Sunday, June 2, 2013

Nike Flyknit Lunar1+ Tryout

Nike reintroduced their Flyknits Lunar1+ when they invited us to a formal tryout recently. These shoes were launched earlier this year, but it was pretty interesting to take a closer look into the design philosophy of the shoes from a different perspectives.



It was interesting to learn that the knitting in the Nike Flyknit Lunar1+ is made from feather-light, high-quality polyester yarn.(you can see the actual yarn used in the picture).



















But the real interesting fact is the concept behind innovating the Flyknit series. Nike explains the why and the how of making a one piece upper with tightly woven yarn that will result in an upper that will deliver comfort, fit and light.  In fact the uppers are constructed entirely of tightly woven polyester yarn that varies in density, so that  it provide great fit and support through more open in targeted areas that need greater flexibility or ventilation.  And at the same time, tighter in areas that demand support.













And because of that they are so incredibly light! They weight a flying weight of 8 oz for men size 10, and only 5.7 oz for women size 7.










As soon as we put them on, most of us agrees that the plush cushioning of Lunarlon provides good response in movement, with excellent bouncy cushioning.

And I learned from the Nike expert that for an even greater springy response, the firmer foam carrier has been eliminated under the heel to expose the softer lightweight foam.  And the structure in the forefoot is made such that it encourages more fore foot landing.

The Flyknit provides a real snug fit uppers.  The simple lace wraps around the arches of the feet through the dynamic Nike Flywire, adaptive support that tightens and relaxes to accommodate the natural motion of the foot. But I find these shoe lace a bit too slippery and perhaps I will improvise on this myself later.

The knitted uppers were comfortably kind to our feet when we put it on the first time, no problem with the fittings.  Then team Nike shared with us that there is even a cooler feature inside the Flyknit that can make the Flyknit to fit like a glove to your feet....









That is, by steaming the uppers of the shoes. No kidding. (time to take out my bamboo bun steamer?)




This is a cool feature in the Flyknit that you can sort of customize your own Flyknit to make it even more fitting by steaming it. We were shown how it is done and it really fits better after steaming the shoes, especially in the toe box area.











The Flyknit Lunar1+ is very much designed as a trainer and is really suitable for everyday running and training.





















The Nike Flyknit Lunar1+ was voted "Editor's Choice" by Runner's World (February 2013)











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