Nike Launches Adapt BB, a Self-Lacing Performance Basketball Shoe (original) (raw)

Over the course of a basketball game, your foot can swell and expand. One minute your shoe might feel like it’s super comfortable and the next, unnecessarily constricted. Achieving the “perfect fit” can be like aiming at a moving target. That’s why Nike designers set out to create a fit solution that would adapt to an athlete’s feet in real time.

(Related: How to Measure Your Foot to Find the Right Shoe Size)

The effort to refine fit has yielded a number of innovative platforms through Nike history — Huarache, Flywire and Flyknit, to name a few. Perhaps none was more critical to advancing custom fit than the 2016 introduction of the Nike HyperAdapt 1.0, the first Nike multipurpose performance sneaker to feature power lacing, a system that automatically tightens the laces once you put on the shoe.

Debuting in the new Nike Adapt BB basketball sneaker, Nike Adapt is an advanced fit solution that offers a platform to create a custom fit. Combining an advanced power-lacing system, an app and continually updated firmware, the performance footwear offers an optimal fit, even as the game progresses.

“We picked basketball as the first sport for Nike Adapt intentionally because of the demands that athletes put on their shoes,” said Eric Avar, Nike vice president and creative director of innovation.

“During a normal basketball game, the athlete’s foot changes. The ability to quickly change your fit by loosening your shoe to increase blood flow and then tighten again for performance is a key element that we believe will improve the athlete’s experience."