This season, Nike has launched its first 3D printed textile, Nike Flyprint and new colourways, Nike Epic React Flyknit. To unlock new precision-tuned performance solution for Flyprint, Flyprint utilises the 3-D printing technology.

Nike Epic React Flyknit adopts the new revolutionary foam technology that makes it 11 percent softer, 13 percent bouncier and 5 percent lighter - making it one of the lightest and most cushioned shoe.

Photo Credit: Nike Flyknit

The first of Nike Flyprint

Nike Flyprint uppers are designed to help world's fastest runners to run their fastest. And for that reason, the first making of the Nike Flyprint shoe articulates in the Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite FLyprint shoe. The shoe was created for Eluid Kipchoge, the guy who ran the fastest marathon ever. With the new upper, it helps to improve the Vaporfly Elite shoe, making it 11g lighter than Kipchoge's original pair.

Kipchoge will be having his next marathon on April 22nd in London. He will be wearing his Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite Flyprint and in that weekend, a limited amount of the shoes will be sold in London through the Nike App.

Photo Credit: Nike Flyprint

About Nike Flyprint

Nike Flyprint uppers are manufactured through a solid deposit modeling (SDM), a process whereby a TPU filament is unwound from a coil, melted and laid down in layers. Nike's efforts in digitally enabled textile development, add to a legacy of proprietary modification of machines - a heritage that includes Nike Hyperfuse, Flywire, and Flyknit - to achieve previously unthinkable performance solutions.

The process to develop the Flyprint uppers first begins by getting the athlete data. The data is then computed to affirm the ideal composition of the material. Finally, that information was then used to produce the final textile. This operation speaks to the versatility of Flyprint textile, as well as the increased pace of the overall design time.

Photo Credit: Nike Flyprint

Textiles VS traditional fabrics

One fascinating benefit that 3D textiles have over traditional 2D fabrics is that there is an increased dynamism that made possible by adding an interconnection beyond a warp and weft. For example, whereas in a knit or woven textile, there is frictional resistance between the interlaced yarns, in a printed textile, due to its fused intersections, there is a higher potential for precision-tuned containment. Compared to Nike's previously employed textiles, it is lighter and more breathable.

In terms of design pace, the advantage of Flyprint method in traditional textiles is doubled: Specific lines of the material can be adjusted while preserving the global construction, and rapid iteration means that the testing and revision cycle times are cut down significantly. In short, Flyprint allows the highest-fidelity design with the greatest athlete benefit in the shortest time.

The textile is able to work seamlessly with many other materials, especially Flyknit yarns, to provide an optimal balance of fit and structure. In fact, Flyknit yarns can be engineered to thermally bond with the Flyknit print, removing any need for glue or stitching.

Photo Credit: Nike Epic React Flyknit

About Nike Epic React Flyknit

Nike's in-house chemists and mechanical engineers came together to test ingredients to see which composition would produce the perfect outcome. After testing out more than 400 combinations of chemistry and processing, and using scientific methods to dial in on materials with a certain amenable attribute, they landed on a unique composition of Nike React foam.

Continuing from there, they put Nike React foam through more than 2,000 hours of testing on basketball players feet. That is where it proves to be the most durable foam and also deliver a much greater energy return than any other Nike basketball shoe tested.

On top of all of that, Nike React technology is Nike's longest-lasting foam, giving runners the energy to do more and run further. Ernest Kim, Director of Advanced Footwear, Nike Running said:

Nike React is more durable than any other foam we’ve tested in Nike running, meaning it will keep up with the needs of even the most dedicated distance runners,

Photo Credit: Nike Epic React Flyknit

Nike React foam VS other foams

When Nike React foam is tested in Nike Sports Research Lab against other running foams, data proved that Nike React foam reins superior in energy return. The foam itself delivers 13 percent greater energy return than Nike's latest generation of Nike Lunarlon foam.

"I want to emphasize this because we’re not comparing Nike React technology to some no-name foam that fell off the back of a truck somewhere; we’re comparing it to our latest Lunarlon and, even with the bar set that high, Nike React technology delivers that much more energy return with each and every stride," says Kim.

Photo Credit: Nike Epic React Flyknit

Epic React Flyknit new colourways

Nike Epic React Flyknit launches its three new colourways which is:

• Pink Matcha: Pink for women and green for men.
• Off-white Alloy for women
• Horizon: Glowing red for women and dark grey for men

What do you think about having a 3D printed upper on your shoe instead of the traditional 2D fabric? The Nike Epic React Flyknit shoes are available at selected Nike stores, with a retail price of S$229.