Nike is transforming one of its most popular sneakers into face shields for healthcare workers

• Nike is creating face shields and other forms of personal protective equipment for doctors and nurses amid the coronavirus outbreak.
• The face shields are made from certain materials from Nike's Air sneakers, including the padding and soles.
• Making the shields requires a nine-step process.
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Nike is pivoting its resources to help support healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Nike CEO John Donahoe announced in a conference call on March 24 that the athletic brand was prototyping face shields to help healthcare professionals.

On Tuesday, Nike released an image of its newly created full-face shield, which was created using elements of the brand's signature shoes, the Nike Air.

"Collar padding once destined for shoes is repurposed; cords originally earmarked for apparel reconsidered; and, most important, the TPU component of a Nike signature - the Nike Air soles - reimagined," Nike wrote in a Tuesday press release.

Nike's goal, the release explained, was to reproduce a face shield similar to those being used at Oregon Health & Science University but made from Nike-owned materials and equipment from its manufacturing facilities.

Innovation teams and manufacturing groups at Nike's Air Manufacturing Innovation facilities in Oregon and Missouri created a three-part face shield that could be created in a nine-step process.

"The aim was not just a high-functioning shield, but also one that allowed a simple model of production," the press release said, adding that the testers of the prototypes were OHSU's healthcare workers themselves.

Nike is also creating new lenses for PAPR helmets made from a material similar to the face shields.

"Companies like Nike need to do our part," Donahoe said on the March 24 call. "Based on needs identified by the teams and health professionals at Oregon Health & Science University, our teammates are working right now about how to best help, including prototyping face shields of OHSU and others."

In a previous statement to Business Insider, Nike said that the company was launching the initiative with OHSU and focusing on supporting Oregon healthcare workers to start.

The first shipment of face shields and PAPR lenses was delivered to OHSU on Friday, April 3. Equipment will be provided to other health systems near Nike's headquarters in Oregon, including Providence, Legacy Health Systems, and Kaiser Permanente.

New Balance is also pivoting its resources to make masks from materials available to the footwear company, such as laces and other sneaker-related resources.

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