The Spaces Where Nike Creates the Future of Sport

The LeBron James Innovation Center is where listening to the voice of the athlete is made tangible. While athletes are observed, others are at play too: researching, testing and, yes, creating the future. The goal is to understand athletes' unique needs and opportunities, contextualize challenges and generate breakthroughs across the spectrum of play and movement in a variety of environments. Much of that action takes place in the building’s top floor, the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL), which houses the world’s largest motion-capture installation (400 cameras); a basketball court, pitch and track with 97 force plates; sweat-wicking mannequins; and three environmental climate chambers that can mimic nearly any condition on Earth. Some of the innovator's prize tools: More than 80 prototyping machines that allow the Nike team to produce samples to test in under an hour.

Understanding the past can inform and inspire how we innovate for the future, and no space at Nike preserves and stokes a more thorough accounting of our heritage than the Department of Nike Archives. This 50-plus-year Nike archive is the greatest in the world. From the actual busted waffle iron Bill Bowerman made famous to the self-lacing shoes from everyone's favorite futuristic movie to Serena's iconic gladiator outfit, DNA houses the tangible history — papers, posters, photographs, memorabilia, and of course, shoes — that represent the culture and soul of the Swoosh.

There’s something magical about putting on a fresh pair of Nike Air shoes, and we think it's thanks to our unique Air technology. In three facilities in the U.S. — two located a mile from Nike World Headquarters — experts on our Air Manufacturing Innovation (Air MI) team make that magic happen. Air MI is where we produce the propriety material that forms our Air units, and where we hold 500-plus patents. It's also the place where a highly skilled team comes together to build the products that break sport barriers. Inside the facility is a dedicated team, led by multiple manufacturing expert functions, eight PhDs and more than 100 engineers across 15 engineering specialties. Air MI custom-builds shoe technology platforms across flexible, scalable production lines to deliver the exact capabilities needed to manufacture the next generation of Air. Our skilled production teammates, trained across the line, ensure we deliver Air units with the highest fidelity and quality.

The APCC is a top-secret, state-of-the-art facility focused on innovation in product design. Consider it the home of rapid prototyping for Nike designers, scientists and researchers who need to test, refine and create new ideas for athletes at scale. With advanced methods of make, the APCC explores more flexible and forward-looking approaches that streamline the development and manufacturing process, reducing time and effort, while pushing boundaries in sports innovation.⁠ You’ll find chemical, mechatronics, process and robotics engineers, as well as machinists, all dedicated to accelerating ideas through trial and experimentation, faster and more precisely than ever before.