{"id":3823,"date":"2026-07-11T19:15:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T14:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=3823"},"modified":"2026-07-11T19:15:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T14:15:30","slug":"how-nike-used-vr-and-advanced-simulation-to-create-the-air-max-scorpion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=3823","title":{"rendered":"How Nike used VR and advanced simulation to create the Air Max Scorpion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-adroot=\"true\">\n<p>Nike is raring to put a scorpion under your feet, but the last thing it wants is for you to be stung.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the sportswear giant is introducing the Air Max Scorpion, a sneaker with a colossal airbag and an origin story every bit as unusual as its appearance. At first glance, it\u2019s an oddball, but so too were the Vapormax and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inputmag.com\/style\/travis-scott-nike-finally-announce-their-air-max-270-with-awesome-website\" class=\"T3D\">Air Max 270<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/footwearnews.com\/2018\/focus\/athletic-outdoor\/nike-sneakers-sales-vapormax-air-max-270-q1-2018-earnings-1202685402\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">two runaway hits<\/a> for Nike.<\/p>\n<p>The Air Max Scorpion, which will release on October 5 for $250, boasts more Air than any other Nike sneaker in terms of pounds per square inch. The pods that house the namesake cushioning are also the brand\u2019s most complex yet, as the geometric shape replaces what has traditionally been rounded-off tubes. Visible gaps within the midsole reveal strategically placed contact points between the foot and the airbag, which helps to facilitate a smooth transition in each stride.<\/p>\n<p>When viewed in profile, you\u2019ll see the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inputmag.com\/style\/nike-celebrates-30-years-of-the-air-max-90-by-looking-70-years-into-the-future\" class=\"T3D\">Air Max unit<\/a> sandwiched by what are essentially two plates. Up top, and directly under your feet, is the TPU plate creating the contact points that make the airbag flex in a variety of dimensions. Down low, closest to the ground, is an outsole that\u2019s been computationally optimized to increase traction. The Air Max Scorpion\u2019s upper may not be the focal point, but for an added sense of tactile pleasure, chenille yarn \u2014 used for the very first time in Flyknit \u2014 adds plushness to the sock-like fit.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sWr iGR CEt\">\n<figure class=\"Qf5 E1M\">\n<div style=\"padding-top:61.5131%;\" class=\"vmZ F8Y ap2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/0b6c8f75-55f5-4df1-97c2-69b1a43d8d36-nike-air-max-scorpion.jpeg?w=375&amp;h=231&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/0b6c8f75-55f5-4df1-97c2-69b1a43d8d36-nike-air-max-scorpion.jpeg?w=375&amp;h=231&amp;fit=max 375w, https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/0b6c8f75-55f5-4df1-97c2-69b1a43d8d36-nike-air-max-scorpion.jpeg?w=375&amp;h=231&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2 750w, https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/0b6c8f75-55f5-4df1-97c2-69b1a43d8d36-nike-air-max-scorpion.jpeg?w=760&amp;h=467&amp;fit=max 760w, https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/0b6c8f75-55f5-4df1-97c2-69b1a43d8d36-nike-air-max-scorpion.jpeg?w=760&amp;h=467&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2 1520w\" sizes=\"(min-width:768px) 760px, 375px\" alt=\"Nike Air Max Scorpion\" class=\"uMj EdX\"\/><\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"TrI\"><cite class=\"hW6\">Nike<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Although not overtly made for performance, the Air Max Scorpion applies the Nike mantra \u201cIf you have a body you\u2019re an athlete\u201d to city life. The sneaker was designed to be worn all day and support its wearers in those brief bouts of athleticism to, say, run up the stairs and catch the subway just in time. Nike even simulated such situations in its lab to ensure the sneaker lives up to its urban purpose, as stairs and curbs become the field of play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s some people that tell us they navigate the city and kind of turn it into a playground,\u201d Kathy Gomez, VP of footwear innovation for Nike, tells <em>Input<\/em>. \u201cThey&#8217;ll find streets that aren&#8217;t super crowded so they can go faster, or they&#8217;ll take an extra hill. It&#8217;s like they think of it as a game or a workout, so that inspires us to solve for ways that make sense for their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eighteen months of development went into the Air Max Scorpion, making it the first Nike sneaker to go through its entire design and production cycle during the pandemic. The team working on the shoe did so from home, and timing ended up accelerating the application of technologies that would have been adopted later on otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>Virtual reality allowed designers to sketch in three dimensions, while new simulation software drastically cut down the time needed to test different iterations of the design. A single concept would have required eight weeks to test previously, but for the Air Max Scorpion, Nike was able to test several iterations in just five weeks. With these new tools, Nike didn\u2019t need to produce as many samples as usual, which helped save resources in addition to time. Once the team actually got their hands on a physical mold, it was much closer to the final result than it would have been by using past processes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe gestural sketching allows you to have an idea very fast,\u201d says Andy Cain, VP of footwear product design for Nike. \u201cYou just drop a few curves, you can surface it, you can look at it in all dimensions, and then you can print it. It unlocks a barrier and puts the designer in a place where they can be quite creative. It&#8217;s really fun at the same time. I ended up spending way too many hours [in VR] obsessing because you can solve things really early.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"sWr iGR CEt\">\n<figure class=\"Qf5 E1M\">\n<div style=\"padding-top:133.3361%;\" class=\"vmZ F8Y ap2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/d6732902-75b6-4668-bf5e-a47e929fcfb1-nike-air-max-scorpion_.jpg?w=375&amp;h=500&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/d6732902-75b6-4668-bf5e-a47e929fcfb1-nike-air-max-scorpion_.jpg?w=375&amp;h=500&amp;fit=max 375w, https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/d6732902-75b6-4668-bf5e-a47e929fcfb1-nike-air-max-scorpion_.jpg?w=375&amp;h=500&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2 750w, https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/d6732902-75b6-4668-bf5e-a47e929fcfb1-nike-air-max-scorpion_.jpg?w=760&amp;h=1013&amp;fit=max 760w, https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/d6732902-75b6-4668-bf5e-a47e929fcfb1-nike-air-max-scorpion_.jpg?w=760&amp;h=1013&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2 1520w\" sizes=\"(min-width:768px) 760px, 375px\" alt=\"Nike Air Max Scorpion\" class=\"uMj EdX\"\/><\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"TrI\"><cite class=\"hW6\">Nike<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Another challenge made easier by the new tech was ensuring that the Air Max units performed the same across different-sized shoes. Typically, Nike would begin by designing a sample size 10, and shrinking or enlarging the sneaker could lead to deviations in performance. Thanks to computational engineering, tweaking the geometry of the Air Max Scorpion became much easier and ensures the same experience across all sizes.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to the pandemic, Nike would generally need 22 to 24 months to produce a new sneaker from start to finish. Not only has the Swoosh cut down the time needed by a quarter, but it\u2019s also figured out how to pack more complicated designs into that truncated window. The Air Max Scorpion is just the starting point for the new technologies that helped create it, and we\u2019ll just have to wait and see what else Nike\u2019s designers cook up with their heads in the clouds of VR.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nike is raring to put a scorpion under your feet, but the last thing it wants is for you to be stung. Today, the sportswear giant is introducing the Air Max Scorpion, a sneaker with a colossal airbag and an origin story every bit as unusual as its appearance. At first glance, it\u2019s an oddball,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2022\/9\/14\/f122e97d-d43c-42ef-bfdd-30208bd6f473-nike-air-max-scorpion.jpg?w=1200&h=630&fit=crop&crop=focalpoint&fm=jpg&fp-x=0.4973&fp-y=0.4542","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}