I’m still a Nike head, but…

 For me, Nike are still up there for sports shoes. They’ve seen off most competition over the decades. The demographic profile of their core audience has remained the same: inner city kids aged 10-25. Their designs have remained the same as well. This however, is not necessarily a good thing in my eyes. How many times can one repaint a classic?

The Air Max family, namely Air Max 90, Air Max 1 and Air Max 95 are classics. They were immediate classics when they came out. Classics are timeless, but you can overcook the perfect meal. How many colourways of the Air Max 90 have you seen? Every month I see a “new” version. Essentially it’s just different colours. Sometimes it’s the same colours, just a slightly different arrangement: Red, yellow black or black, red, yellow. The same applies to the other Air Max shoes I mentioned. It’s like a James Brown classic being remixed a thousand times. What is the point? It’s overkill. There are a few ways of looking at this.

1.    There is nothing wrong with doing a thousand colourways of the same shoe. The fact that there is still an audience willing to pay £89 for a shoe made in 1990 which is losing its novelty by the day, justifies this. It is evidence Nike are doing the right thing. A strong brand with a timeless classic.
2.    On the other hand it could mean Nike are showing a lack of consideration for their more discerning fan base. I myself have accumulated a few Air Max 90’s over the years. How many more do I need? I’m bored of them. I want to see new gems from Nike. I feel cheated still having to pay £89 for a 1990 shoe as well.
3.    Maybe Nike need to employ new designers. Let’s be honest, it doesn’t take a design guru to come up with a grey, black and white pair of Air Max 90 this week and then a navy, black and red shoe the following week.

Call me selfish, but I feel the discerning Nike customer [and yes I put myself in that bracket], who was there from day one making the aforementioned Air Max a classic, is being overlooked. Don’t get me wrong, different colourways sometimes titillate old heads, but when there are thousands of which most look alike, it becomes lazy overkill. This sort of brand extension akin to Nokia still bringing out new “faces” for the 3210, but in this day and age.

I remember Nike boasting about the new and improved cushioning on each Air Max. So the 1990 technology is as good as the 2011/12 technology? Is that what Nike are telling us? Because looking at the prices, it looks that way. There is a slight price difference between Air Max made in 1990 and Air Max made in 2012. The Air Max 90 is still being promoted as if it is Nike’s flagship shoe. You only need to subscribe to some of the sneaker lifestyle websites to see this.

I wonder when it’ll end. With the emergence of hybrids like the Neon Hyperfuse, Quickstrike and HUF collaborations, it looks like Nike plan to let this run on a bit longer.