Nike is trying to sell you ‘mind-body’ shoes

Nike’s new “neuroscience-based footwear” is designed to activate an athlete’s brain before and after a big game. The two shoes, a mule (the $95 Mind 001) and a lace-up sneaker (the $145 Mind 002), feature a distinctive array of 22 orange foam nodes embedded in each sole. Nike says the nodes each move up and down independently, like “pistons and gimbals,” as the athlete walks, mimicking the feeling of walking on the ground in a way that is “scientifically shown” to stimulate the foot and thus activate the brain’s sensory areas.

Nike hasn’t released the scientific evidence that it says shows how the Mind 001 and 002 do help an athlete focus. But Nike spokesperson Jay Paavonpera told The Verge that a white paper on the technology is coming out in “a couple weeks.” He said that the shoes’ designs are based on “hundreds of athletes and thousands of hours of testing.” 

The department that developed the node design, the Mind Science team within the Nike Sport Research Lab, did so by “leveraging one of very few mobile brain and body imaging labs in the world,” the company says. Each node was placed just far enough apart from the others so that the wearer could perceive each as separate, according to Mind Science’s principal investigator, Graeme Moffat. This is the reason why nodes are farther apart in the heel and closer together under the ball of the foot. “Nike Mind is a new sensory-footwear concept that helps reawaken the foot, the body and the mind,” says Nike vice president of innovation and creative director Eric Avar.

While many of Nike’s shoes focus on cushioning, over the years, it’s responded to competition from minimalist-style shoes like the Vibram FiveFingers and Crocs with products like its Nike Free shoes. 

The mule Mind 001, offered in gray and red, and the sneaker Mind 002, offered only in gray, are both options labeled as “pregame” shoes on the Nike Mind website. Both will be available in January 2026.