Home Latest News UNDER ARMOUR UNVEILS ITS FASTEST PERFORMANCE RUNNING SHOE YET

UNDER ARMOUR UNVEILS ITS FASTEST PERFORMANCE RUNNING SHOE YET

CREATED TO HELP RUNNERS REACH THEIR FLOW STATE

March 3, 2021

Tested for over 11,000 miles, the UA Flow Velociti Wind is the latest chapter in running innovation with a disruptive design and all-in-one cushioning system that eliminates the rubber outsole. What is the flow state? The feeling you get when you could keep running for miles. The feeling of wanting to keep going one more mile – because you feel so good. The feeling of light, effortless speed. The feeling of the wind at your back. Every runner is searching for that flow state.

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Under Armour is inspired by its elite run athletes and is constantly pursuing the most innovative solutions to help them get better. In a sport where every second counts, the Under Armour team sought to create a lightweight yet supportive shoe that would perform for elite runners in their most taxing workouts. The team focused on a simple idea: how can we create a shoe that’s built for speed and breaking barriers? Could they remove the heaviest part of the shoe – the outsole, without sacrificing durability or traction? After three years, over 17 rounds of raw material testing, 9 rounds of biomechanical testing, 15 rounds of shoe testing, and over 11,000 miles of wear testing – they did it. Introducing the all-new UA Flow midsole.

UA Flow is a responsive, grippy, and supportive singular-foam compound that eliminates the rubber outsole, enabling Under Armour to create an innovative, high-traction running shoe with nothing on the market like it today. UA Flow makes its debut in the running category with the UA Flow Velociti Wind, a high-performance running shoe offering. The UA Flow Velociti Wind was designed and engineered to provide great responsiveness and energy return, grippy traction so you can run with confidence, and a ground-breaking super-engineered upper solution, UA Warp, that moulds perfectly to the human form to unlock performance. The UA Flow Velociti Wind is designed for speed over longer distances – putting the wind at your back with every stride

CREATED TO HELP RUNNERS REACH THEIR FLOW STATE

UA Flow came from the minds of UA’s Footwear Innovation Team in Portland, Oregon, who partnered with some of the world’s best material science companies to bring a completely new footwear experience. They focused on the simple idea: how could they make it feel like the wind is at your back with every stride? The solution: think outside the box by eliminating the traditional rubber outsole completely, all while providing comfort, flexibility and traction with every step.

“Flow is smooth in every sense of the word. It’s a smooth experience while running in the shoes. It’s a smooth feeling when going through the entire gate cycle and foot strike. And it also feels smooth in the sense that it is lacking distraction. There’s nothing there that is getting in the way of you and your flow state.” – Tom Luedecke, Creative Director of Footwear Innovation

The development of UA Flow was executed in partnership between Dow and the Under Armour team including Innovation, Product Design, Biomechanics, Athlete and Consumer Insights groups, and many others – with over 50 people involved in collectively bringing this new technology to fruition. Over 130 elite athletes ran more than 11,000 miles during the product wear testing phase of the UA Flow development process. The UA Flow midsole technology made its debut in the basketball category with the launch of Stephen Curry’s signature shoe, the Curry Flow 8, under his new namesake brand. Working with the basketball legend meant the performance team could leverage their learnings across categories, and design footwear solutions for elite basketball and run athletes.

WHAT IS UA FLOW?

UA Flow disrupts the design of a traditional running shoe by completely eliminating the rubber outsole, reducing the 2-3 ounces of weight that it adds, on average, from a traditional running shoe. UA Flow is the lightest midsole technology in UA’s current running lineup, bringing unparalleled lightweight cushion and long-lasting technology to the run category. The foam has naturally sticky traction, so traditional bulky overlays of the past aren’t needed.

UA Flow debuts in the run category with the UA Flow Velociti Wind, a lightweight performance running shoe designed for runners who seek a neutral platform with a go-to fast feel. At just 8.5oz (men’s size 9), this shoe is a solution for runners looking for speed and support in their tempo workouts, fast-paced long runs, and longer road races.

ALL NEW FEATURES CREATE A SHOE MADE FOR PERSONAL BESTS

UA Warp is a groundbreaking upper that moulds perfectly to the human form to unlock performance. It features supporting tapes that act like seatbelts on the foot, placed precisely where our biomechanists found them to be most helpful for a runner. The tapes are in tension when you need them and relax when you don’t – eliminating any buckling and pinch points from traditional uppers built with continuous materials.

The UA Warp upper then moves in unison with the foot, supporting it in each step to help unlock performance by improving the efficiency of the foot to shoe interface in each stride. UA Warp locks you onto the UA Flow midsole without getting in the way of the foot’s natural movement.

The UA Flow Velociti Wind helps runners grip the surface better and run with confidence, with unparalleled traction. Flow’s rubberless outsole provides higher traction than traditional compounds to grip the surface better. Even without a traditional outsole, weartesters found that UA Flow performed in any condition they faced – from wet cement to uneven gravel and variable roads. “UA Flow is another huge leap forward for Under Armour—and it opens up the possibilities for future models and seasons,” said Josh Rattet, Under Armour Vice President of Global Footwear. “We have been deliberate and focused on our quest to build an authentic and credible run brand over the past few years, and the UA Flow Velociti Wind is truly a testament to our team’s commitment to creating solutions to make all runners better.”