Nike history |Runner's World

In the past, a lot was better, running shoes were definitely not.The history of the modern running shoe is not yet very old and is primarily related to the emergence of a mass market that emerged in the mid -1970s after the first running boom in the USA.It is only in the late 1960s and early 1970s that there can be talk of significant development jumps.Those who have been running for 25 years and more can still remember the first models.

Of course there were sports shoes beforehand that were also used to run.Special shoes for long -distance runners were often individual designs in the period before and after the Second World War.In the beginning, running shoes came mainly from German shoemaker masters who were committed to sport.

Eugen Brütting and the Dassler brothers were the pioneers

Eugen Brütting and Dassler brothers Adi and Horst should be mentioned here.After the beginning and later dispute, one later founded the company Adidas, the other Puma.Both remained in the Franconian small town of Herzogenaurach.Further east, in distant Japan, it was Kihachiro Onitsuka who already developed running shoes in the 1950s and 1960s.His brand was initially called Onitsuka Tiger, later Asics Tiger and finally Asics.Incidentally, Onitsuka and the Dassler brothers knew very well ..

There were also impulses from the USA, but they came comparatively late, only in the 1970s and especially in the 1980s.In the first place here is Nike, emerged from the Blue Ribbon Sports company, which began as an IMS importer of ASICS-TIGER shoes in the 1960s.The Nike founders were running coaches Bill Bowerman and his former runner protégé Phil Knight, a former Middle Streckler, whose thesis on college was concerned with the topic of how a sporeskin company could replace the world market leadership of Adidas and Puma.

The development of the running shoe was always closely linked to the progress in the supplier industries.Modern oil processing and the chemical industry, which always produced new plastic and foam connections, the foundation stone was laid for modern running shoes with plastic medium soles.

A subdued midsole, license plate and quality feature of each running shoe was used for the first time in the 1960s.One of the first models with a dampening layer in the midsole was Brütting's Roadrunner in 1970.The shoemaker Eugen Brütting is the namesake of this still existing shoe brand, which, incidentally, still produces the Roadrunner model with only low modifications for the archetype.The groin shape is curved, the heel is left out.The blast tends to zero (front and refuge are on one level, without sales).

Upper material made of suede, that was a real progress

The toe box was significantly larger at the time than with previous sports shoes.Above all, she did not go pointed, but gave the big toe more space, which was very special.The upper was made of soft suede.Until then, fixed smooth leather has been used over time.According to today's standards, the word damping would certainly be inappropriate for the mid -sole construction, but Eugen Brütting already had such things in mind.Similar to Adi Dassler, who is considered a brilliant shoemaker and, among other things, attributed the invention of the vice in football shoes;An invention that also made its contribution to the achievement of the World Cup title in Bern in Bern.Much later, Dassler also devoted himself to shoes for long -distance runners.

The Franke realized that a different shoe bar was necessary for the rolling process when running than for soccer players or field handball players, who were still widespread in the 1960s in the 1960s next to gymnastics.1968, long before the first jogging wave in Central Europe, Adidas introduced the Achill model, a milestone of early running shoe development.Until then, runners had mostly run in models such as Rome (1960) or the Gazelle, normal sports shoes.The Achill, on the other hand, had a comparatively soft, steamed midsole.The upper was made of gazelle leather, and it already had a ghilly lacing and a saw profile running sole.In 1969 the heel wedge was introduced at Achill, which gave him a greater explosion: to reduce the impact shock, the material was thicker, the heel was significantly higher than the forefoot.

In terms of damping, the Achille was a significant progress, even if the construction brought in Achilles tendon complaints (sic!) Many runners. Already in 1968 the models Formula 1 and TRX came, both with a spoiler -like sole construction: the outsole was exposed like a spoiler and reached over the heel. Already in larger quantities, models such as SL72, SL74 or SL76 (the year indicated in which they came onto the market) were manufactured. At that time, the adidas models had the most resounding brand success (Brütting was popular with long-distance specialists and "professionals"). They were exported all over the world, but on a narrow basis. In the United States, Nike was still in its infancy. There were other manufacturers who also devoted themselves to the running shoe, such as Etonic from 1970. Until then, primarily known as a golf shoe manufacturer, the company Etonic Athletic was founded. The first running shoe models were trans-am and street fighter, but were never officially exported to Europe. New Balance also produced functional running shoes in the 1970s, but mainly for the domestic US market.

From the late 1970s, Nike also intervened internationally into the running shoe and sports industry and triggered an impulse, which, from today's perspective, is of not too overestimating importance for further running shoe development.In 1978 Robert Whitson, an American living in Heidelberg, began to sell golf, bowling and tennis equipment and worked in the US military market in Germany, among others, with the distribution of Nike sports shoes.

Due to the more explosive competitive situation, Adidas and Puma were also forced to further innovations.Initially, Nike increased his market share on the US market step by step in the 1970s.In addition to running shoes, it was mainly tennis shoes that increased the level of awareness of the new company.With John Mcenroe and Ilie Nastase, two top players were traveling in Nike shoes in the seats of the world, in the 1980s basketball superstar Michael Jordan provided the figurehead for sales records.

In the 1970s, Nike was one of the pioneers of the foamed midsole.A model that comes from this time, which is now sold as a retro mode shoe, is the Cortez, the designer Bill Bowerman already designed at the end of the 1960s.Finally the waffle sole: around it the story is spun that Bill Bowerman shaped his wife's waffle iron his first soles with waffle patterns.The corresponding shoe was then called waffle trainers.On the European market, it was mainly models of the second and third generation of Nike that caused a sensation.

The 80s: an era of innovations

A shoe called Tailwind signaled a groundbreaking development in running shoe technology in 1979.For the first time, a running shoe with air damping was presented in the midsole.In retrospect, it turns out that Nike's training running shoes were designed for US-typical running substrates (concrete, asphalt) and were too soft for Central European forest runners, which provoked Achilles tendon problems.At the latest from the mid -1980s, Nike also grew to power in the European markets.

Other American brands came to the European market in Nike's pull.New Balance, for example, a sports shoe producer from Neugland, which had been made from a craft company for the grown -up, which collected points early with a model range of shoes with different wide wide points.

However, they were prepared in the Franconian camp. At Adidas, the Marathon Trainer (1980) model with its exposed outsole caused enthusiasm and hamster purchases among the runners: good damping, perfect fit and a real mesh upper material that caused great ventilation. There was hardly ever a running shoe again that obtained such a success with the runners. In one breath, only one model would be called that came shortly afterwards: the Alliance from Asics (1980). This model still drives tears in the eye today. In runners, the Alliance enjoys a reputation such as the Mercedes-Benz wing door or the washing machine from Miele. It was only taken from the market when ASICs long since relied on gel damping (1987, Asics GTII). For fear that Asics could set production, many runners lay down some models in the basement. Adidas countered in the 1980s with models such as Atlanta or Oregon. To protect against deformation, a network was drawn around the middle sole ("Dellinger Web").

From New Balance, early classics such as the 500 series (570), from Finnish manufacturer Karhu came the synchronous and from Brooks of the Chariot. At the same time there were many experiments. Above all, the almost experimental composition of middle soles produced some exotic running shoe models. Sometimes there were round recesses or holes in the midsole in the sole, into which differently hard damping elements could be plugged in (1980, Los Angeles trainer, Adidas), later the big toe was individually left (Air Rift by Nike with its own sock! ). The chemical industry made it possible to play with new plastic foams in different degrees of hardness. The midsoles sometimes became much too soft. And so that you did not bend inside (overpronation), the most adventurous plastic supports were constructed, at the French manufacturer Le Coq Sportif on the outside shoe. In parallel, medium -sole components were introduced, which were sometimes responsible for damping, sometimes for stability.

There were also Velcro fasteners in the upper material that replaced the lacing.Puma invented the disc system (1988), in which a turntable brought thin nylon threads on the tab under tension.In 1986 Nike presented an early forerunner of his current free concept with the sock Racer.Reebok "Pump" developed in parallel, the lacing was replaced by inflow.

In the middle of the 1980s, a paradigm shift had long since taken place at the sports shoe manufacturers. The time of the shoemakers and inventors à la Dassler and Brütting was over: running shoe innovations were no longer an end in itself, the focus was on the construction of the improved running comfort, but were more and more due to market strategic aspects. To name in only a few keywords from this era: Air, Torsion, Disc, Pod, Dynacoil, Pump, Kinetic, Wedge, Gel, Hydroflow. If some of these expressions appear to you or even find yourself in running shoes, this is more of a sign of a meaningful, functioning concept. The list of earlier innovations that - more quickly than they came - disappeared from the running shoe racks, is significantly longer. Countless inventions were pure marketing gags. The cemetery of running shoe concepts sold as a revolutionary is large. On the other hand, the runners from the very beginning will always be happy to remember the classics.

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