Despite having its roots in sports, Nike has surpassed both pop and street culture. With models that transformed how regular people dressed and how athletes performed, its collection of trainers is simply unmatched. Nike has created some of the most iconic shoes in history using a combination of famous endorsers, exquisite design, ground-breaking technology, and astute marketing. In this article, we will cover what we believe to be the 7 top Nike shoes of all time. So let’s get started.
1. Air Jordan 1
Not much more needs to be said about the Air Jordan 1 than has already been stated. Everyone is familiar with the tale of how the Chicago Bulls selected Michael Jordan from the University of North Carolina with the third overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draught. Although Adidas was at the time concentrating on large men, he still wanted to sign with them. Jordan signed a five-year contract with Nike co-founder Phil Knight and famed shoe businessman Sonny Vaccaro, and the rest is history.
2. Nike Air Force 1
Nowadays, it’s difficult to remember, but the Air Force 1’s narrative almost didn’t get off the ground.
The Air Force 1 was Nike’s first basketball shoe to employ the company’s renowned Air cushioning technology. It was first released as a high-top in 1982, and its low-top version followed in 1983. Despite the fact that the shoe was ground-breaking in that area, Nike intended to stop manufacturing it in 1984. But because it was so well-liked in Baltimore, the proprietors of the city’s Cinderella Shoes and Charley Rudo Sports shops pushed the athletic wear company to continue producing the shoe.
3. Nike Air Max 1
Nike introduced the Air Tailwind, a running shoe with its brand-new Air cushioning system, in 1978. The invention was the brainchild of Frank Rudy, an aerospace engineer who, a year earlier, had introduced Nike co-founder Phil Knight to the then-radical idea of gas-filled urethane pouches. The company’s most significant invention was the ground-breaking technology, which was employed in products like the Air Force 1 and Air Jordan.
4. Air Jordan 3
Without the Air Jordan 3, sneaker culture—and the billion-dollar economy that surrounds it—might not even exist.
When Tinker Hatfield started designing the shoe in 1987, he was up against a brick wall. After missing a large portion of the 1985–86 season due to a fractured foot he got while wearing his previous shoe, the Air Jordan 2 (created by Peter Moore and Bruce Kilgore), Michael Jordan was dissatisfied with it. All indications are that he intended to switch to Adidas from the Swoosh, but the Air Jordan 3 ultimately convinced him to stay.
5. Nike Dunk
The Nike Dunk is the perfect canvas for creating a story in footwear. Since their initial release in 1985, The Dunk has become a de facto voice of the people, telling the stories of athletes, collaborators, and artists. This is due to their ability to evolve and host some of the most inventive applications of colors, materials, textures, and prints.
6. Air Jordan 11
It’s likely that everyone in the room will be staring at your feet if you enter sporting a pair of Air Jordan 11. The sneaker still exudes a sense of status decades after its initial appearance and attracts attention. With the use of patent leather, ballistic mesh, and clear soles, sneaker designer Tinker Hatfield created a masterpiece out of what could have been a garish jumble. It’s one of the few pairs of footwear that has established itself as a genuine fixture in pop culture, transcended the passage of time, and been adapted to use in a variety of sports.
7. Air Jordan 4
The Air Jordan 4 resembles its predecessor in many ways, but it lacks the notoriety of being the pair of shoes that kept Michael Jordan from leaving Nike. It makes sense that it would trail the Air Jordan 3 in terms of the greatest Nikes of all time given the circumstances, but considering how much of its own history and memorable experiences it has, it isn’t really that far behind.
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