Basketball shoes have evolved very little since 2010 era Kobe Bryant's models. Meanwhile, running shoes have advanced significantly in geometry, construction and materials, enhancing performance. Due to the distinct demands of each sport, innovations in running shoes have not translated to basketball shoes, as it was in the past, resulting in stagnation in basketball shoe development over the past 15 years.
How could basketball shoes be finally improved?
This personal project aims to rethink the function of basketball shoes, considering the dynamic movements players make on the court. By redesigning the upper and tooling geometry, the focus is on maximizing grip, stability, and court feel without sacrificing impact protection and comfort.
Separated fingers maximise feet functionality and allow for broader contact surface at the forefoot resulting in the capability to generate bigger quantity of grip but also a more stable platform, especially on sharp contact angles.
Cushioning would also benefit of toes separation, allowing the midsole/outsole foam to properly expand. So the choice of UA Flow foam (a unique material used for the tooling, both for traction and impact protection) is clearly justified, taking advantage of foam expansion to increase grip and cushioning at the same time.
Glove like upper better distributes lateral impact forces across the whole upper, finger by finger, avoiding a single, very hard, contact point on the lateral side.
The capability to more efficiently distribute loads across the upper and the sole unit would benefit stability and weight, allowing for lighter more nimble parts.
To address potential foot strain, a fork-shaped plate (similar to the anti-roll bar in a sports car's suspension system) can be included to distribute pressure effectively.
Final views of the Curry Natural Flow shoe concept.
Comparison between runnning and basketball: shoes evolution in the last 10-15 years and type of mobility required; this last factor makes the tech transfer really difficult and is part of the cause of the stagnation in basketball shoes evolution.
Modern basketball footwork for oncourt mobilty and jumping/landing
Articulation - the idea of articulating forefoot has been mutuated from nature and all terrain vehicles. Gecko's leg/fingers inspiration was also adopted to design the outsole pattern for ultimate grip.
Fork plate - articulating the forefoot could expose fingers and foot structures to incresed stress, especially just after the athlete will adopt this new type of construction for first time; so, to distribute more evenly these solicitations, I've added a specifically articulated fork shaped plate which is formed by three longitudinal arms connected at the very front of the shoe by a transversal bar. Proper geometrical and structural design will provide the right combination of articulation/flexibility and stress distribution.
Transversal frontal bar works as an anti roll bar (or sway bar) in car suspensions, sharing loads across forefoot, whille longitudinal elements will also provide localized energy return to each of the 3 fingers of the tooling structure, maximizing propulsion. Central arm has been extended well beyond midfoot, where it's also wider, to provide the necessary level of torsional rigidity to the shoe.
A few more views of the project development through Gravity Sketch virtual reality modeling platform. Design phase started from an actual human foot model to better match forefoot anatomy and study the articulation of upper and tooling.
How the shoe could look like at the feet of a real player during a game? Thanks to AI we can predict it