Conversation pieces

The Reebok ZigTech may sound as silly as a variant of Play-Doh but in the realm of athletic performance and protection, these shoes mean serious business. Let’s look at the numbers, shall we: 20 percent less wear and tear on your shins and six percent less strain on your hamstrings, as gathered from upwards of 20,000 miles on ZigTech wear-testing from actual runners. Every foot strike is cushioned and absorbed by the ZigTech’s unique geometric sole, which undulates this energy from the zigs at your heel to those at your forefoot. As a result, workouts become more efficient without such strenuous work on your key leg muscles.

“We design it first to be a very effective running shoe,” says Gregg Dixon, Reebok Asia Pacific senior go-to market manager for Mens Footwear, indicating that although track spikes provided the purest form of energy return, their hardness did not make them ideal sole mates, especially for running long distances. “What we have essentially done is built a mechanical spring which is the Zigtech shape you see. If you take a slinky, spread it out and give it a shake on one end, that wave of energy you see is exactly what we’re trying to do with ZigTech. But instead of a hard slinky, we made it out of soft foam. We’ve made the ZigTech like an energy drink for your feet.” Talk about more spring in your step.