Back in the 1990s Nike had a whole range of solid running shoes, that covered all the bases: stability (Air Stab), cushioning (Air Max), neutral (Air Pegasus), lightweight trainers (Air Skylon), and a fine line-up of racing shoes (Mariah and Duellist) and spikes.
For whatever reasons the spikes and racing shoes are still going strong, but the training shoes have veared off the road or trail, and I don't see many serious runners wearing Nike anymore (unless they have sponsorship).
Take a look at the lineup. Any problems loading the site? That sort of encapsulates whats wrong with the shoes too. Lots of flash and a diminishing amount of substance.
For whatever reason, Nike is catering to the cool kids out there who probably don't actually run in the shoes, but merely have them hidden underneath their baggy pants (if baggy pants are still in).
It seems like most of the major shoe manufacturers have been through this phase at some point in their careers. There was a point in time when Adidas had basically opted out of making serious sports shoes, and Reebok appears to have done the same for some of the 1990s, though both are back now. Adidas in particular is once again nearly synonymous with track and field.
Asics and New Balance, having never been adopted by the cool kids on the street, have just on plugging away at making dependable sports shoes for people who are somewhat serious about what they're doing.
What's somewhat strange is Nike's persistence in making high quality competition shoes at the same time as making flashy, frivolous training shoes. Adidas and Reebok pretty much gave the game away in spikes and racing shoes during their flirtation with being a youth-fashion footwear manufacturer.
One supposes the answer is that there's money to be made, and Nike must surely be aware of the substantial brand loyalty they have amongst runners who first pulled on a pair of zoom spikes at age 14.
Posted by robe0419 at July 7, 2004 6:58 PM