risk of injury. The sneaker design is close-fitting, meant to almost stretch sock-like over the feet, to retain this sensation of direct contact. the surface varies in thickness, depending on where the most action and wear is likely to occur, with a specially engineered inner surface to increase the rotation applied to the ball with a kick, and a relatively flat outer edge to assist in catching.

Based on a pleated pattern, the ‘nike pocket’ shoe designed by kasai takeshi can be folded onto itself to be carried easily in hand or pocket. the polypropylene material is flexible but durable, resistant to repeated bending.