Nike Flyprint is the first 3D-printed fabric created specifically for performance. Digital printing is not new to Nike, but its use it will surely be.
Production starts from filaments of a polyurethane coil through Solid Deposit Modeling (SDM), a process based on layering and fusion; SDM also has an extremely rapid production chain, about 16 faster than normal. The technology (which partly comes from the legacy left by other materials such as Hyperfuse, Flywire and Flyknit) allows you to build uppers that precisely conform to the structure of the runners’ foot and it reduces the friction of the fabric thanks to the fusion of the different filaments giving the shoe new abilities: foot’s movements get more contained and precise while the upper becomes almost entirely waterproof, a frequently encountered problem even by the greatest marathon runners.
The versatility of Flyprint has a double value. If from a technical point of view it is able to guarantee unprecedented performance, from a graphical point of view it allows a durable and extremely precise printing thanks to the reduced mobility of the fused filaments, thus allowing a wide use also outside of the athletics tracks. The incredible possibilities of Flyprint widen even more since it does not arrogantly appear as a successor of Flyknit, but it does as a collaborator because (as reported by Nike) it is possible to merge the two, giving life to a new more comfortable and resistant material.
Flyprint will debut on April 22nd with the Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite Flyprint at the London Marathon worn by the Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge, former Nike testimonial and tester of the previous ZoomFly Elite, but we’ll have to wait until the end of 2018 for release infos.
