The Nike Air Foamposite

Foamposites, one of the most unique and arguably Nike’s best-looking basketball shoes, have been a grail in the sneaker community for years. While it may not seem like it today, or even when they first debuted, there was a time when Foams were the MUST-HAVE sneakers. In the late 2000s to early 2010s, Foamposites were at their peak. NYC and the DMV held down the wave and made Foams the hot commodity. Everyone from rappers, entertainers, and even athletes was rocking Foams heavily. Shout out to Wale for popularizing the Pewters and the recent DMV colorways. I remember all the colorways growing up: Coughdrops, Metallic Reds, Pearls, Pine Greens. It even got crazy for a while with releases like the Thermals, Spider-Mans, Weathermans, Paranormans, and Doctor Dooms. I wanted them all, but convincing my parents to buy $200+ sneakers was a tough task, especially with siblings. I wasn’t the only one; I knew a few people who had to trade their other shoes just for a pair of Foams, maybe even two for one. The hype was that real. Hell, even a guy in Queens tried to sell his car for a pair of Galaxies. In high school, the closest thing I had to Foamposites was the Nike Air Max Wavy in white. Not exactly Foams, but they were affordable. It wasn’t until this year that I got my first pair, and now I’m in love. The look, the feel—is this what I’ve been missing all this time? I may never go back to another shoe.

Now, let’s take a dive into some brief history about Foamposites. In about 1997, shoe designer Eric Avar was tasked with creating an innovative new basketball shoe like no other. As lead of Nike’s Advanced Project Engineering Group, Avar formulated a concept that left fellow designers very skeptical about the idea. The concept was “What if you dipped your foot into the liquid bath of material & it just formed around your foot? And what if you could play basketball in that?” Sounds wild, doesn’t it? For 4 years, Avar & his team worked tirelessly to bring their new concept to life. The team utilized a heated polyurethane liquid that was molded to create a shoe that fit like a glove. A technology that would be known as the Foamposite. Most shoes of the time were produced with leather, suede, & other materials that were more common; the Foamposite was the first of its kind. Nowadays, plastic is a common ingredient in Nike footwear thanks to the Foamposite. Manufacturing Foams was expensive for Nike, as they were turned down left & right due to the belief that the complex mold could not be produced at a large scale. That was until Korean car manufacturer Daewoo swooped in to save the Foamposite from being scrapped, but it came with a hefty price. A mold allegedly costing Nike $750K was built to make sure Eric Avar’s vision came to fruition. At long last, the Nike Foamposite One & the Foamposite Pro were born. Fresh off the success of the Nike Air Penny 1 & 2, NBA Star Penny Hardaway was next in line for a new sneaker, but it wasn’t supposed to be the Foams, per se. Foamposites were originally designed for the legendary Scottie Pippen, but he almost immediately rejected them because they were “ugly.” Most people would when released, but little did they know what they’d become! Then came the fateful day Eric Avar presented the Foams to Penny. It almost didn’t happen; Avar hesitated to pull the Foams out of his bag of kicks to present until Penny stopped him in his tracks & told Eric, “That’s it, I want that to be my next shoe.” & the rest is history. Crazy thing is, Penny wasn’t even the first athlete to debut the Foams. Nike chose to have Arizona Wildcat Freshman & future NBA star, Mike Bibby, who would go on to win the ‘97 NCAA National Championships in a pair of Royal Blues. When Penny debuted the Royals a month later in the NBA, they caused controversy with League higher-ups because they didn’t have “enough” black on them to match his Orlando Magic uniform. So what did Penny do? He colored in the ridges with a black marker just to pass the uniform policy. How ironic, yet fitting for the player with the 2nd best Nike signature sneaker to similarly go through what Michael Jordan did with the Ones back in 1985? Pennys are the only other sneaker MJ wore other than his after all, even if it was only for the one time. When Foamposites finally hit the streets, people were hesitant to buy in. The futuristic structure of the shoe, one colorway & the $180 price tag turned a lot of people off, but Nike refused to give up on Foamposite tech & instead enhanced & refined it. Throughout the years, we’ve seen Foamposite tech implemented in various Nike sneakers. From Flightposites, to the Total Air Foamposite Max, even LeBron IV’s & VI’s had Foamposite tech built into them. The Foamposite was here to stay, but it wasn’t until a decade later in 2007 that the original Royal Blue Foamposite One would get a much-needed retro. Since 2007, Foamposites have become a staple in the Sneakerhead community, no matter the hype.

What is your favorite Foamposite? Do you prefer Ones or Pros? Did you live through its original release in 1997? Did you follow the hype of the 2010s or are you just now getting familiar with Foamposite greatness?