Amidst the Christmas rush you may have missed out one of Nike’s latest releases, the newest iteration of the company’s extremely popular NikeCourt Vapor line. Enjoying somewhat of a showcase at the Australian Open this month, the Air Zoom Vapor X, which first hit shelves in December, is the new expression of that series, designed with insight with longtime collaborator Roger Federer who describes the new pair as “the next generation” and “lighter than the 9 and 9.5”.
Described as lighter and larger than previous models, the new athletic sneakers are said to allow players to move more efficiently, which would explain the mass adoption at the current tournaments with everyone from Madison Keys to Nick Kyrgios favouring the expression.
“There is a fine line between rigidity and elasticity”, said Keys, speaking to Vapor X’s open engineered mesh which alleviates that break-in demand. “It feels more flexible”.
Though the shoe sports the same fit as the precious silhouette, the Vapor X features a larger, more aggressive foot frame designed to provide enhanced containment: a big progression for the shoes Dynamic Fit system. The shoe’s traction pattern has been tweaked using data culled from a Nike Sports Research Lab study on tennis wear patterns, resulting in the modern herringbone, formed through computational design which follows pressure and traction maps that allow for different densities in different areas. This involves increasing the scale of the rubber toe bumper as well as the mid-foot shank, while weight has been reduced to offer greater stability.
for more information on the Vapor X and where to grab yourself a pair head to Nike.com.
———-
