We don’t care why Nike made these shoes, we just want them

Behold the first-ever content series between Digital Trends and The Manual. The Bromance has begun. Since there are a plethora of brands out there melding style and technology, we thought we would take this opportunity to profile one item per week for the month of October, breaking them down and offering each of our unique takes on their tech and style components. For the whole series, click here; for one more reason why Nike dominates the shoe universe, read on…

Digital Trends:

There’s something of a kerfuffle brewing between hardcore runners as they assess the relative merits of Nike’s new Free Flyknit and Free HyperFeel running shoes – something about heel strikers versus ball-of-foot strikers and the relative merits of foot support versus barefoot running. Fortunately for us, the only time we run is when trying to avoid an iPhone release stampede, and so the choice is clear.

The Hyperfeel incorporates the coolest part of Nike’s Flyknit technology – the radically minimalist, sock-like upper – with some of its other materials innovations, like the Flywire outer foot supports and Lunarlon innersole to create a shoe that barely feels like a shoe but performs well enough to be a go-to for Olympic-level marathoners. The fact that the Flyknit shoes produce a fraction of the production waste of traditional athletic shoes gives a shoe we’re already about to buy environmental credentials that we can lord over anyone who points out how cool these things look – and that’s pretty much everyone.

The Manual:

We don’t think anyone has thought about our feet this much since that pedicure we had to get for that beach wedding our girlfriend took us to. There was even a scientist involved in this Hyperfeel creation who used pressure-mapping and high-speed film to analyze the foot in motion. Applause! Besides having happy feet, style wise, these kicks are refreshingly simple and clean. They may still be on the neon train, but we don’t mind since the shoe is like a second skin and makes us feel like we are walking on clouds of awesomeness.

We are also fans of the shoes light weight (6.4 oz) and flexibility, perfect to roll up and stash in our carry-on for weekends away near or far.