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Wilson’s Airless Basketball is Ready for Primetime
A once wild concept is entering expanded production and hoping to change the way we think about the engineering of a basketball in the process
In today’s world, every company is by default a tech company. Technology influences our behaviors, the products we use, and how we view the world. This applies to even the most tenured companies that make established products. Wilson Sporting Goods, a leading sports equipment manufacturer in the world, is no exception to this rule.
Last year, Wilson made waves with the commercial introduction of a new prototype basketball: the Airless Gen1. This was a basketball that was 3D-printed and featured a polymer lattice construction aimed at innovating something that has mostly remained the same for decades.
A year later, Wilson announced that it is ready for wider distribution of Airless Gen1. According to David Picioski, Head of Marketing for Team Sports at Wilson, airless basketballs are about pushing the boundaries of what is expected and capturing the imagination of basketball fans worldwide with a new way to think about the iconic ball.
Bringing About Change
It cannot be overstated how ambitious it is to redesign something as tenured as the basketball. The last truly major, non-iterative breakthrough in…
