Lighter, Faster, Stronger: Nike Flyprint Brings 3D Textile Printing to Footwear Production

The innovation at Nike continues with NIKE FLYPRINT: the first 3D-printed textile upper to be utilised in performance footwear.

Starting with a TPU filament, which is unwound from a coil, melted and laid down in layers, Nike Flyprint uppers are produced through solid deposit modelling, also known as SDM. Specific lines of the material can be adjusted as required while preserving the overall construction, and the speed in how the process works means that testing and revision times are reduced substantially. In short, Flyprint allows for the most efficient design with the greatest athlete benefit, in the shortest time.

The textile also works seamlessly with many other materials, most notably Flyknit yarns, to provide a perfect balance of fit and structure. The yarns can be created to thermally bond with the Flyprint textile, eliminating any need for stitching: true one-piece construction. 3D textiles can be fused together without using any additional bonding agents, reducing frictional resistance between the interlaced (warp and weft) yarns, offering precision-tuned containment. As well as the customisation and speed advantages, the Flyprint process results in lighter and more breathable construction than Nike’s more traditional use of textiles.

Unsurprisingly, Nike Flyprint uppers are designed to help athletes perform at their fastest: the first use of Flyprint is in the Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite Flyprint shoe. Created for Eluid Kipchoge, and driven by his feedback following last year’s Berlin Marathon, the new upper improves the VaporFly Elite shoe and makes it 11 grams lighter than Kipchoge’s original pair. Watch for Flyprint technology to feature across Nike’s future footwear offerings. In the meantime, you can check out the latest footwear selection at NIKE via the banner below.