Materials make up about 70% of Nike’s carbon footprint. By revisiting pattern efficiency, the recycling of scrap material and the re-engineering of existing materials, the Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next Nature is billed as the company’s ‘most sustainably-minded performance shoe to date.’
The new run shoe is composed of at least 50% total recycled content by weight. Achieving this recycled content level with Nike’s ‘crown jewel of racing footwear’ was seen as an important symbolic choice.
“We don’t want to be about making shiny objects – we wanted to set our concept car as the intent for how we think about performance and sustainability,” said Rachel Bull, Senior Footwear Product Director for Nike Running.
“Putting a sustainable focus on our fastest marathon shoe also means we need all hands-on deck for it to work, from our teams in design to material sourcing to manufacturing.”
The shoe’s ZoomX midsole was made with at least 70% recycled materials by weight. Leftover recycled foam was also placed from the midsole back into the sock liner.
The forefoot Zoom Air pods in the Nike Running racing line already consisted of a high percentage of recycled content. The Alphafly Next Nature levelled this concept up and used leftover waste from those Zoom Air pods in the 3D-printing process that creates the textile for the hybrid Nike Flyprint and Nike Flyknit upper.
Rachel Bull added, “For the midsole aesthetic, we didn’t want to run from the idea that we were using these recycled materials to make the shoe. You’ll see all of these pieces of ZoomX foam in the midsole. We felt like the look was part of the story here. The material and manufacturing processes are all coming together to make something new.”
The combination of Flyprint and Flyknit was also important for the shoe’s functionality, Bull noted. “You’ll see the Flyknit in the toe of the shoe. It’s flexible and has a very open and breathable zone. The Flyprint, which goes through the midfoot, is a great containing material. Part of asking the right questions for the upper is recognizing the unique strengths of each material.
“The exciting thing about pushing performance and sustainability forward with the Alphafly Next Nature is that we know if we can do it with our most pinnacle performance product, then so much is validated to bring that technology into the rest of the line.”
