Tennis is a Side-to-Side Sport
To expand outside of the tennis category, K-Swiss needed an additional lane, but one that fit the brand’s DNA and could be authentic and credible. Running is a huge category, but takes a massive investment and is extremely crowded with powerful brands. Cross Training however, is a natural extension of tennis. This led us to a consumer insight: Tennis is played on the ball of the foot, and uses multi-directional movement, especially lateral movement. These are the same movements used in Cross Training. Box jumps, sprints, kettlebells, jump rope etc. All need multi-directional movement.
K-Swiss, through our tennis experience, are experts at making shoes like this. Running shoes, on the other hand, are designed for a specific movement… rhythmic forward motion that starts with a heel strike (cushioning) and then a ‘toe-off’, springing you forward. So while Running shoes aren’t aligned to Cross Training, Tennis shoes are. Enter the K-Swiss X-Court, designed by tennis experts for the multi-directional movements of cross training. Finding consumer insights like this can lead to specific and purposeful product design briefs, that drive product solutions to real consumer needs.
