“I want cushion, I want protection, and I want a shoe to feel responsive.
I pretty much haven’t taken the UA HOVR Infinite off.”
— Aisha Praught-Leer, Jamaican Steeplechase Gold Medalist
<span style="color: #808080;">Under Armour takes athlete feedback very seriously and then implements it into their shoes. They sit down with runners and find out what they need in a running shoe. When designing the UA HOVR Infinite, UA wanted to understand how athletes fundamentally move and defined the physical to produce a shoe that provides a plush cushioning experience. The other part of the HOVR shoe formulary that they designed is the energy web. The purpose of the textile is to contain all of the energy that comes into the soft cushion core for a smooth ride with the right amount of cushioning and bounce.
The mission behind creating HOVR was to attack gravity. The shoes are built to perform over hundreds of miles. And that’s what the HOVR wrapped core — the magic element — gives to the runner. The energy web gets wrapped around and you end up with the two coming together.
In the heel UA placed durable rubber for a smooth transition with massive flex groups. The process started with the biomet team who gave the designers the insights into gender specific differences between a female foot and a male foot. In the end UA built the best solution for the foot which starts with a sock liner, adjusted collar dimensions, adjusted vamp dimensions, and fine tuned the pattern to adjust for better heel fit.
Runners are data-driven. The HOVR has a built-in chip in the right foot, and the chip is powered for the life of the shoe. The technology allows UA to go really deep so they can start to look at the athletes cadence, stride length and that will manifest in better pace, more control, and energy dissipation.
The shoe allows you to run with the connected experience with your phone on you or it allows you to leave your phone at home. It turns on and connects with your MapMyRun app and allows UA to actually put programs into the chip that are much more customized and personalized to each athletes run.
