The Reebok Realflex is being marketed as "Natural movement. Perfected"
When I saw Birthdayshoes.com mentioned about the upcoming Reebok Realflex, something came out of my memory.........
4 years ago in 2007 when the term "minimalist shoes" was never heard off, Nike was sued by Reebok over its Free series which was first launched in 2004. Apparantly, Reebok got a grant of their patent for flexible shoe with segmented soles in 2007.
I did recorded this event 4 years ago HERE @"Nike Got Sued by ReeBok"
This was an innovative and interesting idea to design shoes which are "minimalist" and flexible enough to be collapsible into smaller size and to be dispensed for sale from a vending machine.
This idea was never implemented.
In the end, the 2 early pioneers of minimalist shoes did not continue to drive the minimalist shoes market but have to do marketing catchup now....shoes without cushioning is still not in their belief and too high a risk to their high tech cushioned shoes.
The latest launched by Nike:
Interestingly, after doing a quick search, I actually found 3 similar patents filed by Reebok over the past 4 years:
3) 2010, Patent 20100095554 Collapsible Shoe
In the end, the 2 early pioneers of minimalist shoes did not continue to drive the minimalist shoes market but have to do marketing catchup now....shoes without cushioning is still not in their belief and too high a risk to their high tech cushioned shoes.
The latest launched by Nike:
Free Run+ 2
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