Nike Celebrates the Athlete in All of Us With FLYEASE Technology
Beginning with a letter to Mark Parker and ending with a whole new sneaker line.
In 2012, 16-year-old Matthew Walzer, who has suffered from cerebral palsy all his life, directly addressed a personal letter to Nike CEO Mark Parker calling for shoe design to take into account the significant portion of the population who, due to health conditions, find it impossible to carry out the seemingly simple task of tying one’s shoelaces. The result was the development of FLYEASE technology by Tobie Hatfield, which bypasses the conventional lace system for a Velcro strap and zip feature that opens the shoe from the heel, thus allowing people such as Matthew to wear basketball sneakers with the same pride as everyone else. Ending with LeBron James himself bestowing Matthew with the final product of his letter — the Nike Zoom Soldier 8 FLYEASE — watch the video above for the full story behind Nike’s newest shoe technology.
