After debuting on the runway at Undercover's Paris Fashion Week show earlier this year and numerous teasers over the past few weeks, Nike has officially revealed the React Element 87.
While this model is intended as a lifestyle option first (much like 2017's Zoom Fly SP), its design has roots in performance. The unique outsole pattern was birthed from experimentation with a drill and a slab of foam, and is the next step forward for Nike's React cushioning. The final design was chosen in an effort to maximize underfoot comfort by accounting for daily foot movement while running, walking, and sprinting.
"At first, the whole process was one of those back-to-basics type of things," says Footwear Design Lead for Nike Sportswear Innovation, Darryl Matthews. "But then we took what we’d learned and applied it through computational design scripts. That’s when things really started clicking."
The React Element 87 includes modern features like its outsole and translucent textile upper, but also borrows design DNA from the Nike Internationalist model from the '80s, seen in the styling of its eyelets and heel clip.
Release information on the Undercover collaboration is still limited, but the React Element 87 is slated to hit retailers in Asia, Latin America, Greater China, and Europe on June 21. North America will have to wait until July 13 for the model's release through Nike SNKRS and other select retailers.
