Insight
From a kitchen experiment, for an innovation revolution.
Unexpected sources of inspiration often catalyze product innovations at Nike. For example, the Waffle Racer. While watching his wife make waffles one Saturday morning, Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman was struck with the idea that the waffle iron pattern might be what he was looking for in his quest to make a better gripping running shoe sans spikes. Within minutes, Bill was pouring a can of liquid urethane into the waffle iron, creating the basis of Nike’s first running shoe.
Over the years, the mentality of looking at things unconventionally and turning them upside down has been responsible for many product innovations. But Nike has never experimented for the sake of experimentation. Every new angle, every idea, every innovation is driven by athlete insight.