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"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
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