Topic: Final Nike Zoom Carapace concept with boards

[Dan Frank]

a PK shoe is marketable well beyond pk

"the zoom carpace GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR ROOTS"
-THANKS TO NEW TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES WE ARE ABLE TO CREATE A SHOE THAT ENHANCES NATURAL STRIDE INSTEAD OF DETERIORATING IT.

JUST AN EXAMPLE, AND ANYTHING [caps lock off] like this will create a revolution!!!!

I like the positivity, but think about how counter-intuitive something like that would be. Probably more than 90% of Nike's shoes are marketed with the hook of "superior cushioning," or "support" and use all sorts of nonsense, like gel cushioning and the spring-looking things, and now they're going to jump in and say that they've been destroying the structural integrity of your feet for your whole life? Just imagine the fallout of something like that.

[jorgeDominik]

keyword just an example
the shoe would be like a nike free meets the puma lift.. there has to be some marketing strategy behind two greatly sold kicks

[VD23]

Guys,

There's no reason Nike wouldn't do this. It is truly performance based and besides- Look at all the god awful "limited" fashion crap they release these days. Good lord. Trust me, they could afford to take a risk on a product like this. Especially since they did it with the rift which is almost the same thing without a performance story.

I like the ideas for the marketing. I am actually working on some apparel for this line too, so it will be a holistic package of product.

Also, you wouldn't market it by bashing the other 99% of the product, but by highlighting why THIS shoe is better for the athlete using it than what they are using now (i.e. running shoes that tear up, have a non-natural stance, slippery Plastic pieces on the shanks, narrow lasts etc). All shoes are for different purposes, so you wouldn't market running shoes by bashing why bowling shoes suck to run in. LOL. There's a reason different shoes are made.

[Chris Kessler]

Well said, TH.

Parkour is taking the media mainstream by force these days. Commercialism has jumped (no pun intended...okay maybe it was) on parkour as a way to push advertising. How then would it be hard to show a commercial of these amazing athletes flying through the city and then wearing shoes that can HELP OTHERS do the same??? I'd say that's a money maker.

[VD23]

The feeling is that traceurs in general don't want Parkour to spread and gain mainstream popularity....or is it just a general dislike for companies making money off the existence of Parkour? Maybe you guys can weigh in on that. And what is the reasoning for it? Obviously you don't want to see anything you love get pimped, but if lots of people love it and ultimately it's about being more physically in tune with your body and abilities, then why not spread something like that even if people make money off of it? I mean, if things like Skateboarding and Hip-hop (which had similar resistances) never went mainstream, we would have all missed out on a lot of good stuff.

[Elet ET]

I dig.

[Chris Kessler]

I think the main concern with a lot of traceurs (and that is not to say MOST traceurs) is that they are afraid that people will make a prostitution of parkour/free running. They feel that people won't go to lengths to learn the philosophies/history/proper training/conditioning of the art and it will create a domino effect and lead away from the trueness of parkour/free run.

I don't mind it going mainstream, considering it is already been used in countless commercials/movies already. It is, therefore, our duty to let the newcomers, who are brought in by this commercialization, know exactly what parkour is and to teach them as much as we can.

[Gregg]

Hey, Tony... long time no talk. I like this new design.

Be realistic guys, Parkour is really not big enough to have a specific shoe yet...

Aren't the K-Swiss Ariake and Kirov pk/fr specific shoes? That's how they were marketed in these forums.
Nike's an international corporation. If they think they can make a decent return on investment, they'll release product, even if it's in a few limited markets, like London, Paris, NYC, LA, SF, and online.

The Nike Presto ads make a point - Nike got Seb & DB to make the ads. So Nike's already "tried" to market a "free running" shoe, and phased it out. If there's enough demand, they'll try again.

[jorgeDominik]

Hey, Tony... long time no talk. I like this new design.

Be realistic guys, Parkour is really not big enough to have a specific shoe yet...

Aren't the K-Swiss Ariake and Kirov pk/fr specific shoes? That's how they were marketed in these forums.
Nike's an international corporation. If they think they can make a decent return on investment, they'll release product, even if it's in a few limited markets, like London, Paris, NYC, LA, SF, and online.

The Nike Presto ads make a point - Nike got Seb & DB to make the ads. So Nike's already "tried" to market a "free running" shoe, and phased it out. If there's enough demand, they'll try again.

Understanding
u are psychic! lol

[Alex B]

I think the main concern with a lot of traceurs (and that is not to say MOST traceurs) is that they are afraid that people will make a prostitution of parkour/free running. They feel that people won't go to lengths to learn the philosophies/history/proper training/conditioning of the art and it will create a domino effect and lead away from the trueness of parkour/free run.

I don't mind it going mainstream, considering it is already been used in countless commercials/movies already. It is, therefore, our duty to let the newcomers, who are brought in by this commercialization, know exactly what parkour is and to teach them as much as we can.

I don't like it, but I expect it to end up just like any sport that's out there, with 2 different groups:

-the people who don't take the time to learn and practice their techniques but just want to show off and say they can do parkour, and

-the people who actually focus themselves and try to improve. They will work hard and practice whenever they can and will take advice from others.

obviously we can try as hard as possible to stress the importance of practice. but we can't make decisions for people. we just have to give the best argument we can.

we have a great opportunity here - we are practitioners of an art form that is still young and growing. Parkour isn't mainstream yet, so that gives us the chance to mold and shape it, to make sure that by the time it IS common, it hasn't changed to some show-off competition sport, and that people understand the value of true dedication.

[Jack Kendall]

Well said, mate.

[Sat Santokh]

Hey, Tony... long time no talk. I like this new design.

Be realistic guys, Parkour is really not big enough to have a specific shoe yet...

Aren't the K-Swiss Ariake and Kirov pk/fr specific shoes? That's how they were marketed in these forums.
Nike's an international corporation. If they think they can make a decent return on investment, they'll release product, even if it's in a few limited markets, like London, Paris, NYC, LA, SF, and online.

The Nike Presto ads make a point - Nike got Seb & DB to make the ads. So Nike's already "tried" to market a "free running" shoe, and phased it out. If there's enough demand, they'll try again.

A key difference is that Nike is well established in the athletic department, where as k-swiss has become more of a style driven shoe.  K-swiss's main motivation for making a parkour shoe was to get back to their athletic roots, also k-swiss generates a lot less revenue than nike does, so they might need a gamble like a new emerging sport like parkour.  I hate being the negative one here but I guess I'm just being pessimistic.  My guess would be that Nike won't enter the market in the next year or so because they will wait to see how big it gets before spending R&D money on it.  Who knows though, VD23 obviously knows more about the industry than me so this is just my opinion.

[jorgeDominik]

Hey, Tony... long time no talk. I like this new design.

Be realistic guys, Parkour is really not big enough to have a specific shoe yet...

Aren't the K-Swiss Ariake and Kirov pk/fr specific shoes? That's how they were marketed in these forums.
Nike's an international corporation. If they think they can make a decent return on investment, they'll release product, even if it's in a few limited markets, like London, Paris, NYC, LA, SF, and online.

The Nike Presto ads make a point - Nike got Seb & DB to make the ads. So Nike's already "tried" to market a "free running" shoe, and phased it out. If there's enough demand, they'll try again.

A key difference is that Nike is well established in the athletic department, where as k-swiss has become more of a style driven shoe.  K-swiss's main motivation for making a parkour shoe was to get back to their athletic roots, also k-swiss generates a lot less revenue than nike does, so they might need a gamble like a new emerging sport like parkour.  I hate being the negative one here but I guess I'm just being pessimistic.  My guess would be that Nike won't enter the market in the next year or so because they will wait to see how big it gets before spending R&D money on it.  Who knows though, VD23 obviously knows more about the industry than me so this is just my opinion.

NIKE has bread, nike has the presto [which an be bought online(the new ones on www.nike.com/ap/presto/language_select.html look sick(but not necessarily pk ready)]
-note: i never heard of the shoe till i search for seb on youtube
unlike nike; kswiss is not a Gazillion dollar company and they seem to do pretty damn well with pk kicks
seeing as how nike is FLOWING::they can afford to gamble on making A shoe

the thing is is that like the presto: which has an advertisement showing both martial arts and dancing
this shoe, the Carpace, can also have diversified marketing, and not JUST be a PK shoe per say
they can be good for all sorts of stuff
it'll be good comp for preexisting pk kicks [i cant picture anyone dancing in a pair of Airakes ]


- and nike's well establishment is all the more reason to have a pk shoe....
 
look, for instance, at nike sb's and 6.0's have branched out to the point of pioneering
WAKESKATE shoes within a 3year span
how many of you kno what wakeSKATING is

the sport is younger than my little brother and nike has a marketed line for it[6.0's] and the shoes are marketed in BMX-to-wakeskating

oh and after two years they're offerin custom sb's nd 6.0's on nikeid.com
 

all it takes is for a design half as amazing as this to get put into production and finito::the market will change

we might suffer from a flux of posers but that doesn't change US, although we may have to change them..


____________________________btw nike 6.0's mvrk= my first training shoes [coming from skating]
currently rockin puma commanders

[Sat Santokh]

Take a look at VD23's shoe and that shoe and tell me which one you think has more mass appeal based simply off of its looks.  I've seen a bunch of people wearing those shoes before actually and none of them skate or wakeskate.  This however, is a radical design (I would wear it over the nike 6.0's I think it looks bad ass as hell) and it will not, in my opinion, have as much mass market appeal.  K-swiss is pretty much only doing as well as it is because of the few amount of competitors, they didn't really do a good job with the ariakes.  Now I like and used them for over a year but they had a lot of flaws that hinted at bad R&D and misplaced priorities.  I disagree with you that the carapace will have a very diversified market because of how they are designed, the price point, and their looks.  The Nike Free's have a much wider appeal than these and they aren't even doing that well as far as I can tell.  I've only even met one person wearing them.

[VD23]

To add to what you guys are saying about PK growing and those that do it to be focused/improve themselves v.s those that do it to show off- Basically the same thing as the ongoing battle between Parkour and Freerunning that we have already seen taking place. But you're right. You can't control what other people do. Just lead by example and those with their heads in the right places with have a great new athletic outlet.

What do you guys think about a more traditional look like this? It carries the same basic construction principles. I simplified the strap (which I am going to do regardless b/c I think it will be cumbersome to put the shoe on as it is) and lowered the toe spring to make the stance more natural as the 5 fingers. But the design language is a little less racy and maybe something you would want to wear. I didn't render it up or anything, it's just the basic idea.

[Christian Greene]

Looks sick for sure!

[Bowdz]

I have always wanted to try split toed shoes, but have not got the chance. The design looks great! I love the color scheme and construction although I am still pretty skeptical when it comes to the strap (I am a stickler for laces). Keep up the awesome work!

[Brandon "Shark" Dean]

Looks good as always man.

[Alex B]

I like it, although I still like the  black better. But I like the simplified strap. I love Velcro straps for their ease, but theo old design seemed...flawed. Something about the twisting thing that seemed too complicated.

Anyway, I'd probably want to buy these if they were pink with flowers on them-for me at least, the function is more important than the form. Although form is important in marketing, as really only one of us would understand why the shoe is so great. Many people would buy it for looks.

[KC Parsons]

Sounds awesome!
Although I think
-Responsive cushioning/protection from drops
and
-Little to no support

are a little counter-intuitive in my opinion.

I personally would rather have the latter than the former, though.