KD17 is going to be released, with an extremely strong ’90s wavy style. Let’s take a look at the internal structure of the KD16 by deconstructing it.
NIKE KD16
DV2916-003
The shoebox is covered with a gear element pattern.
Stitched upper of breathable mesh fabric and leather. Leather is stitched in the bent area.
There are 6 sets of shoelace holes, which are reinforced with hot melt material.
The stiff TPU on the shoe tongue has ‘35’ and ‘KD’ logo.
The reverse side of vamp adds hot-melting material to improve the strength.
The surface of shoe-pad uses fabric material. And the reverse side is gluing.
The length of EUR42.5 shoe-pad is about 278mm.
The width of EUR42.5 forefoot shoe-pad is about 93.26mm.
The thickness of EUR42.5 shoe-pad is about 6.17mm.
Separating the upper and half inner sleeve of right shoe
The integrated half inner sleeve and TPU on both sides of upper
The shoe-tongue is filled with foam and has punching design to improve the air permeability.
The profile shows that the heel counter and the gray heel is filled with foam, and the purple drawing line at the bottom of the heel still maintains the top technical level of the shoe industry. The drawing line is 7 to 9 stitches per inch. The direction is the same and the needle spacing is uniform.
The particular jointed insole fabric
The surface of forefoot shoe-pad has EVA coating. The heelpiece is stitched with a piece of NIKE AIR cushion–Air Strobel.
The insole fabric and EVA layer
The AIR STROBEL cushion on heelpiece is in the shape of a short internal shape, leaving a sewing distance around the pull-up thread, and the traditional midsole fabric of the front palm are connected with two lines, directly in contact with the insole. At the end of 2019, the PG4 and PG5 of the full-length AIR STROBEL cushion were first tried. An additional layer of midsole fabric is added on top of the AIR cushion to ensure the ‘STROBEL’ function of the AIR STROBEL.
PG4 is the first pair of basketball shoes which use full-length AIR STROBEL cushion.
The midsole fabric above the Air Strobel cushion of PG5
The comparison of PG5（L）& PG4（R）midsole structure
The comparison of PG5（L）& PG4（R）AIR STROBEL
The AIR STROBEL on the heel of the 2023 KD16 is fully equipped with the function of the midsole fabric on the sewn upper, saving 2mm thick midsole fabric and a pasted process. After a year of market testing, whether from the perspective of manufacturing process or cost control, or in terms of actual foot feeling and durability, it was a great technological innovation.
The length of EUR42.5 outboard half-sole AIR STROBEL is about 146.45mm.
The length of EUR42.5 inboard half-sole AIR STROBEL is about 129.04mm.
The width of EUR42.5 front end AIR STROBEL is about 60.05mm.
The width of EUR42.5 rear-end AIR STROBEL is about 56.06mm.
The thickness of EUR42.5 AIR STROBEL is about 8.05mm.
A flat foam midsole was exposed by the removing the splicing midsole fabric, and the AIR STROBEL cushion does not need to be slotted in the midsole. Rubber and plastic materials are added on both sides of the shoe body to improve the supporting performance.
The rubber and plastic material on both sides of the shoe body is integrated into the upper.
The deconstructed 3pcs of rubber and plastic parts
The length of EUR42.5 outboard rubber and plastic material is about 123.91mm.
The thickness of EUR42.5 outboard rubber and plastic material is about 3.47mm.
The length of EUR42.5 inboard rubber and plastic material is about 113.31mm.
The thickness of EUR42.5 inboard rubber and plastic material is about 3.14mm.
The length of EUR42.5 midsole rubber and plastic material is about 130.02mm.
The thickness of EUR42.5 midsole rubber and plastic material is about 1.65mm.
The hollow-out one-piece XDR durable rubber outsole
Gear element outsole pattern
The width of EUR42.5 forefoot sole is about 114.30mm.
The thickness of EUR42.5 forefoot sole is about 4.03mm.
The width of EUR42.5 heelpiece is about 85.40mm.
The thickness of EUR42.5 heelpiece is about 4.41mm.
The hollow-out outsole is filled with TPU stabilizing plate. The TPU stabilizing plate also uses gear element pattern.
Taking out the outsole, it exposes a piece of big TPU stabilizing plate which extends from arch position to forefoot sole. It improves the strength of midsole.
The length of EUR42.5 inner side of midsole TPU stabilizing plate is about 187.17mm.
The width of EUR42.5 inner side of midsole TPU stabilizing plate is 94.98mm.
The thickness of EUR42.5 inner side of midsole TPU stabilizing plate is 1.63mm.
From the profile, we can see that the TPU stabilizing plate extends from forefoot sole to heelpiece.
The forefoot ZOOM AIR cushion is placed between midsole and TPU stabilizing plate.
Two grooves are added to the ZOOM AIR cushion on the front palm, eliminating the experience of foot wearing brought by the oversized ultra-thick (ultra-8mm) ZOOM AIR cushion placed independently on the front palm, and improving the flexibility of the bending part of the front palm.
The length of EUR42.5 ZOOM AIR cushion centre line is about 79.12mm.
The width of EUR42.5 ZOOM AIR cushion centre line is about 81.99mm.
The thickness of EUR42.5 ZOOM AIR cushion is about 10.20mm.
The forefoot sole section from inside to outside is the forefoot bottom fabric with grey EVA coating layer, creamy white foamed bottom layer, ZOOM AIR cushion with two grooves, black TPU plate, and then black rubber outsole.
The thickness of EUR42.5 forefoot sole is about 18.11mm.
The thickest part of arch position is about 25.72mm.
The thickness of heelpiece is about 25.04mm. The drop height is about 6.93mm.
The unit weight of EUR42.5 is about 395.8g.
The profile of NIKE KD16
The deconstructed parts of NIKE KD16
Deconstructed Report
Vamp: The upper is made of big area of leather and ventilated mesh fabric. Both sides of midsole have upturning rubber and plastic material, which guarantee the overall strength. The foam padding of ankle position is comfortable.
Midsole: It uses Air Strobel cushion. The front 10mm embedded ZOOM AIR cushion has excellent resilient feedback, the rear half of the AIR STROBEL cushion is soft, and is covered by a large TPU stability plate extending to the forefoot sole, and the overall transition is smooth.
Overall: NIKE KD16 is a rich configuration of basketball shoes, the fast resilience of the ZOOM AIR cushion in the front and the soft shock of the AIR STROBEL cushion in the back, the large TPU stability plate makes the force conduction from the heel to forefoot is very smooth, suitable for the frontline players who like to move and bounce. The traditional and AIR STROBEL splicing midsole fabric will continue to be used on high-end frontline products.