London Design Gold

2025

Starting

Entrant Company

Shanghai Warrior shoes Co. ,Ltd.

Category

Product Design - Outdoor & Exercise Equipment

Client's Name

Country / Region

China

Starting, a high-performance running shoe tailored for top marathon athletes and seasoned marathon enthusiasts, aims to satisfy the extremely strict requirements of users in stability, comfort and energy return during long-distance running. It employs an innovative carbon plate and a lightweight design, while also allowing for personalized customization, ensuring excellent support, efficient impact dispersion, and a good fit to the foot. Such a product effectively empowers athletes to push their limits and achieve their best performance in competitions.

In terms of appearance design, Starting resembles the ancient Chinese weapon ji (polearm). Taking into account modern aesthetic trends and functional needs, it adopts a distinctive color scheme of malachite blue, fluorescent magenta, and obsidian black. These aesthetically pleasing colors enhance the safety of runners in environments with low visibility such as rain or heavy fog. Moreover, the streamlined profile, coupled with the inverted trapezoid heel, greatly optimizes aerodynamic performance by reducing wind drag and lowering overall weight.

Starting innovates a patented carbon plate. The plate, inspired by swimming flippers and cable-stayed bridges, adheres to the principles of kinesiology and physical mechanics, offering stable support and ensuring flexible movement. Meanwhile, it combines a lamellar carbon plate and a columnar one to optimize power transmission and energy return. Considering the gait characteristics of forefoot strike running, the shoe places the toe spring further back, which provides stronger and more efficient propulsion for the forefoot. Additionally, the shovel-shaped side effectively improves lateral stability, preventing form breakdowns and ankle sprains during the latter stages of a marathon when athletes often experience fatigue. Taking into account plantar pressure distribution and foot shapes of various runners, the product utilizes the 3D CNC engraving process for personalized midsole customization. This process enables each mechanical structure to perfectly meet the expectation with micron-level precision, offering athletes a professional and comfortable running solution. The entire shoe weighs only 149g, with the hollowed-out midsole striking a balance between strength and light weight. Furthermore, the thermoformed one-piece upper boasts better elasticity and toughness, well adaptable to long-distance running.

Credits

Yingjie Wang
Huan Liu
Yong Liu
Shengyang Shen
Zihan Luo
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