They needed to completely distance themselves from the original implementation of Space Hippie in footwear to make this work for a basketball shoe.

But nevertheless, a small bit of progress was birthed with each failure and eventually they crafted the perfect cocktail. Ross said trying to marry this groundbreaking technology with the world of performance involved an intense “rinse and repeat” process of edit, revise and fail. A compromise in any of those key areas was unacceptable. They needed to find the perfect balance between functionality, style, performance, and sustainability with this particular silhouette. The process required a level of collaboration and ingenuity that pushed the Nike team to their creative limits. He said the movement was always intended to finds its way to basketball.

I had a chance to speak with Ross Klein, Senior Creative Director of Men’s Footwear Performance, about how this vision came to fruition. And now Nike has officially brought them to the performance domain with Cosmic Unity. The Move To Zero and Space Hippie initiatives are far and away the most ambitious and creative undertakings the industry has ever seen. Their latest endeavor might be the equivalent of handing the baton to Michael Johnson on the anchor leg of a 4 x 200 meter relay in the ’96 Olympics. Nike has always been at the forefront of innovation in the athletic apparel realm.

Nike cosmic unity space hippie