Nike Flyknit line takes off with 2 more entries

Nike introduced the world last year to "Flyknit," its sock-like running shoe with an environmental ethos. This week, the company introduced two more to help fill out the product line.
On Monday, the company introduced a Flyknit running shoe paired with one of Nike's most commercially successful soles, Lunarlon. It followed that Tuesday with the "Nike HTM Flyknit Chukka," a shoe chief executive Mark Parker helped design.

Parker, who joined Nike more than 30 years ago as a shoe designer, created the chukka with fellow Nike designer Tinker Hatfield and a Nike collaborator, Hiroshi Fujiwara.

Discussing the company's second-quarter financial results in a Dec. 20 conference call with stock analysts, Parker became especially animated when the subject turned from basis points and gross margins to Flyknit.

"Let me say I am incredibly bullish," Parker said. "I mean, I'm a product -- self-admitted -- product geek here."

The chief executive continued:

"We're very discriminating on new technologies like Flyknit. And (we) feel this is one of those technologies that has incredibly massive potential, let me put it that way. Not only within Running, as I said before, but across multiple categories.

"What form that takes, you'll see. I mean, that's all I can say.

"It'll -- you can't judge the applicability of Flyknit based on the products that you've seen to date. This technology has tremendous potential, tremendous possibilities, and as I said, some of the most exciting product we have in the pipeline is involving the use of Flyknit technology."

Parker and Nike Brand president Charlie Denson introduced Flyknit at an event in New York last February.

At the time, Parker also revealed that he'd collaborated with Hatfield and Fujiwara on one of the initial entries in the Flyknit running shoe array.

He also said there were other areas where Flyknit technology could be applied.

Nike designers like Flyknit as a performance material because it is lightweight and conforms to a foot's shape.


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The shoe combines Nike Flyknit technology Lunarlon cushioning.
Nike Machines similar to those used to weave fabrics create the Flyknit upper, eliminating the material waste that is typical for the creation of other shoe uppers.
As enthusiastic as Nike executives have been about Flyknit, there isn't much evidence to support their rosy sales forecasts. But there's no reason to doubt them either.

"It's going to be just like Lunarlon was," said Sam Poser, an analyst with Sterne Agee. "A year from now it will be just like Lunar, it's going to continue to grow."

Poser was referring to Lunarlon, the running shoe cushioning that was introduced during the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008 and has grown into a $2 billion line of business.

Retailers, though, have been taken aback by the suggested retail price for the Flyknit shoe -- $150 -- said footwear analyst Matt Powell of SportsOneSource.

Powell believes consumers will gravitate to Flyknit in part because of the price.

"They'll want to be able to show they spent that kind of money to wear that kind of shoe."

UPDATE: The Nike HTM Flyknit Chukka ($170) will be available starting in February at select retailers around the world including Nike Stadium Milan, Nike Stadium Paris and 1948 in London. The Nike Flyknit Lunar1+ ($160) will be available beginning in February.