For the first time, running shoes looked cool. Eight years after the first Air shoe (the Tailwind) arrived, Nike showed what Air actually looked like. Then one day in the Spring of 1987, Nike decided to show and tell the Air cushioning. So augmented cushioning platforms like Nike Air helped slow down the inevitable material fatigue while elevating the cushioning experience. Some of the older PU running shoes had midsoles that were hard enough to hammer a nail into drywall. While PU midsoles promised short-term durability, that came at the cost of long-term durability (the ‘bread crumb’ effect) and zero cushioning. Naturally, that led to degraded performance, with the loss of cushioning and stability being two undesirable outcomes.Īnd opting for a Polyurethane midsole was a classic catch-22 situation. It’s important to remember that cushioning technologies like Nike Air, Asics Gel, Reebok Hexalite, and the Mizuno Wave were invented when midsole foams were far inferior by modern standards.īack in the day, EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) foams were susceptible to flattening. Nike Air, by itself, was truly innovative for its era. For most of Nike’s footwear history, ‘visible’ Nike Air has been a marketing gimmick.
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