Nike has offered a rare look at how its running shoes make the jump from concept to store shelves, revealing the real-world testing process behind its new Vomero Premium. The company’s prototype program, usually hidden from view, relies on elite athletes like marathoner Conner Mantz and world champion Faith Kipyegon to provide unfiltered feedback on early samples—long before any logos or marketing enter the picture.
According to Nike’s in-house account of the process, early test pairs are deliberately stripped of branding and distinctive design elements. Zoom Air units and midsoles are taped over to prevent athletes from forming opinions based on looks or assumed technology. The goal is to gather pure, sensation-based feedback about how the shoe performs across different paces and surfaces. Mantz recalls testing his first Vomero Premium prototype in late 2023, focusing on how it moved and responded during long runs rather than how it appeared.
The production version of the Vomero Premium sits firmly in Nike’s cushioned trainer category, featuring a 55mm heel stack, full ZoomX foam midsole, and two exposed Zoom units in the forefoot and heel—components adapted from the brand’s racing spikes. Those features make it too tall for official competition under World Athletics rules, but ideal for recovery days and high-mileage training blocks where comfort takes precedence over speed.
Feedback from the field is paired with biomechanical data gathered at Nike’s Sport Research Lab (NSRL). There, coaches and scientists monitor VO₂, stride efficiency, and impact metrics during treadmill sessions, swapping shoes mid-test to isolate what works. The results, which Nike calls “signals,” help engineers fine-tune foam density, upper fit, outsole grip, and other design variables. That cycle continues—test, adjust, retest—until both athletes and lab data align. Mantz says it took five rounds of prototypes before the shoe “quietly did its job in the background.”
Kipyegon’s experience echoed that process. For her Breaking4 training, Nike built a custom spike for performance sessions and used early Vomero Premium versions for recovery runs, illustrating how the same development feedback loop supports both elite and everyday runners.
In a broader move toward accessibility, Nike recently expanded parts of its NSRL testing to the public. Its mobile lab setup, which uses treadmill runs and motion capture to analyze gait and biomechanics, is now available to everyday runners in select global cities, including London’s Oxford Circus flagship store. Participation is free through Nike Membership, though bookings are required.
What the company’s reveal ultimately shows is that its most advanced running shoes are not born in isolation but through an iterative process driven by athlete input and data analysis. The Vomero Premium may be a cushioned daily trainer, but the method behind it—testing, measuring, refining—underscores how performance feedback shapes the final retail product.
