Nike’s Waffle sneakers have lengthy since traded the cinder tracks of the Seventies for metropolis sidewalks and weekend wardrobes.
What started as a pioneering operating shoe, optimized to be used on the brand new synthetic turfs and surfaces slowly taking up observe and discipline, is now a go-to for these in search of heritage styling in a market filled with loud retro runners.
Each the Nike Waffle Nav (backside) and Waffle Debut (high) share an identical DNA that stretches all the way in which again to the primary Nike sneaker. Presently, the debut is on sale for a number of the lowest costs we’ve seen Nikes hit.Nike
And whereas Nike’s Waffle household has expanded over time to incorporate sleeker, lifestyle-focused takes and coveted restricted collabs, one of many model’s extra accessible interpretations—the Nike Waffle Debut is extremely reasonably priced proper now at lower than $50.
Echoes of an Icon
On February 26, 1974, Nike obtained a patent for its waffle coach operating shoe (proven above). The identify got here from the unique prototype for the operating shoe’s revolutionary grippy sole, which Invoice Bowerman created by pouring rubber right into a family waffle iron. To today, Nike’s innovation lab is called “the kitchen” in honor of Bowerman’s first makeshift footwear lab. Nike
The story of the Nike Waffle Racer—affectionately often called the Moon Shoe—has taken on near-mythic proportions in sneaker historical past (there’s even an illustrated youngsters’s e book in regards to the origins of the waffle sole.)
