Foamposite weatherman pro#
Notable releases include the ‘Pewter’ (2011), ‘Shooting Stars’ (2012), ‘Stealth’ (2012), ‘Weatherman’ (2013), ‘Safari’ (2013), as well as Foamposite Pro colourways ‘Spider-Man” (2014), “Yeezy’ (2014), not to forget the traditional Chinese art inspired ‘Tianjin’ Foamposite One (2015).Īnd then the tide turned.
Foamposite weatherman full#
The shoe still didn’t pull in huge sales, aside from the nostalgia-fuelled ‘Royal’ colourway.Īs the 2010s got into full swing Nike became more experimental with the Foamposite colourways leaning into the divisive design to capture the attention of a dare-to-be-different subset of sneakerheads. Fast forward to 2007 and the Foamposite One finally saw a return for it’s 10th anniversary, retroed in four colourways including the original ‘Royal’ worn by Penny in 1997. It wouldn’t be until 2001 when the Foamposite Pro saw a comeback, retroed for the first time, seeing seven new colourways released across the next five years. Penny’s subsequent sneaker, the Air Penny III (1997), Total Air Foamposite Max (1998)’, Air Flightposite (1999) and the frankly unacceptable Clogposite (2000) are just a few of the silhouettes to feature Foamposite tooling in the subsequent years. In typical Nike fashion, the innovative shell was applied across countless releases, offering scope for Nike to perfect the design and finetune the technology over time. The NBA weren’t exactly fans of the sneaker either, stating the blue colorway didn’t match the black Orlando Magic uniform, leading Penny to reportedly colour in the upper with a black Sharpie, commemorated with an official Air Foamposite 1 ‘Sharpie’ colourway release in 2015 harking back to iconic little-known moments of cultural resonance being Nike’s nostalgia-laden bread and butter in the 2010s.ĭespite the sneaker’s production setbacks and overall reception, Nike took a step back from the Foamposite Ones and Pros and pushed forward with the Foamposite technology.
Foamposite weatherman series#
Despite Penny wearing them in the 1997 NBA Playoffs, the release resulted in a series of lacklustre sales reports. A chunky silhouette paired with a shiny blue upper didn’t exactly resonate with sneakerheads at the time though, the avant-garde nature of the silhouette coupled with the $180 price point making Foamposite adoption slow, especially when a pair of the highly-favoured Jordan 1s were retailing for $150 around the same time. The Air Foamposite 1’s design was super futuristic. The Air Foamposite 1s were featured alongside the Air Max 95s, Air Griffey Max 1s and Air Jordan XI ‘Concords’ in the campaign. This series of print adverts featured shots of classic Nike sneakers with a small swoosh overlaid and a phone number underneath, upon calling the number a bespoke message could be heard. The team behind Foamposite originally designed it with Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen in mind, but the sneaker caught the eye of fellow NBA All-Star Penny Hardaway, changing everything.Īccompanying the release was one of Nike’s many genius marketing strategies – the ever-memorable phone adverts. Both silhouettes had similar designs the Pro featuring a gel swoosh on the side to set it apart from the One, which forewent branding to showcase the eye-catching and pioneering upper. With the technology developed and the designs locked in, Nike finally realised the Air Foamposite One and the Air Foamposite Pro in 1997. Luckily for Nike, help would come from South Korean car manufacturer, Daewoo, who agreed to produce and sell the mould to clothing giant for $750,000, allowing the engineer’s vision to become an on-court reality. No one had ever moulded an entire upper in one piece before. As a result the Advanced Product Engineering team struggled to get the greenlight from Nike designers and manufacturers. With most footwear options constructed from suede, leather, nubuck and rubber, the early Foamposite didn’t come cheap, retailing for a hefty $180 at the time and reselling for a similar amount. It was the antithesis to what was available on the market at the time. After years of trial-and-error to perfect the technology, Nike finally introduced their latest innovation to the world in 1997: the Foamposite.įoamposite was the first of its kind, a polyurethane liquid which is heated and moulded to create a shoe that snugly fits the foot. After their Air sole unit changed the game, Nike’s Advanced Product Engineering division sought to create the next best technology, eventually landing on a sneaker that did what every shoe-wearer desires, especially on the court: a shoe that perfectly moulds to your foot. But with a reputation as the go-to brand for innovative technologies and iconic silhouettes to protect, Nike had more in mind than the Jordan brand. Dominating the Basketball footwear market since the Jordan 1 dropped in 1985, by the mid ‘90s Nike was essentially untouchable.
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