Lorrie Vogel
PopTech 2009
As the General Manager for Nike’s Considered team, Lorrie Vogel is conducting pioneering research in sustainable product design. The Considered arm of Nike footwear currently comprises about 15% of the company. The goal is for 100% of Nike product offerings to meet Considered standards by 2020, a fundamental change in business practices that would see waste cut by 17% and the use of eco-conscious materials boosted by 20%.
Vogel sees the challenge as creating eco-friendly products that don’t disappoint customers when it comes to performance. But including recycled materials, as Considered did in a recent line of Air Jordans, is only part of the solution: any talk of a green consumer revolution must be grounded in a real change in attitudes. “It’s not about having three or four green products,” Vogel says. “It’s all about moving the company so this is embedded in everything the designers do.”
Before Nike, Vogel worked on products like “Speak and Spell” as a toy designer, and in advanced R&D for Texas Instruments. She holds patents for the Air Bladder, the Expanding Ear Tag, and the “Hole in Stroebel.”
http://www.nikebiz.com/responsibility/considered_design/
Watch Lorrie Vogel’s talk at PopTech 2009