BEHIND THE DESIGN

What started with a boing now returns with a brand new mission. Mechanical cushioning took hold of the sneaker world back in 2000 with the introduction of Nike Shox technology. Today, the legacy of the original innovation launches into the 21st Century thanks to a complete reimagining of the on-foot experience and an ever-futuristic aesthetic courtesy of NXT designer Aaron Cooper and the Global Create Team led by Greg Thompson.

The Shox Gravity features a look that nods to the ‘90s favorite, but the shoe arrives engineered in a bold new way. “I’m an industrial designer by education,” says Cooper. “I was very keen on creating a whole new experience with mechanical cushioning for Shox Gravity. I wanted the final design and on-foot feel to be similar to what Bruce Kilgore was originally trying to achieve with Shox and energy return.” While the original Shox R4 and Shox BB4 brought the boing, the out-of-this-world Shox Gravity also emphasizes flow.

For Cooper, the feeling of gravity-defying flow, rather than pure bounce, is essential. “Even just walking, you feel like the Shox Gravity is giving you something back, and I really wanted to create the feeling of surfing on pavement or snowboarding in bottomless powder. That was part of the brief to myself, along with capturing the full-on elation of weightlessness.”

What enables the Shox Gravity to evolve in both look and feel is a new Shox plate design and speed lacing system. “In the Shox R4,” reveals Cooper, “all of the parts function a bit more independently. With the Shox Gravity, the parts are all working together as a more integrated system. The top plate wraps around to the bottom at the heel, and while it’s the same type of material as the plate in the Shox R4, it really translates Kilgore’s original emphasis on offering a more resilient ride.” While the Shox foam and the plate design have been updated in the 2018 iteration, so too has the lacing. “The new speed lace offers easy-on, easy-off for both the city and the track athlete, and it takes less than a second to adjust,” says Cooper on the shoe's duality of performance and style.

Cooper not only zeroed in on the physical sensation of weightlessness to create the Shox Gravity, but also the mental facets of athletic competition. “There’s a psychological aspect of running that I wanted to bring to the project. You should have a higher sense of joy when wearing these shoes because of the sense of weightlessness. You do feel the street, road or trail you are on, but the impact is minimized and you are allowed to experience a kind of floating sensation that influences your mindset.”

The Shox Gravity also features a distinctly-patterned outsole that visually underscores the shoe’s gravity-defying inspiration and brings the project full circle. “The texture in the four circles on the outsole is inspired by rocket engine scarification. The colors on the heel mimic the rocket blast, while white nods to the smoke from liftoff and the translucent forefoot speaks to the water in Florida.” Overall, the realization of Shox Gravity projects the ‘90s-based technology into the future with limitless possibilities and gravity-defying comfort. Mission accomplished.