"It was 1995 and Tinker Hatfield's Air Max were a social phenomenon, although not as

much popular as the American brand wished and a little detached from the running

environement. The successor in the design of Air Max, Sergio Lozano opted for a more

aggressive style , which made the Air Max 95 one the most wanted sneakers in fashion

stores of Japan. However the shoe wasn't still adopted by runners.

Then arrived 1996 and

Nike introduced two different models of the Air Max. The first was an upgrade of the

AM95 following it's design with stylish lines. In fact, Sergio Lozano said that it took

the inspiration from the waves of the sea. The second was the Air Max 96 II, remembering

the classic style of the athletes including a mesh and reinforcements in areas of more

tension. Both new kicks shared the shoe last and the midsole with air chambers of two

densities.
Despite the innovations and improvements, it was hard to make a place in the

running catalog of Nike and get a place alongside the Rift, the Footscape and the

first genertion of the Zoom, all this without mentioning the athlete's favourites such

as the Eldoret or the Jasari. But all changed when they reached to fit the Air Max 96

to Michael Johnson, the man of the golden slippers, for the advertising campign of the

Olympic Games.

The launch of the Air Max 96 before Atlanta's Olympics gave to the first

release a bit more relevance than to the Air Max 96 II, but in any case the two runners

demonstrated to the most skeptical that those big air chambers had its place in the gyms

as in the streets.
For its 20th anniversary, Nike has decided to give to the two

versions of the Air Max 96 what they have always sought: the highest lightness possible.

The midsoles are updated with the new Air Max units and a foam that removes the extra

weight, but remain faithful to it's original upper. The challenge now is to choose one :

Max 96 or Max 96 II?

nike air max