[echelon]

> These are already common in China

Link?

> and Nike will rip you off with the price for "western engineering".

It's the brand more than anything. Nike's brand commands a premium.

I've quite literally never seen a product like this on the market, so as far as I'm concerned if Nike is the first to Western market with the product, and they do a good job introducing it, it's their innovation.

It's like with Nintendo and Apple. They're quite frequently not the first to develop a technology, but they take things and popularize them. Digital cameras, motion control, touch screens, smartphones, tablet gaming devices, ...