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Nike Mind 001 and 002 are the brand’s first neuroscience-based footwear. These shoes use underfoot nodes to stimulate the brain and focus. Developed over ten years, the technology bridges the mind-body connection. The Mind 001 is a mule, while the 002 is a sneaker. Restock of the collection is scheduled for April 2026.
Nike offers a range of class-leading performance shoes for running, basketball, golf, and more. However, their latest shoe isn’t designed for performance, but to connect you with your mind. Called the Nike Mind 001 (AUD$150) and Nike Mind 002 (AUD$200), these shoes are the first pairs of neuroscience-based footwear from the brand, and they’re purpose-built to tap into the mind-body connection by activating sensory receptors in the feet. Does it work? Well, I’ll explain in detail below.
I had a chance to sit down with the Vice President and General Manager of Nike Training (Gym/Fitness), Chloe Speed, at the Australian Open 2026. She explained the decade-in-the-making decision to launch the Nike Mind platform, the development process for the Nike Mind 001 and 002, and what the platform’s future could look like.
My biggest takeaway was that, next to their performance and sportswear offerings, the Nike Mind collection opens the door to a completely new category of products and services designed to help athletes better prepare, train, compete, and recover. It’s the type of innovation that keeps the brand ahead of the competition, and with validation from hundreds of athletes, it clearly works.
Nike Mind | Images: Supplied / Nike Neuroscience as a Core Competency
Before I landed in Melbourne to speak with Chloe, I had seen the shoes online. They’re impossible to miss, and among the most internet-friendly (viral) sneakers the brand has released in recent memory, thanks to bright orange nodes and a futuristic shape.
Still, I was sceptical of the internet hype. Was this just another complex, expensive innovation for elite athletes who are often superstitious to the point that new tech is always perceived as better?
By the time it was my turn to interview Chloe, we had already spent an hour with the shoe. We wore it on different surfaces, walked around in it, and I began to understand that this isn’t an unapproachable shoe for elite performance athletes. No, the “mind control shoe” started to make sense.
Vice President and General Manager of Nike Training (Gym/Fitness), Chloe Speed | Image: Nike
“You see, the word neuroscience sounds very big and very, very different,” explained Chloe Speed. “But if you boil it down to kind of the simplest application to the shoe, one of the team back in Portland said it best, which is that like every step your foot takes is like a conversation with the brain. Every step it takes, it’s sending messages. Nike Mind amplifies that.”
We then spoke about the rewiring of the consumer’s brain before the shoe even goes on their feet. It’s something I struggled with before wearing them, but it shouldn’t worry people. “Nike’s renowned for performance, so naturally, if people see a Swoosh, they think it’s a performance shoe for the pitch, field, or track,” continued Speed. “The reality is it’s not, it’s designed for that pre- and post-sport moment. So I think for us, that’s probably the one thing we make sure we land on, because if you want propulsion and cushioning, Zoom Air is incredible. This does not have Zoom Air in it.”
“But I think back to neuroscience, the foundation of a design has been biomechanics and physiology for the last 50 years, adding neuroscience into that is like a third core compensency for us as a brand is just an exciting way that we can kind of look at creating new edges and new angles to be able to be new and to see to deserve athletes and different.”
LeBron James Innovation Center Exterior | Image: Nike 
LeBron James Innovation Center Exterior | Image: Nike 
LeBron James Innovation Center Exterior | Image: Nike 
LeBron James Innovation Center Exterior | Image: Nike
Decade in the Dark and the Secret Origin Story of Nike Mind
The Nike Mind platform could’ve launched earlier, but the brand couldn’t scale such an innovation at a price point that made sense for consumers. It turned out to be an engineering and manufacturing challenge 10 years in the making before the launch at the Australian Open 2026.
Chloe explains that the Nike Mind team were a skunk-works of sorts, hiding away in the LeBron James Innovation Centre. “Honestly, the thing I love most about working at Nike is the number of people who are just relentlessly focused on athletes and what’s changing, what’s evolving,” she said. “This is where our LeBron James building back on campus is just a mecca for that. We have scientists in every single lab just looking at the intricacies of how we can continue to push sport and really like do epic stuff to make the athlete better.”
Nike Mind | Images: Supplied / Nike
“So what I love about that is you’ve got the Nike Mind science team who have been working diligently together and in combination with multiple other teams across the campus. What I love about the origin story of Nike Mind is the intent and the insight was always very, very clear… but the journey of that 10 years ago to where we’re at today, finally going to market 10 years.”
“It was actually a manufacturing breakthrough, which was the lead impetus for us landing now. Just really making sure we can have that gimbal-type movement of the nodes. It’s incredibly hard to do, incredibly hard. So the manufacturing capabilities of our teams are unrivalled. So for us, the science, engineering, design, and manufacturing skill set of the people we get to work with, for us, is just a key part of the origin.”
Nike Mind | Images: Supplied / Nike Sensory Experience of Walking on Bubble Wrap
The Nike Mind platform arrives with two silhouettes: Nike Mind 001 (mule) and Nike Mind 002 (shoe).
I had a chance to try both silhouettes on my feet throughout the day, but the mule felt the most natural. You can slide it on and off your foot, so you can wear it to the basketball court before you slide into your Nike Book 2s. It’s important to note that the Nike Mind 001 fits a whole size small. I’m a TTS US11, and I ended up wearing a US12 throughout the day. I’ll also note that the shoe is currently sold out, but expect a wider release in April 2026.
How does it feel on foot? Well, I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t take some getting used to. It’s not Zoom Air, so don’t expect it to feel like a bubble. You can feel every node and where it applies pressure to the bottom of your foot to signal the brain. It’s like walking on oversized bubble wrap. “I think from a sensation perspective, it’s been fun listening to some people talk about,” said Speed. “Like, ‘Hey, it’s a little bit like walking bubble wrap.’”
Nike Mind | Images: Supplied / Nike 
Nike Mind | Images: Supplied / Nike 
Nike Mind | Images: Supplied / Nike 
Nike Mind | Images: Supplied / Nike
Where does that leave the Nike Mind 002s then? Speed explains that they offer a similar feel through the outsole, but a more secure feel through the upper of the shoe. “So I think, especially when you try on the 002s, because you’ve got the heel counter, because you’ve got the lockdown fit of the upper and the lacing system and an incredibly comfortable upper, you’re really locking the entire sole of your foot against that midsole. So you’re getting more activation of the foot through the experience.”
“We love the iconic design of the Nike Mind, and we’ll definitely continue to really lean on and love that, but I think the important thing to recognise here is you can have the science. You can have the functionality. But unless you get comfort and style, right? For science doesn’t mean anything.”
Nike Mind | Images: Supplied / Nike Validating the Science and the Future of Nike Mind
Science doesn’t mean anything without a great design, but the design also doesn’t mean anything without the science. But who am I to say that the Nike Mind technology actually works? Like all Nike innovations, the sneakers were validated by hundreds of athletes. Some, like Jannick Sinner, even chose to wear the shoe during the Australian Open.
EMGs, EEGs, and the full suite of tools were thrown at validating the shoe. “One was the lab testing component of it. How do you actually quantify and measure brain activation? Through EMGs, EEGs, and really looking at the full suite of tools. There aren’t many places that have the depth of tools and technology, which allows us to really make sure it’s not just what the athletes are telling us, but it’s actually the science that is backed up and quantified.”
“So we had hundreds of athletes who were part of the development process over the 10 years. I think for us, what’s most exciting is we’re hearing the same thing for both. The lab tests are showing us, brain activation, the athletes are telling us, they feel grounded, they feel focused, they feel connected, so those two features together are exciting.”
So it’s relatively affordable, an innovative product that actually works, and it’s worn by the biggest and most successful athletes on the planet by choice. But what does the future of the Nike Mind platform hold? It will likely come through as a holistic experience. “With the ability for us to look at the holistic experience of mental preparedness, physical preparedness, recovery, it’s for us just opens up so many opportunities for us to continue to push and really maximise what makes Nike incredible… So, I like that idea. And we’re going to keep pushing.”
Keep your eyes out for a Nike Mind restock in April 2026. More information about the shoe can be found at the Nike website, linked below.