Q: In the presentation earlier, you talked a lot about how Mike Trout is the blueprint for the modern day baseball player and athlete in general, and since Trout does everything on the field, how important was it that the Lunar Trout 2 catered towards all baseball players?
A: Yeah, well that’s the basis of where we start. If we can build for the pinnacle athelte, we know that is going to trickle down to all of baseball.
Q: Even though Mike’s profession is baseball, you have to imagine that he likes to do a wide array of athletic activities. Was it important that the Turf Trainer version of the Lunar Trout 2 be functional for every kind of athlete no matter what the sport?
That wasn’t the intention, but it might be a property of it. The intention – of the turf trainer – was to make Mike the best he can be, pregame. So things like the extremely aggressive traction on the outsole keep him from shifting around on the dirt, if that so happens to help other athletes elsewhere, that’s great for us. But our main focus was to make something feasible for him.
Q: Mike talked earlier about how the Griffey’s were what he wore growing up. So was there any design elements or even tech features that he personally requested in the Lunar Trout 2?
A: He did talk a little bit about the Griffey’s, but he didn’t get into the specifics of which one he liked the best or which ones he wore, but the thing about Mike is that we have been doing this for three years now, and the third year he has become more and more open with us. His understanding of footwear the first year wasn’t as deep as it is currently in the third year of the process, so as he becomes more and more vocal with us as we go forward, I wouldn’t be surprised if we add some more details that are personal to him.
Q:Lunarlon goes across many different sports and models for Nike, but is there anything you did differently to the Lunarlon cushion setup for this model that catered towards baseball?
A: Yeah, different categories have different densities of Lunar foam depending on the need of the athelte, so for us and Mike, the density may be just a little bit more firm because our guys have to last 162 games, preseason, and they are on their feet more than any other athelte in general, so we need to make sure it lasts and has the longevity to live up the their high demands.
The Nike Lunar Trout 2 will be available October 3 in the “Blueprint” colorway exclusively at Nike.com, while black/white, gray/white, red/white and blue/white colorways will be available on Nike.com and at select retailers.
