With opening ceremonies for the 2012 London Olympic Games set to begin tomorrow, adidas has planned a big spectacle of its own. Today the brand officially revealed the adizero Primeknit, a seamless, knitted one-piece upper of a running shoe right in line with adidas’ lightweight performance mindset. Full press details and photos below.
LONDON, July 26, 2012 – One day before the Olympic opening ceremonies, adidas today reveals the adizero Primeknit, its first one-piece upper performance running shoe featuring a new seamless engineering technology.
Using the latest design tools and a new seamless engineering construction, adidas has created a first-of-its-kind running shoe. While traditional sports shoes are built from several different pieces, this breakthrough method digitally knits the entire upper in one continuous piece.
James Carnes, Head of Design for Sport Performance at adidas, said, “We are constantly innovating to bring superior performance products to the greatest athletes in the world. In designing the adizero Primeknit, our goal was to completely rethink how footwear is engineered, with a keen eye on sustainable construction. This revolutionary design will forever change the way we engineer shoes, combining both premium innovation and maximum performance benefits.”
Carnes continued, “Three years in the making, the adizero Primeknit harnesses groundbreaking technology we’ve perfected to introduce here in London at the Olympic Games. The Olympics are the biggest stage in the world for sports innovation for the best athletes and we’re proud to be front and center to debut this incredible technology in the market.”
Knitting fused yarn fine-tunes the exact amount of flexibility and support needed in every part of the shoe. No lining or reinforcements are necessary as the strength comes from the fused yarn, digitally knitted in distinct grid patterns to provide ventilation. This unique seamless engineering ensures precision construction and eliminates additional materials producing less waste. The lightweight running shoe wraps seamlessly around your foot for a comfortable fit.
To celebrate the Olympic Games and this historic innovation, adidas created 2,012 individually numbered pairs of the adizero Primeknit knitted in the same red and white colors adidas athletes will be competing in at the London Olympic Games.
The 2,012 individually numbered adizero Primeknit will be available from July 27 at the temporary store located at 10 Newburgh Street in London. Additional colors of the adizero Primeknit will be available in the U.S. this fall at adidas.com and select retail stores for $250.
are you kidding me?
hellooo, FlyKnit anyone?
You be the judge….
This seems bery strange to me, and I am amazed that it is not a patent infringement of some sort.
the stripes do take the knit look better. can you buy flynit shoes yet!
i dont think nike has a patent on engineered meshes those have been in the industry for a while, but they probably own the flyknit name.
in my opinion this could be easily a patent infringement, they even used the “knit” word in the name of the shoe, come ooooon
The name is pretty close, but the technology for both adidas and Nike came from the manufacturers. Neither of them invented 3d knitting machines, so the production patents are probably with the manufacturers. Sock and other manufacturers have been using some forms of those machines for years. But it’s only been recently that machines and computer controls have been sophisticated enough to do the designs complicated enough for footwear construction/aesthetics. Same story with hyperfuse and sprintweb. The bonding technology to eliminate seams probably came from manufacturers. So adidas shouldn’t get crapped on for “following” nike, but nike should get respect for being first to the market and pushing the technology further.
I guess its similar to how Americans view every sport known to man – “they invented it, we perfected it”…. as in Nike may have invented it (debatable, first to market, big deal) – Adidas certainly perfected it. Thanks to Nike HQ for the above comments too, enlightening.
From Nike:-
“NIKE embarked on a four-year mission of micro-engineering static properties into pliable materials. It required teams of programmers, engineers and designers to create the proprietary technology needed to create the knit upper.”
If the Flyknit technology came from the manufacturers, what proprietary technology are Nike talking about?
Actually Nike have a handful of Knitted Footwear patents which you can check online. Some patents dating back as far as 2002.
US 6,931,762 B1
Maybe the patents are only valid in the US, which is why the Primeknit was released in the UK?