For visionary Nike leader Sandy Bodecker, embracing skateboarding was a tacit nod to the sport's power to change the way people view potential. Throughout its history, skateboarding has challenged the status quo. Whether in reimagining empty pools or spotting discrete runs within cityscapes, skateboarders have given fresh life to the built environment — realizing new styles, tricks and techniques along the way. The sport's dynamic evolution has led to inclusion in Tokyo this summer, and even as it reaches a new competitive height, the sport never falters in celebrating the joys of creativity.
Fittingly, the Nike SB Sandy ZoomX Bruin honors Bodecker's vision and skateboarding's verve.
The shoe's engineering drafts from another boundary-pushing Bodecker project, the quest to break the 2-hour marathon barrier and the subsequent invention of NEXT% running technology. Bodecker believed there was application of the idea to skateboarding, and the Nike SB Sandy ZoomX Bruin transfers that belief through athlete-led insight to deliver the most comprehensive skate competition tool imaginable.
At its core is a drop-in midsole combining the ultra-resilient Nike ZoomX foam for cushioning and a full-length carbon fiber plate for pop. It's radical, for sure, but also discretely hidden within the decades-favored classic Bruin silhouette. Another progressive twist, again drawn from Breaking2, is a skateboarding-first Flyknit upper, formed from material that has been custom-printed with Mark Smith's “Blue Sky Dreamer” portrait of Bodecker, which hangs in The Bodecker Foundation space in Portland, Ore.
The Nike SB Sandy ZoomX Bruin will be available in a limited release in Tokyo this summer.
