Ever since I have been lacing up the kicks, the myth has been out there... These shoes will make you jump higher, run faster, or even make you play better. It's actually one of the marketing campaigns Nike used with its first pair of Jordan's to turn itself into a billion dollar company.
Well it looks like that whole idea is back, only this time... it’s for real.
Athletic Propulsion Labs is the newest player to come into the athletic footwear industry and they are using a special pitch: The first performance basketball shoe designed to instantly increase a player’s vertical leap.
The Goldstons both grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of Southern California (That’s USC people), were they played basketball for USC under Tim Floyd and then for a brief time played football for Coach Carroll as well.
They were brought up in and around the athletic footwear industry. The twin’s dad was a top executive for Nike, Reebok, L.A. Gear, spent time with Adidas and worked with Converse as well.
About three years ago the family decided they wanted to try and create the most innovative athletic footwear company and centered it on breakthrough technology designed to dramatically increase athletic performance and hopefully.... vertical leap.
APL, is singularly focused on creating world class, high performance athletic footwear products that are unlike anything that’s ever been seen in the industry. They are beginning with the launch of a basketball shoe line, and the goal is to do something in the category that’s never been achieved before. APL has been waiting to create a shoe that makes you jump higher.
There’s been the Jumpsoles, there’s been the Air Alerts, and there have always been products that allow you to train to jump higher. APL wanted to create a shoe that made you jump higher instantly.
The goal is to constantly strive to develop innovative products featuring the highest quality materials and workmanship. That’s really the companies mission and their goal is helping you jump higher.
The twins say “We are trying to be like the Ferrari or Lamborghini of the footwear industry. We want to create something that’s exclusive, that’s got great materials, and is based on fine-tuned engineering.”
It seems that the company has created something that really is revolutionary… whether it’s the uppersole, outsole, midsole, sockliner, or anything, its quality… that is pretty much the goal of their brand and the company.
APL wanted to create a basketball shoe that was unlike anything anybody’s ever made before. They worked with a group of footwear experts and advisers for the company and then internally began to develop the technology and shoe design concept around the promise of creating the first shoe that would actually instantly increase vertical leap.
For new companies, unless there is a truly amazing concept or technology, it’s almost impossible to break into the game. Nike came out with the waffle sole, Under Armour came out with moisture wicking fabrics for their clothing line…you need to have something powerful to make a statement and that’s what they have done with the Concept 1.
The shoe design and fabrication was inspired by two of the most exotic automobiles: the Pagani Zonda and Koenigsegg CCXR. They’re both million dollar plus carbon fiber bodied supercars. That’s what APL wanted to create its brand around. They wanted to use carbon fiber and expensive materials, and materials that appeared to look exotic and things of that nature. They wanted to engineer the shoes to be like the cars – super high performance. And that was the basic premise for the company; everything has to be super high performance. The Concept 1 shoe is designed to be the best playing shoe possible... to date, everyone that’s worn the shoe swears by it. APL utilized styling that makes a strong statement about those who can purchase the shoes because it’s so exclusive and it is so expensive. The amount of time and effort that went into selecting the design, the materials, and working on the device in Concept 1 is reflected in the products they are introducing.
For decades now people have been hoping that they could get a basketball shoe that would instantly make them jump higher or give them a competitive advantage on the court. APL’s slogan is: “Stop Dreaming. Jump Higher.” It also translates to the basketball court in other areas because you’re lighter on your feet, you feel like you can move better, and you’re more explosive and that’s really what players want and what APL gives.
There is a device in the shoe, that no other shoe has, (or will be able to have based on its patens) is a spring like device …they are calling it the "Load ‘N Launch technology device", it is placed in the forefoot, just in front of the ball of the foot and the flex zone. The technology features a propulsion device that compresses in the “load” phase and then releases in the “launch” phase to help drive the athlete upward. This will provide the wearer with greater velocity and height than the conventional basketball shoe. That’s basically the bread and butter of the shoe – the compression in the load phase, and the release in the launch phase. That’s really how the device works… the second you put on the shoe, you feel as though you have a powerful piece of athletic technology under your foot. It would be similar to sitting in the supercars that were mentioned earlier, you feel the torque and horsepower the second you’re in the car. You know when you put on this shoe that the shoe’s going to make you jump higher. It’s just one of those feelings. You can feel the device and you can see the device on the bottom, so it really adds to the perception that this shoe is going to work… and it does.
Along with the Load Device there is also a shank that runs throughout the shoe to help transfer energy from the heel to the forefoot and to help maximize the technology.
So what are the results of the shoes? Studies have shown there have been people who have gotten an average as high as 3.5 to 4 inches added to their vertical leap. There are times when guys have put on the shoes and have gotten as high as 5 inches.
As I mentioned before, the founders of APL been around the footwear game for a long time… they’ve had the benefit of meeting and talking to tons of people that have already been revolutionaries in the footwear industry. One of those people was Tuan Le, who runs Breitenbush Design, he was the original creator of the And1 Tai Chi. Once Tuan met with APL, they explained the mission of the company and what we hoped to accomplish with the Concept 1. As soon as he was in the loop, he was just throwing designs out left and right. Tuan creates his designs all by hand, he doesn’t use the computer so every time we wanted to make a subtle change, Tuan would redo the whole drawing which was pretty incredible.
APL eventually came to a few different designs and then went through the sample process. From there, the Goldston twins made their own tweaks to the design. They added a couple things you see on the shoe such as the green piping and the translucent outsole. They wanted to make sure that the Load ‘N Launch technology would really fit in with the shoe and make you jump higher. That took many rounds to get the propulsion mechanism and the materials used in the device to the point where it was ideally suited to increase the vertical leap on indoor and outdoor basketball courts. Once they had created a device that was delivering an instant increase, that’s when we really started to look at the materials for the shoe, from the carbon fiber on it to the rebound EVA midsole, to the crystal rubber outsole.
From the first sample run to the last confirmation sample testing, the results are unbelievable…now it’s not comparable to any other shoe on the market.
With such high performance results David Stern and the NBA have taken notice of this
The NBA is prohibiting its players from wearing the new line of sneakers that claim to increase vertical leap.
"Under league rules, players may not wear any shoe during a game that creates an undue competitive advantage," the NBA said in a statement Tuesday.”The Goldston brothers said that many NBA players, including about 30 percent of the rookie class, expressed interest in the shoes but, they wouldn't reveal names because the players had signed with other companies.
Out...Cundiff
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