Paris – September 19, 2026 -- Chinese sportswear brand ANTA has unveiled ANTA FOLD, an origami-inspired midsole technology, at the China Creative Pavilion during Paris Design Week.
The launch centered on "From Plane to Rebound," a large-scale installation made entirely from a single sheet of paper, folded into 720 triangular tessellation units without any cutting or glue. The piece reveals the silhouette of a running shoe through natural deformation, illustrating how a fragile material can withstand heavy loads through structural transformation alone.
Oxford and Tianjin researchers helped engineer the origami midsole
ANTA FOLD was developed by the ANTA Innovation Laboratory alongside research teams led by Professor Zhong You of the University of Oxford, Professor Yan Chen of Tianjin University, and Professor Guanyun Wang of Zhejiang University. The technology applies origami's structural and mechanical principles to running-shoe midsoles, using precise geometric unit arrangements to build a quantifiable engineering system.
Three configurations target different running needs
The H1 Waterbomb configuration, built from staggered six-crease units, concentrates energy on landing and releases it rapidly on take-off, aimed at everyday commuting and urban running. The Z1 Square-twist and M1 Multi-layer configurations are built for rolling and energy-absorption scenarios respectively, demonstrating the platform's scalability across different midsole structures.
The technology has already picked up international design awards
ANTA FOLD has won Germany's Red Dot Design Award and Gold and Platinum honors at the US-based MUSE Design Awards. Franck Millot, President of Paris Design Week, said a running shoe can also function as an art piece, calling ANTA FOLD a sign of rising Chinese design confidence.
Runners tested the shoes across Paris landmarks
An Architecture Running event brought members of a Paris running community, along with international guests, through the city's landmarks wearing ANTA FOLD shoes. A companion FOLD Workshop let visitors fold their own origami structures under an artist's guidance to experience the mechanics behind each crease.
The Paris showing follows ANTA FOLD's earlier debut in Shanghai, a "Physics of Folded Space" class at the Design Innovation Institute Shanghai, and a preview in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.