ghenges
Supporter
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- 1,594
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2003
So somewhere between coming up with ridiculous reasons to release new Lebron/Kobe shoe colorways and re-re-re-re-re-releasing Jordans and other retros, Nike simply gave up on making decent running shoes. They're not even trying to compete with their much smaller competitors for market share in the running department.
It's as though they just said: Forget all this mesh and leather stuff. We're going to take the cheapest upper materials we can find, glue it on a piece of foam, slap a $100 - $160 price on it and call it the Lunar line.
Performance wise, they are leagues behind Asics, New Balance, Brooks and others.
This is not to say they never made great running shoes. I actually just ran my pair of Equalon 4's into the ground. It was a traditional running shoe. VERY comfortable, a lot of cushion and support and still light weight. But what did they do? They discontinued it. Just like the Kantara before it. The closest thing they offer now is the Lunar Glide or Lunar Eclipse. When I tried them on today, in comparison with the Asics and Brooks models I also tried on, it wasn't even close comfort wise. It was sad.
I guess this is a vent post. What sucks is that they CAN make a better running shoe. They've proven they can in the past. But it seems their strategy now is just to make cheaper shoes that don't perform well and just hope that their marketing department can save them. After all, they are a marketing company first and a shoe company second.
I just dropped $150 on a pair of Asics Kayanos. This is my first pair of "serious" non-Nike runners. I've already fallen in love with them in the short time I tried them on in the store. There's no turning back now.
It's as though they just said: Forget all this mesh and leather stuff. We're going to take the cheapest upper materials we can find, glue it on a piece of foam, slap a $100 - $160 price on it and call it the Lunar line.
Performance wise, they are leagues behind Asics, New Balance, Brooks and others.
This is not to say they never made great running shoes. I actually just ran my pair of Equalon 4's into the ground. It was a traditional running shoe. VERY comfortable, a lot of cushion and support and still light weight. But what did they do? They discontinued it. Just like the Kantara before it. The closest thing they offer now is the Lunar Glide or Lunar Eclipse. When I tried them on today, in comparison with the Asics and Brooks models I also tried on, it wasn't even close comfort wise. It was sad.
I guess this is a vent post. What sucks is that they CAN make a better running shoe. They've proven they can in the past. But it seems their strategy now is just to make cheaper shoes that don't perform well and just hope that their marketing department can save them. After all, they are a marketing company first and a shoe company second.
I just dropped $150 on a pair of Asics Kayanos. This is my first pair of "serious" non-Nike runners. I've already fallen in love with them in the short time I tried them on in the store. There's no turning back now.