Nike Hyperschool: Science, with a twist
A look inside the research, technology and physiology that goes into one of The Swoosh’ most innovative lines of apparel.
October 14, 2014
GIMME SHELTER
Just north of New York City’s West Village, near the mouth of the Holland Tunnel that is ready and willing to digest countless New Jersey-bound commuters, exists a 20,000-square foot warehouse fit for a shit’s-about-to-go-down scene in a mob-crime flick. With 40-foot cement ceilings, cement floors, fluorescent light fixtures, and giant reverberating garage doors providing access to various alleyways, it’s every bit as industrial as it sounds. If you’re traveling down Washington Avenue without an automated GPS voice keeping you abreast of the situation, you’re bound to blow right past as the entrance is often hidden behind the trucks and vans parked on the street. It could only be more perfect if “Gimme Shelter” started playing immediately as you exited the back seat of a towncar.
But tucked away inside this very expanse on a random Tuesday afternoon is an African-American male model, roughly 6-foot-4-inches tall with everything where it’s intended to be, wearing nothing but radioactive red and blue shorts that, if you squint just right, appear to be painted on. The word “COMBAT” is stitched into his waste band. He’s standing with his arms ranging at his side, propped on a small, elevated pad which is surrounded by a slew of tiny cameras that are hooked up to a software system ready to replicate every curve, angle and dimple his physique provides on to a 60-inch television. A bespectacled gentlemen speaks to a flock of onlookers, explaining the process, the outcome and the intended use of such results results — all for the sake of technology.
Not more than a stone’s throw from this presentation is a man, running on a treadmill with an oxygen mask attached to his face that would be approved by Bane. In between the two men is a sweating, moving, life-size mannequin named “Hal.” Across the way are full size torsos suspended from the ceiling if it were a giant meat locker, but the upper halves are all clad in Pro Combat gear — neon blues and hot pinks and enough Volt to make the Cleveland media’s collective head explode.
The company responsible for the three-dimensional visualization taking place is called 3dMD, the world’s leading developer of high-precision, ultra-fast 3D surface imaging. They’ve created customized cockpits. They’ve helped aid the correction of spinal issues as well as the repositioning of facial cartilage. But on this day, they’re one of the many arrows in the high-end technological quiver of Nike. The world-wide apparel manufacturer. The Swoosh. The company looking to take training gear to heights unseen while sparing little in the way of expenses to ensure that the gap between present day and potential continues to shrink.
Back in Beaverton, Oregon, where Nike’s pristine campus gets to celebrate their notoriety as the sports world’s most recognized brand and the fact that shares of their company stock are up over 11 percent year-to-date (almost three-times that of the broad, domestic market), there exists a science lab dubbed Nike Sports Research Lab, or “NSRL.” To listen to the rank and file describe it, the term lock-and-key doesn’t even begin to detail the confidential nature of what goes on behind closed doors — the types of doors that only open if your retina matches one of those on file as “authorized.” There are treadmills surrounded by thermo-imaging cameras. There are environmental chambers with sweating, moving mannequins. And there is a motion-capture lab with high-speed cameras collecting video at upwards of 30,000 hertz — roughly 1,000 times that your standard, Black Friday-purchased video cameras. And on this day, they’re all in New York for what Nike dubs “Hyperschool,” a day-long, field trip-style dissertation that provides the why and how in addition to the what.
No longer are t-shirts, shorts, and a pair of light, weather-friendly running shoes enough. Well, not if you’re looking to have an edge on your competition. That male model spending his Tuesday afternoon as a subject? He’s standing in front of the same cameras that once photographed world class athletes like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. When either of the tennis greats need new gear, measurements need not be taken as Nike has an exact digital replica of each woman that can be utilized to create custom apparel as if being sewn together by a digital tailor. The detail is to the point where the imagery can be sent to a 3-D printer and little army-men like figurines can be created on a whim — the very definition of “next level.”
MOTHER NATURE
Picture an old-school science classroom. A chalkboard. An overhead projector. Old exams hanging on the walls. Those one-size-fits-most desks where left-handers are screwed and right-handers have something the size of a regulation Frisbee on which to place all of their belongings. A water fountain. OK, there wasn’t a water fountain — I can’t believe hundreds of students once shared the same drinking dispenser — but there was a teacher. He was an actor, but he played one hell of a late-80s teacher whose goal was to shed some light on all things Hyper and the science that goes in to dealing with the elements just as much as the opposition.
Once the all-too short of a class is dismissed, students depart their desks and head deeper into the warehouse where a set of bleachers sits in front of a minimalist white wall with a large screen affixed to the front. This point could really use some dry ice or ominous music, but the day appears to have more of a celebratory feel to it than a horror movie score would imply. Once the bleachers were filled with students, the presentations began. Pro Combat technology. Hyperwarm max, intended to keep you warm when the elements are doing their damnedest to cool you down, and the Hyperstrong gear, engineered to keep the pressure from on-field impact from resonating all the way to the muscle. And the Hypertight, the apparel provided to outfits like Manchester United and the Seattle Seahawks, aimed to aid in post-activity recovery. Each product coming with its own innovation; each element of science being described by its very own NSRL representative.
“Our function is to provide knowledge and insights. We are the global repository for the science of human performance and potential,” says Matthew Nurse, senior director of the NSRL.
More video plays on, slowing down as the athletes do athletic things. The way a sprinter’s shoes react out of the blocks; the way apparel reacts as a soccer player boots the ball; the way a basketball player looks like something that was sculpted out of stone as he’s dunking a basketball. The entire discussion is a science nerd’s dream — talk of things like biomechanics and joint angles and joint velocity and internal loads. Oh yeah — internal loads — all aimed at providing their athletes (and you!) with the best edge possible. “Data is the new voice of the athlete,” says Nurse.
Atlanta Falcons running back Steven Jackson stops by. Apparently still in town following his team’s loss to the New York Giants, Jackson, an 11-year Nike-sponsored athlete, discusses beating the odds — the average shelf-life of a running back in the NFL is 3.4 years. He talks about his need to have the proper first layer in colder climates due to his preference to not wear sleeves of any kind as they hinder carrying the ball — ”Wind and rain are my nemesis,” he says. And he discusses what it was like to be an intern at Nike, his job of choice when the NFL was in the midst of a work stoppage back in 2011.
As the videos and high-level science sessions come to a close, the Hyperschool continues on through the remainder of the warehouse. Immediately to the left is a treadmill housed within a glass, temperature-controlled case. The man jogging at roughly six miles per hour has an oxygen mask connected to his face while wearing sensory material that keeps track of vitals like heart rate. Behind him are two televisions, one displaying a thermo image of his body’s reaction to the changing elements; the other displaying the changes in his metrics.
“We are always asking ourselves how we can use Nike innovation, science and experience to enable athletes to perform in the worst that Mother Nature throws at them,” said the Nike physiologist on hand. Nike believes that this chamber allows them to accurately control the temperature and humidity in order to best replicate conditions for their athletes, whether it’s Richard Sherman knocking down passes in the cool confines of Seattle, or Tim Howard attempting to block a flurry of laser-beam shots in Brazil.
Next to the masked man on the treadmill is “Hal,” a moving, sweating copper mannequin clad in Nike Pro Combat gear. Hal’s job is to move, and sweat, and provide Nike with feedback of how the materials he is wearing react to his actions. Behind Hal, as you may have guessed, are multiple televisions that provide graphical data of what the three-year-old guinea pig is experiencing. His Nike Pro Combat shirt begins to form to his chest and turn a darker shade of white. Hal has 139 ports that simulate sweating, and the material is doing just what it’s supposed to. But why a mannequin and not a model or Nike athlete? Even in a world that seems to have limitless pockets, Hal helps keep costs down as “human testing is expensive” and Hal’s never asked for a day off. Plus, let’s be honest here — who wants to be the one to test the material that could potentially result in extreme inner-thigh chafing?
WHAT COMPETITION?
One thing becomes very obvious through the course of Nike’s Hyperschool: The company is either not the least bit concerned with the competition within their industry, or simply prefers to pretend that the hurdle doesn’t exist. They’re the world’s most recognized sports apparel brand and continue to grow amidst economical conditions that are showing all of the signs of self-sustaining issues.
But whenever a question is posed, whether regarding something like propriety and patents on items like “Hal” or the technology involved in taking three-dimensional photographs of male models, all of the representatives charged with speaking quickly shifted focus to another area of their business. One even emulated one the company’s higher-ups, saying, “We like to think of it as us versus our potential, not us versus other companies in the space.”
It wouldn’t be far fetched to imagine other apparel companies like Under Armour having code names back in Beaverton, no different than when those inside of the Cleveland Cavaliers front office would only refer to LeBron James by pronouns. It could be something that strikes curiosity, like “David,” or it could be something plain and inconspicuous like “Them.” Either way, zero shits are given and zero words are spoken.
NEXT?
Long before Johnny Manziel was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd-overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft and subsequently thrust into a will-he-or-won’t-he spotlight, the highly decorated quarterback took to his Texas A&M Pro Day clad in black and white camouflage that merely provided an extra layer over the Nike Pro Combat gear that existed underneath. Nike is well-known. It wasn’t long before this that the city of Cleveland had it’s very own 10-story Nike advertisement alongside one of the most traveled streets in its downtown area. But what is “Pro Combat,” exactly? (Well, outside of a brand campaign that garnered some stereotype-based criticism back in 2009.) It’s Nike’s way of taking the data from all of their research, sending it to designers, and providing what aims to be the next, great advancement for the modern — read: bigger, faster, and stronger — athlete, and you. It’s brighter. It’s tighter. It comes in some pretty interesting patterns, ranging from the Manzielian camo to something that looks like it’s straight out of The Matrix. Care not that this base layer is exactly that — a base on which to add additional clothing, thus hiding all signs of color and pattern to the outside world. This gear isn’t just a style choice; it’s a lifestyle choice, and one that quickly found it’s way to the highly-marketable Manziel.
Part of Nike’s research allows them to come up with kitschy tag lines — ”We aim to provide stability when the weather is anything but that,” says Parker Mangum, Nike product line manager and former BYU quarterback — but other portions of their findings get placed into cool visual graphics that paint the picture of exactly what the company is looking to conquer when they’re producing high-end garments. In Manziel’s case, a kid coming from the deep south gets catapulted into the AFC North where the nicest weather he’ll see is the day he arrives to be introduced to the town — it’s all down hill from there. The Browns, due to their 4–12 season of 2013 which included a fired head coach, general manager and CEO, were afforded one of the weaker schedules on an opposing record basis in 2014. But per Nike, the strength of the opponent means very little when it comes to how an athlete’s body can respond to brash conditions. Impact is impact, but the body’s ability to perform is hinged to much more than the name of the jersey on the other side of the ball.
Thus, the 2014 Strength of Schedule — by extreme weather.
Cleveland, large in part thanks to the shores of Lake Erie and the incredible wind chills that take over not long after Halloween, has the 10th-toughest slate when it comes to extreme temperatures. All that dome talk that typically arrives when winter does? Perhaps there’s more to it than the fan experience — would those opposed to a dome still be so if they knew it meant better performance (and recuperation) of those they cheered on for 48 minutes every Sunday?
Also working in Manziel’s favor is the fact that the folks at Nike are well-prepared to provide the slight quarterback with the best chance of survival. Though it’s true that today’s athlete towers over those of yesterday — Calvin Johnson has three inches and 35 pounds on Jerry Rice — Manziel’s 6-foot frame is primed to take a pounding. The company’s research shows that 34 percent of impact sustained by a quarterback are in the shoulders with 27 percent occurring in the lower back. Alas, when producing their impact-cushioning gear (called “Hyperstrong”) you can bet that the focus is placed on these two areas of the body. Ever study Manziel when he’s in his pads? There’s a lower back cushion the size of a phone book strapped to his rib cage. The kid is nothing if not aware.
As the official uniform supplier of the NFL, Nike provides all on-field, baselayer, sideline and practice wear for the league’s 32 teams. But with Manziel being a Nike-sponsored player, his perks can range more in to the custom-fitted Serena Williams category if he plays his cards right. Being a pitchman for their new, high-tech cleats — in addition to wearing instantly marketable gear before even being drafted — is undoubtedly a good start.
Originally published at www.waitingfornextyear.com.
