Cool Hunting

Continuing to push the limits of sportswear innovation, the Zoom Victory Spike and Precool vest are two Nike products that impressed us when introduced at their media summit earlier this week.

The Zoom Victory spike takes its design inspiration from the engineering of a suspension bridge, lending strength with minimal use of materials. (We think it looks a lot like a Calatrava, pictured via Lost at E Minor.) Embroidering the crisscrossing Vectran threads (stronger than Kevlar) into the fabric, a feature they've dubbed "Flywire," results in extraordinary support At a mere 93 grams, the shoes break all previous records for weight. They'll be out this July, followed by the Hyperdunk (overheard at the summit "It's so a Huarache.") which employs the same technology.

While the Precool vest, an accessory that cools an athlete's core temperature improving performance, won't be available to the public, we think it's worth checking out for looks alone. Drawing on '60s fashion's use of pailettes as a way to hug the contours of the body, the vest uses insulated triangle-shaped pods filled with water, which when frozen, cools the body. Pods vary in size according to their positioning on the body, minimizing the overall weight. The Burning Man aesthetic comes from aluminum coating designed to reflect heat.