Nike Unveils Team USA’s Most Innovative, Lightest Footwear and Apparel Designs Ever

July 01, 2008

Source:  NikeBiz

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EUGENE, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nike athletes, including Lauryn Williams, premiered Nike’s USA Track and Field (USATF) uniforms, which will be worn by members of the 2008 Olympic Team for Track & Field, before a sold-out crowd of 20,000 fans at the University of Oregon’s historic Hayward Field during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials.

Nike was born in Eugene, Ore. and first introduced its iconic Swoosh on Hayward Field at the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials. Over 30 years and hundreds of medals later, Nike continues to innovate for the world’s top athletes.

Nike’s USATF uniforms feature new Nike Swift materials, reducing weight to achieve less drag and faster times, and also include Nike Aerographics and the “We the People” graphic. With seven percent less drag than the Athens version, wearing the new Nike Swift Suit translates to a benefit of about .02 of a second in the 100m.

Nike Swift System of Dress

The Nike Swift System of Dress lets athletes customize what they’re wearing while increasing aerodynamic advantages on key parts of the body. Socks, gloves and arm coverings — an entire system of dress — were developed by Nike so sprinters could run faster. For example, the Nike Swift gloves and arm coverings have dimpled fabrics like a golf ball to cut wind resistance and allow arms to slice through the air faster. In testing, the design team found that compared with bare skin, the gloves and arm coverings reduce drag by 19 percent and the socks by 12.5 percent.

“Our new innovations are truly game changing and industry defining. It is the lightest footwear and apparel we’ve ever created,” said Sean McDowell, Nike’s Footwear Design Director. “The world’s top Nike athletes are wearing Flywire technology at the trials because they want gold.”

“The difference between making the team and not making the team comes down to mere hundredths of a second,” said U.S. Olympic Committee Chief Executive Officer Jim Scherr. “Nike’s ability to deliver ground-breaking apparel and footwear with cutting-edge technology has been incredible. We are proud to have worked so closely with Nike to develop this amazing, innovative and eye-catching Olympic collection.”

Nike Track and Field Footwear

The uniform also features footwear with Nike’s industry-leading new Flywire technology. Nike athletes Kara Goucher and Bernard Lagat will perform in the Zoom Matumbo, Nike’s lightest distance track spike. Lagat will also wear the Zoom Victory Spike, currently Nike’s lightest middle distance track spike. Both shoes are lighter than Michael Johnson’s famed gold spikes from the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

For the first time, Nike is making more athlete innovations available to consumers with footwear such as: The LunaRacer+, LunarTrainer+, Zoom Victory+, Zoom Matumbo and Zoom Victory Spike. Now, every runner can benefit from Nike’s Flywire and Lunarlite technology. This footwear is available to consumers beginning in July and rolling out through October, 2008.

Nike 6.0 Launches Mashup Campaign

News Brief

Source: MediaPost’s Marketing Daily

Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008 5:00 AM ET

Nike 6.0, the action sports division of Nike, Inc. is the latest advertiser to set up a branded community on Loop’d Network. Members of the Nike 6.0 community can create profiles, share photos of themselves in the midst of skating, biking or surfing, and compete for commercial sponsorships. They can also interact with all of the other communities within San Diego, Calif.-based Loop’d Network, including the Monster Army and the PacSun Team.

As part of the launch, Nike 6.0 has rolled out a mash-up campaign, allowing Loop’d members to mix and match their favorite videos, sports clips, photos and Nike-supplied content. The mash-ups, powered by Mixercast, can be ported to member profiles on other social networks like MySpace and Facebook.

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Top sports brands go to court in China

www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-16 09:22:01

BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) — Competition between two sports goods giants, Nike and Adidas, has moved to a different arena – a Shanghai court. Nike is suing its German competitor, and Chinese soccer star Zheng Zhi.

At a hearing held Tuesday, Nike Sports (China) Co Ltd told Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People’s Court that Adidas and Zheng –captain of the Chinese soccer team and a midfield player with England’s Charlton Athletic — had harmed its interests, English-language China Daily reported Wednesday.

Nike said Zheng was seduced by Adidas who promised more money and wore Adidas products and attended its publicity events while working as a brand ambassador for Nike.

It is seeking eight million yuan (1.14 million U.S. dollars) in compensation from the two.

But the accused parties said Nike broke its contract with Zheng due to nonpayment.

“Nike had withdrawn a similar suit accusing Adidas of unfair competition for lack of evidence,” Jiang Xian, the attorney of the28-year-old soccer player, was quoted as saying.

On July 1, 2003, Nike signed a contract with Zheng in a bid to build its image in China. The contract, which was to expire at the end of last year, said Zheng should wear Nike products on any public occasion and attend publicity events of Nike.

The contract promised Zheng 110,000 yuan by October 2003 and another 760,000 in 2004, to be paid in installments.

Nike said Zheng had adhered to the contract at the beginning.

However, in August 2004, Zheng requested a raise, but Nike refused, Nike attorney Yang Jun said. In April, 2005, Zheng wore Adidas soccer shoes at matches in Japan. Soon after he informed Nike he wanted to cancel his contract.

“To get publicity at the World Cup in 2006, Adidas in 2004 decided to recruit famous players who worked for other brands,” Yang said.

The hearing lasted two hours. Verdict will be given later, according to the report.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/16/content_7986475.htm

Editor: Du Guodong