Adidas launches 3 new designs made out of ocean plastic debris
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SPEEDFACTORY
As the ultimate vision is to deliver product tailored to the individual needs of athletes around the world, this city-by-city project where we worked with running influencers in each key city to explore, test and co-create a product made for their city, takes us a step closer to that future. The first city shoe that will launch is AM4LDN. In the development process for the AM4LDN, adidas has worked closely with a group of consumers from the city in order to gain unique insights into the specific demands of runners in London. This process will be applied in future locations in order to create the ultimate tailoring possible for each city.
Can You Cheer?
Brooklyn's GGWC event really raised the dedication and excitement for teams and fans— sending out the spirited referees Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau, star of Game of Thrones, Nicolaj Reffstrup, CEO of Danish designer brand Ganni, and Victor Ochen, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and activist from Uganda. Teams sent social media icons, political figures, fashion brands... Each group carried through their unique efforts to secure the general goal of a future with equality. The energy provided by the games, press, influencers, and an appearance by Crown Princess of Denmark offered a universally accessible atmosphere--a ground for communication, and community, regardless of origin, or identity.
Even office got to get on board, joining the "Ganni Girls," who came to play for Gender Equality. And just before the game got started, office spoke to one of the Referees, Victor Ochen. Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for the AYINET, he is now seeking the same sustainability globally. He is intimidatingly strong and insightful, but warm and welcoming— he went in for a hug immediately, and followed up with the ultimate pre-game pep-talk.
How did you become involved with this event?
I became involved because I was invested in the promotion of sustainable global goals. Above all we each do a lot of work for women’s rights in the community, as well as promoting peace, security, and enhancing education, this is all inclusive in the SDG. And in 2013, I raised the flag for peace and justice in Africa, and in 2016 we played the football cup, the SDG cup in NY.
Why do you think the organization chose football… or “soccer”?
I think it is because the concept behind soccer is that you need a global goal to sustain it. In football, you need team players. You cannot do it alone. You need a defender, supplier, financer, someone to buy a uniform and support the process. Above all, it is looking into mobilizing society. Right now the most popular game on earth is soccer, or football. It communicates to everyone. You don’t have to be educated, don’t have to be a lawyer, black or white. You see from this global space, soccer is played by everybody. So that is representative enough. And soccer was predominantly for men, and now women, too ,are engaged in leading the community.
Are you good at football?
I wish. The last time I played football was when I was in Africa and I had made a football.
What did you make it out of?
Rags. I wrapped them up, and about 80 of us were kicking it around— and then it unfolded, and when one of the players came to open it— it was a bomb.
What?! You hadn’t seen that?
No. But it didn’t explode.
Crazy. Wow.
So, what would you say to a team to get them ready to go into a game?
We represent hope!
What do you think about the fact that one team wins?
It is not about who wins, it is about the opportunity to play. And be on a team. Respect. We represent a community and opportunity. We all win.
What do you have to say to someone who doesn’t really play sports? I am definitely not sporty, that’s why I am not on that team.
You can cheer right?
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Live Simple, Train Hard, Be Honest.
The project was about breaking barriers; setting goals and doing what everybody thought was impossible. It that sense, it is about much more than shiny, new running shoes (even though the new Nike Zoom Vaprofly 4% is as slick and quick as they come) – it is about being human and moving forward.
At the event in Copenhagen this Saturday the movie Breaking2 produced by Nike and National Geographic premiered. It’s a great movie full of beautiful, trademark National Geographic shots of the three runner’s hometowns, the torments of preparing and the race itself shot in super slow, which makes the intensity even higher.See it for all of that, but mostly see it for this bit of advise to living a happy life that Kipchoge offers: “live simple, train hard and be honest”.
Back to Brad Wilkins.
During preparations Eliud Kipchoge was talking about going to the moon? Could you please tell the story?
When we officially invited Eliud to join the project, and be one of the three runners involved, we approached the discussion with him as a "moonshot". The idea that we would work with him (and Zersenay and Lelisa) to do something special. We would control all that we could and create the circumstances for them to make history by doing something that human has done before or "go to the moon”. Eliud completely bought in to this idea, and said several times, he wanted nothing short of "going to the moon".
If you could take one thing and only one thing from this experience then what was the biggest revelation?
A group of passionate people working toward a singular goal can move mountains.
What is your next project? Giving sub 2hr another try or?
We always have projects going on in the lab. There are several that my team are working on. We are helping Eliud, Zersenay, and Lelisa with their fall Marathon goals, as well as other Nike runners.
Currently, there is no plan to give a sub 2hr marathon another try. We feel that we have shown that it is humanly possible to achieve, and we have been successful in what we set out to achieve. Part of which includes, if you put a concentrated concerted effort toward a singular goal, you can do amazing things. Second, if the 2hr marathon record is broken any time soon, it will be because we did this. Because Eliud did this. We showed the world, and most importantly the next generation of young runners, that this is possible. Humans can run that fast for that long.
How did you achieve 4 % improvement in running economy in the new Nike Zoom Vaprofly 4% shoes?
This is probably a better question for the product team. But the short story is: A combination of innovations in the foam that was used and the carbon fiber plate geometry. The foam is super light weight and returns more energy than conventional foam. In addition, the plate geometry helps increase the stiffness of the shoe so that energy is not wasted from the joints in the foot. Important to note, there is nothing in the shoe (foams or plates) that has not been used in other shoes.
Do you have any tips or recommendations to runners who wants to improve their personal best based on this experiment?
Set a goal, and understand what it will take to reach that goal. Understand the barriers in front of you, and break down the problem into pieces. Then start solving the problems in front of you. What do you need to do today? That could be a simple as getting off the couch to do a run. Or as complex as understanding how much carbohydrate to replace following a long run. In short: clarity of the objective and a path to get there. Then start solving problems.
