PRESS RELEASE: MIZUNO ENERZY
THE BEST EVER BOUNCE IN THE HISTORY OF MIZUNO
Mizuno has recently developed a high-resilience sole material for shoes called “MIZUNO ENERZY,” which provides the most bounce and energy return of any sole technology in the company’s history.
“MIZUNO ENERZY” is Mizuno’s original new material developed over two years. It enables the energy generated when contacting the ground and compressed into it using its softness to bounce back with less energy loss. This new material consists of three types: “MIZUNO Enerzy core,” “MIZUNO ENERZY lite,” and “MIZUNO ENERZY.” The top-of-the-line “MIZUNO ENERZY Core” offers approximately 56% improved resilience and approximately 293% improved softness*1 in comparison with existing sole materials.*2
*1 Comparison values obtained by MIZUNO based on comparison only between material performance.
*2 U4ic
Since its establishment in 1906, Mizuno, as a general sporting goods manufacturer, has continued to create innovations that would overturn existing concepts. The new material “MIZUNO ENERZY” has been developed by making use of the knowledge of product performance and innovative technology gained through the development of tools in categories other than the running category, which includes baseball and golf footwear.
On July 1, “THE MIZUNO ENERZY,” a concept model featuring the new material “MIZUNO ENERZY,” will be available to purchase online from mizuno.com.au with very limited availability. Going forward, the new “MIZUNO ENERZY” technology will be applied to a wide range of shoes including competition footwear for athletics, netball, table tennis, running, walking, and sport style.
Concept model “THE MIZUNO ENERZY”
$400
MIZUNO ENERZY
The new material “MIZUNO ENERZY” consists of the following three forms to meet the needs of different characteristics of various sports and uses – “MIZUNO ENERZY core,” which features the greatest softness and ultimate bounce, “MIZUNO ENERZY lite,” a lighter version of the foam providing similar benefits without compromising weight, and “MIZUNO ENERZY,” which is the standard form of the material featured in some of our favorite models.
Note: The percentages in the table refer to comparison values obtained by MIZUNO based on the comparison only between conventional sole material (U4ic) and material performance.
Comparative resilience experiment with general midsole materials
“MIZUNO ENERZY” Special Website
https://www.mizuno.jp/technology/mizuno_enerzy/
MIZUNO’S RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ON SHOES AND RESILIENCE
Established in 1906, Mizuno began its business with manufacturing and selling baseball goods. In 1938, Rihachi Mizuno, founder of the company, set up the Select Scientific Laboratory (present Global Research & Development Department), which is the first research institute of this kind in the industry. Since then, the company has continued to create and produce innovations for enhancing athletes’ performance through innovative technology developments as well as measuring and analysing the “movement” of athletes.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ON SHOES
In 1997, Mizuno achieved the successful development and commercialisation of “MIZUNO WAVE” *3 technology that brought about a shoe sole with a corrugated plate embedded within it. By incorporating a structural approach into the designing of soles, Mizuno overturned the established concept of shoe development, which was previously based on an over emphasis on materials, and realised the best combination of cushioning and stability required for shoes.
*3 This is a core function that absorbs vertical impact and demonstrates stability against lateral displacement, and is widely used for different types of footwear including running, competition, and walking.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ON RESILIENCE
Mizuno released in 2002 the world first rubber baseball bat “Beyond Max,” which was created by employing high-resilience materials for its hitting section. In. 2018, the company also released “Mizuno Pro Model-E,” a golf club with improved flexibility and an ability to demonstrate high-resilience performance. In this way, Mizuno has been advancing research and development on resilience. The knowledge gained through the research and development related to the tools that convey less energy loss was used to design the sole of shoes.
Rubber baseball bat “Beyond Max” Golf club “Mizuno Pro Model-E”
MIZUNO ENERZY DEVELOPERS
MATERIAL DEVELOPER FOR MIZUNO ENERZY, MIZUNO CORPORATION
Name: Akira Morita
Affiliation: Global Footwear Product Division
Technology Development Section, Design and Development Department
Career path: 2011, Joined Mizuno, assigned to the Material Development Section, Research and Development Department.
2018, Global Footwear Product Division
Technology Development Section, Design and Development Department
Assigned to be in charge of material research and development and mass production of “MIZUNO ENERZY core.”
Comment: “We are constantly engaging in research and development activities to enhance athletes’ and users’ performance. In fact, MIZUNO ENERZY is a material that was developed for that purpose. It is a very soft material with high rebound. I was overcome with a vibration feeling that seemed to never stop when the material development was completed. As this material has very little energy loss, I felt confident that we had finally managed to produce a new material at a significantly higher level than before.”
PRODUCT DEVELOPER FOR MIZUNO ENERZY, MIZUNO CORPORATION
Name: Kentaro Yahata
Affiliation: Global Footwear Product Division
Technology Development Section, Design and Development Department
Career path: 2011, Joined Mizuno, assigned to the Research and Development Department.
2013, Assigned to be in charge of footwear, Mizuno Europe
2015, Technology Development Section, Global Footwear Product Division
Assigned to be in charge of designing shoes (running and indoor shoes, etc.) using “MIZUNO ENERZY” and conducting research on the effects of “MIZUNO ENERZY” on human performance.
Comment: “When I first had the material for developing MIZUNO ENERZY, I immediately noticed that it was an extraordinary material. The crux of my challenge, however, was two-fold; how we would make use of this material for shoes and how we could lead the use of it to enhance people’s performance. The great feature of this material is that it can store energy to achieve bounce with less energy loss. I think that we have created shoes that can clearly offer such a feeling to people who wear them. It is our intention to continue to support anyone who aims higher, even only slightly, and I believe that MIZUNO ENERZY and the shoes using this material can realize our intention. I am confident that we can expand the possibility of performance improvement and even the potential of sports.”
FEEDBACK FOR THE WAVE RIDER 24
Name: Shannon Lum
Affiliation: Long time runner, coach and Mizuno Ambassador from the Hills District in Sydney’s North West. Shannon was one of the first in Australia to trial the Wave Rider 24 which includes MIZUNO ENERZY technology.
Comment: “The new WAVE RIDER 24 was a shoe I loved from the first run. My first run over 15km was smooth, the transition from heel to toe feels good. I can’t stand a shoe that slaps. I wanted to know immediately how the new ‘heel wedge Mizuno enerzy foam responded’. Immediately you will notice the extra cushion, it’s responsive and for a runner, this is really important given the impact we experience on our joints.”