What was the design process Nike followed, from inception to final product?
Starting about 18 months ago, Nike had 45 designers focus their efforts on sports that Nike had not developed products for previously. In terms of fencing, the process began by interviewing a variety of fencers. Three designers went out to a local fencing club and spent time talking with top fencers and having them test a variety of fencing shoes currently on the market. They then brought together a focus group of fencers, 16-24 years old, and asked them what they liked about current shoes, what they would improve, and what each fencer thought they needed in competitive shoe. This is typical for Nike when designing shoes—they spend a great deal of time talking to athletes before they invest any significant time designing prototypes. In addition, they did an extensive literature search to see what insights previous sport research studies could provide relative to injuries and biomechanics. With this background, the design team came up with a few early samples for their first generation
