The Potential of Nike Forward: Innovative Wear that Isn't Woven or Knitted

Nike announced a new innovation platform called Nike Forward, which has successfully significantly reduced energy usage by creating fabric in a completely different way than knitting or weaving. Taking over five years to develop, what kind of technology does Nike Forward use, and how will it impact the future of apparel? To uncover its full scope, we spoke with Nike, Inc. Innovation Apparel Design VP Carmen Zolman.

Heavy rain, floods, extreme heat, wildfires. Recently, the frequency of seeing news about natural disasters worldwide is increasing. Reducing environmental impact and carbon emissions is becoming an increasingly important issue for corporate activities. Among industries, apparel is said to have a large environmental burden due to high energy usage in manufacturing and short life cycles; however, the advent of Nike Forward might lay the foundation towards solving these problems.
 
Nike Forward creates fabric by overlapping and entangling multiple layers of fibers using a patented pending technique that independently refines needle punch technology, typically used in carpet manufacturing. Whereas traditional textiles involve a spinning process to turn fibers into yarn, Nike Forward bypasses this step.