The Nike Swoosh 1 Is Designed to Help Our Littlest Athletes Nurture Their First Steps

The sight of watching a child discover their own movement is one of life's great joys, thrills, anxieties and sources of excitement. Enter the Nike Swoosh 1, a shoe designed to help support our earliest walkers as they take their first steps and discover the world on their own two feet, an emotional milestone for all parents. The shoe was designed with the same philosophy as the brand designs all of its shoes: study kids’ needs, lead with kids’ insights, and create kid-specific innovations that uniquely serve them, similar to the Nike Dynamo Go and Nike Air Max 270 Go.

Promoting natural gait development is crucial for early walkers. Research shows that our lifelong gait pattern begins to solidify as early as five to six months after we learn to walk. Our feet need to bend, flex, grip and splay in order to develop how they’re naturally intended to. Reflecting the close attention Nike paid to this research, the Swoosh 1 is the first Nike Kids shoe ever to receive the American Podiatric Medical Association Seal of Acceptance, a mark signaling how the shoe can help promote natural foot development. 

The shoe’s seamless Flyknit upper provides 360 degrees of pliable support. The shoe can bend in all directions, helping to provide kids the mobility they need to mimic the feeling of cruising around barefoot. (Fun fact: Babies have more nerve endings concentrated in their feet than in any other part of their body.) The wide toe box allows the toes to splay and flex naturally. To ensure all that cruising around doesn’t turn into a fall, the lightweight TPU outsole is grippy for traction and durability.

The Nike Swoosh 1 releases globally in sizes 3C through 7C.