Inside the making of the category-busting Nike Air Zoom Hyperslide

FastCompany: The first thing most athletes do after a game is kick off their sneakers and slip into a pair of slides. Nike and Hyperice are betting that ritual will become something much more intentional. Their latest collaboration, the Nike Air Zoom Hyperslide, looks like an everyday recovery slide, but hidden within its simplistic design is a combination of Air Zoom cushioning, heat, and vibration technology. During Nike’s media briefing, Tobie Hatfield, senior director of athlete innovation, described the Hyperslide as a product designed to begin recovery in the first five minutes after activity.

For decades, athletic innovation focused on helping athletes run faster, jump higher, and generate more power. Recovery was treated as something that happened after an effort was completed—an hour on the training table, a dip in the cold tub, or active stretching. Today, however, recovery is intrinsically a part of performance itself. Teams spend millions on sports science; athletes are extending their careers well into their late thirties and beyond, and longevity is talked about almost as much as explosiveness. Hyperice believes recovery shouldn’t start once an athlete has time to be still.

It should start the moment the final buzzer sounds [Photo: Nike] “The opportunities around this wearable tech segment just become limitless,” says Jim Huether, Hyperice’s CEO. Rather than viewing the Hyperslide as another product across their portfolio, he sees it as part of a larger evolution where footwear and apparel become intelligent, connected technologies that work while athletes go about their day. That vision extends well beyond a singular product launch.

Along with last year’s launch of the Hyperboot , the Hyperslide signals what Nike and Hyperice believe is the beginning of an entirely new category: tech-enabled footwear that blends performance equipment and wearable electronics. The Hyperslide will be available on September 29 for $249 on Nike.com and Hyperice.com, as well as at Best Buy and Dick’s Sporting Goods in the U.S. Recovery: The new performance frontier The conversation around elite performance has shifted beyond what happens during competition. For years sports technology used to revolve around making athletes perform better.

The question driving many a research lab and product development team across the industry today is: How quickly can athletes recover so they can do it all again tomorrow? That evolution has transformed recovery from a postgame routine into a strategic investment. “You have recovery and longevity, and those two words are somewhat synonymous because you need recovery to enhance longevity.” Huerther says. “There was a time 15 years ago where everybody was just focused on training. Athletes were overtraining; their bodies were breaking down.

Over the last decade, as science has evolved, athletes have understood it’s not just about my performance; it’s about the duration of my performance over time.” This shift has reshaped product development. Companies are now focused on how technology can help athletes stay healthier over the span of their careers. Huether believes the shift is creating a new competitive edge. “If you’re feeling better, if you recover properly and you’re coming back the next day feeling in top form, you’re performing better,” he says. “If you’re an athlete who keeps your body intact for 15 years . . .

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The article discusses a significant innovation in athletic footwear that could reshape consumer expectations and brand strategies in the sports industry, making it highly impactful and relevant for brand strategy professionals.