Shocking Zyre 03: "The Fourth Innovation" — Can One Rubber Change a Player's Play?

Butterfly’s high-tension inverted rubber, "Zyre 03," was released on October 1, 2025. Even before its launch, many top Players such as Tomokazu Harimoto and Shunsuke Togami were using it, and despite its high price, it has sparked "Zyre fever." What is the "fourth innovation," following "Bryce," "Tenergy," and "Dignics," trying to bring to the Table tennis world?
photographs by Yoshinori Eto

Daiki Teramura

Daiki Teramura

Tamas Research and Development Department

Shingo Usui

Shingo Usui

Tamas Research and Development Department

It adopts "Ricosheet," with low pimples, narrow spacing, and a densely packed shape. Because the sheet is thin, the result is a structure with a very thick Sponge

The Sponge in "Zyre 03," based on Dignics' "Spring Sponge X," uses the same Sponge hardness as "Dignics 09C," while being 2 grams lighter than "09C."

Ask the Tamas Research and Development Department! What is the story behind the birth of the "fourth innovation," Zyre 03?

Among Butterfly’s flagship rubbers since "Bryce," "Zyre 03" was released after the shortest development period. Is the bearer of the "fourth innovation" a Rubber that will create a new era, or a maverick?

We spoke with Shingo Usui and Daiki Teramura of the Tamas Research and Development Department.

Whenever an innovative Rubber appears, it is eventually shunned for flying too much, but in the end, the Players who master it go on to conquer the world (Teramura)

●─The newly released "Zyre 03" has generated a huge response. When did the Research and Development Department begin working on it?

Shingo Usui (hereinafter, Usui)　The first idea came around 2020. At the time, we were organizing the know-how we had accumulated regarding sheet shape, and from that work, the prototype idea for "Zyre 03" emerged, which we then dug into further.

Daiki Teramura (hereinafter, Teramura)　Up to now, when it comes to research on sheet shape, we had substantial know-how in the "horizontal" aspects, such as the size and spacing of the pimples. However, we were still lacking in the "vertical" aspects, such as pimple height. With the idea that we should really address that area, we began serious research into sheet shape.

●─Do you periodically reexamine past research like that in the Research and Development Department?

Usui　Not regularly, but we do it often. This time, Teramura organized the know-how from research into various pimple shapes, and that ultimately led to the product "Zyre 03." I feel that organizing know-how is very important after all.