Nike is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and it’s doing so while keeping the next 50 years in mind. In keeping with its sustainability goals, the company has debuted Nike Forward, the brand’s most significant apparel innovation since Dri-Fit. Using punch-needle machines, the line moves away from traditional knit and woven processes to rethink fleece and produce “a completely new material that drastically reduces its carbon footprint,” Carmen Zolman, VP Innovation Apparel Design at Nike, said in a release.
More than five years of research went into the development of Nike Forward, which ultimately seeks to reduce the number of steps in material fabrication. Rather than follow a multistage creation cycle — which includes spinning yarn, knitting, cutting, sewing, and more — Nike Forward connects multiple thin layers using a needle punching process, tangling them together to create the fabric. The simplified procedure significantly reduces energy consumption, du carbon emissions by an average of 75 percent compared to traditional Nike fleece. Nike Forward material also has a lighter density than its traditional counterpart, and the finished product is comprised of 70 percent recycled content by weight.
