Nike Just Did It
Nike Go FlyEase is the new edition shoe from the brand that is easy to put on and to take off, a completely hands-free shoe, made with accessibility in mind, so people living with disabilities or who just have trouble tying and untying shoes can also have a cool, supportive sneaker for everyday wear.
The new Nike Go FlyEase is intuitive — easy on, easy off — and evidence of how design, innovation, and engineering can meet to answer an ambitious North Star: the creation of a hands-free shoe. All this without destroying the looks and that’s Nike’s way of just doing it right.
Behind the shoe’s smooth motion is a bi-stable hinge that enables the shoe to be secure in fully open and fully closed states.
This duality allows another signature detail: the Nike GO FlyEase tensioner. The tensioner’s unique flexibility super-charges an action many might take for granted (kicking-off a shoe) and completely reimagines this movement as the basis for accessible and empowering design. The Nike GO FlyEase has a patent-pending bi-stable hinge and midsole tensioner that allows for hands-free entry.
But the most inspiring fact about these new handsfree shoes from Nike is that it was inspired by a man living with cerebral palsy. Matthew Walzer, back in 2012, when he was just 16, wrote a letter to Nike asking them to make shoes that he and others like him could wear. Matthew collaborated on the early models of FlyEase with the company. The shoe is made with accessibility in mind, so people living with disabilities or who just have trouble tying and untying shoes can also have a cool, supportive sneaker for everyday wear.
In a talk show, Matthew recounts his experience, “I was born two months premature and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, CP, at birth. And I had overcome a lot to even get to the point to where I could feasibly know in the back of my mind that I could go away to college and that the only thing that was stopping me at the time was, you know, not being able to tie my shoes.”
“I have full dexterity in my left hand and very limited in my right. At the time, there was obviously nothing out there like there is now with the various options of FlyEase. And I didn’t want to have to worry about who was coming to put on my shoes every day. And so I wrote this letter not only for myself but also for the millions of other disabled people out there that can’t put on their shoes for one reason or another. And I honestly wasn’t expecting Nike to respond. I mean, it’s hard to – as a 16-year-old to have that as my expectation. But I knew I had to make my voice heard and let Nike know that there is a need out there for a product like this.”
The shoes priced at USD$120, will be available initially via invite for some NIKE members and will be available for the broader public later this year.
