At a Thanksgiving dinner in 1999, a NIKE innovation leader’s seven-year-old son took the protective fruit net off an Asian pear and placed it around his bare foot. It was a playful gesture that immediately sparked the imagination of NIKE’s design team, spawning the first Air Rejuven8 prototype—built from the very same netting and hot-glued to a last. What intrigued designers about the structure was the way the material worked in harmony with the foot’s shape, as well as its graphic look. But, at the time, the technology required to make the Air Rejuven8 was too complex for conventional shoe manufacturing. Its various prototypes ended up at the bottom of a drawer for nearly five years, out of sight, but not out of mind.
In 2003, Nike innovation designer Pam Greene was studying the comfort aspects of a shoe: important foundation work for delivering recovery benefits to the feet of weary athletes. Greene immediately saw potential in the netting design, working out a tangible plan for the shoe’s construction. After six months researching materials and geometries for the net structure, Pam, a specialist in designing comfort footwear, crafted the shoe into a prototype phase that showed a unique ability to assist recovery and enable restorative running. After an additional year of testing and refinement by the Kitchen team, the Air Rejuven8 concept was ready to see the light of day.
The key innovation of the Air Rejuven8 is its injection-molded exterior cage. Made from one shot of TPU polymer, the network of diamond-shaped “struts” is engineered and aligned to fit around the foot to be both supportive and non-restrictive. The spacing, orientation, and thickness of each strut adds support and flex only where it is needed, allowing the use of less material in the upper. The strength-to-flex characteristic of the diamond’s geometry gives the structure its minimal, yet highly functional quality. The entire network conforms dynamically to the changing shape of the athlete’s foot in motion and at rest, while the openness of the structure allows for airflow, breathability, and the movement of moisture away from skin needed in comfort footwear.
Once again Nike proofs that innovation is still one of their highest principles with the Rejuven8. In the following posts we present you the outcome of the above described process, the Rejuven8 Olympic Village Pack and the Medal Stand Pack.
Before check out after the jump some more images of the creation process of the Rejuven8.

Totally unexpected Nike hits us with an entirely new model, the Air Zoom Talache Mid. The well chosen mix of materials (velour, suede and leather), good color combinations, nice silhouette and premium look make the sneaker a nice addition to the line-up. It already looks comfortable from the pictures. Also a nice touch is the entirely leather covered mid-sole. Finally some innovation again and not another re-release.
SoldOut has them in stock now in two colorways. Our favorite is for sure this grey colorway, inspired by the Air Max 95.
Check out many more pictures after the jump.

With the 485 Collection, The North Face finally presents an urban collection that is not targeted only at the sports enthusiast, but simply innovative urban sportswear. The 485 outerwear collection breathes an urban, artistic spirit into trusted quality and innovative materials.
All pieces in the collection are both breathable and water resistant, as they use Gore-Tex for the entire 485 collection. The jackets come in black, olive and brown and stay overall subtle, concentrating on the essentials.
We are glad to see The North Face moving this direction. The collection has been released this season and is now available at The North Face retailers as well as online. Check out some more pieces of the North Face 485 Collection after the jump.

We have reported about the Nike Tech Pack before and attended the official presentation with the designers in Milan a couple of months ago. Thanks to Hypebeast we can show you nice pictures of the entire line-up.
Global athletic brand Nike has taken a different approach to everyday fashion with the introduction of the Tech Pack, designed by Jarrett Reynolds and Michael Leon. Nike’s technological advances in the athletic industry has been nothing short of remarkable as they continually push boundaries to create an athletic edge for its wearers. However the Tech Pack is now offering it’s heralded technologies on a more casual front. Items such as the classic Windrunner jacket are now being created with performance materials and new age fabrication techniques to allow for a better every day experience.

To aid in this process, Nike enlisted various designers and style leaders around the world for their help in creating the perfect product. At the initial presentation of the line the designers told us that they had for the M-65 jacket that is part of the pack, they had something crazy like 50 samples made before achieving the perfect product. The line consists of windbreakers, t-shirts, crewneck sweaters, jackets and more.
At first the line will be expensive, even though worth the money. But once the technology involved in the collection becomes mainstream, which we predict, prices will also be going down. It is great seeing that Nike is being innovative again!
Check out the entire collection after the jump.