John Kim 
Earlier this year, Nike announced that Nathan Van Hook had made the switch from the burgeoning Sportswear category to the historic Nike Training, taking the decades-old lineage head on as the Design Director. Nate’s artful vision manifested instantly with some flashy models like the Free Trainer 5.0, simultaneously proving that no-frills gym shoes could be apt for the off-the-court hours. The all-new Lunar TR1, which released last week, is also Nate’s doing, and during last week’s media event at the Nike WHQ, we caught up with “the guy who designed the Yeezy 2s” to talk about his new role within the brand.
Nate’s come a long with since we last chatted four years ago, and “Designer of one of the most popular Nikes in history” (the Air Yeezy 2) isn’t the worst thing to be remembered by. But the former star of Sportswear is ready to take on a much larger collective fish – Nike Training; this category is what catapulted Nike to what it is today, and adding Nate’s vision gives us confidence that Training will look as good as it performs. Get an inside scoop from this short interview below, and stay tuned to Sneaker News for more insights and exclusive interviews from the industry’s best footwear designers.
Sneaker News: You’ve made quite a name for yourself in the Sportswear category with shoes like the Air Yeezy 2 and slew of other gems. Why the switch to Training?
Nathan Van Hook: I think for me, it’s just taking on new adventures and new challenges. I actually played a lot of sports growing up, played high-school and college baseball, and it was just interesting to me to take on a challenge and use my background in Sportswear to really catapult a category that I relate to, and to work with and lead a great team.
It’s been amazing so far, working with the top entertainers in the world and the top brands in the world in the past, and now I get to work with the world’s best athletes. It’s really amazing to get real hands-on with the Innovation Kitchen and to really get the best technologies.
SN: The Training category is where a lot of Nike’s latest innovation gets put into play, but it’s one broad category. What’s your mindset when you begin designing a new shoe?
NVH: Well the great thing about Training is that it’s the basis of all sport. You get athletes from Richard Sherman, who is here today, and guys like Marshawn Lynch, but we’re also gathering insight from how LeBron James trains, how Kobe trains, how Neymar trains, how Ashton Eaton trains…that’s whats cool to me,
is that we get to tap into all these sports and help these athletes train, and if it works for LeBron or Neymar or whoever, it’s going to work for the day-to-day guy to. That to me is the coolest part – tapping into what is essentially the entire company.
SN: It’s fairly clear that you’ve been brought on to give the Training category more of a design flair, correct?
NVH: Yeah, like Nike Running, for example – if the product looks good and performs at a high level, people are gonna want to wear it. This shoe right here (points at the Lunar TR1), it’s a no brainer; OG Trainer 1 Low, you can see people wearing that with shorts or pants, but if you’re gonna do some training in it, it’s going to perform at a high level.
So what my team is aiming to do is to bring this performance and innovation with great wearability. I think you’ll see some really amazing shoes coming out throughout the next few seasons. The goal is to really look at a shoe and be wowed by it, but you can totally train in it or wear it casually, like you with Flyknits, etc.
SN: What’s the one thing that you’re bringing to Nike Training that might not have been there earlier?
NVH: We have a great new team put together, but we’re not going away from the formula of bringing the best performance and innovation that the category specializes in. But as I mentioned, we’re giving a fresh new take in terms of wearability because the comfort and performance is always going to be there no matter what.
Many thanks to Nate for taking the time to chat. Read more about Nathan Van Hook and the Nike Lunar TR1.
