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- 5,869
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2004
With current retro OG colorway releases like the:
-Air Trainer III Medicine ball & Auburn SC Trainer High in 2009
-Freshwater& Volt Griffey 1, two Carnivore c/w's, two diamond turf I deion sanders, and two air trainer max 91 og c/w's in 2010
and for 2011: the trainer huarache black/greys, nomo blues, SC trainer II white/grey, trainer max 97, and griffey 2s,
You almost get the impression that Nike has done a seemingly decent job in the world of Nike cross trainers. But of these 11 or so shoes, we've seen at least double that in non OG lifestyle themed colors wasting away on shelves. With a history that spans at least 50 solid models, there is no excuse we are only seeing 3 or 4 new models/og colorways each year
I couldn't really get an order down so I'll just start with the most recent and work back to 1986. I tried to cover some of the late 90s. There are only a few that I am fond of, but this list isn't about me. So I attempted to search through the forums here and see what was desired over the years.
Presenting 50 Nike "cross trainers" that need to be retroed.
2004 Air Zoom Trainer 1 Mid:
- With Nike's recent attempts in 2009 in rebirthing the original air trainer, this 2004 model is far superior in just about every facet. With actual marketing and backing of Nike, these would succeed, unlike the 2004s which were seen at outlets as low as $39.99 (Msrp was $110)
2005 Air Trainer 1 FT (firsttake)
-What was designed to be the first ever cross trainer in 1985-86, these didn't become a reality until 2005. And the marketing Nike gave what was 20 years in the making? Nothin'.
2000 Air Griffey IV
-With three of the more popular griffey models being retroed (griffey 1 emerald and freshwater and the griffey 2 black), this one in my opinion stands above the griffey III, on the "next in line" list.
1999 Total Air Pillar
-Some reports in various thread here at NT state this might be too complex to have a retro done. We still DEMAND them though.
1998 Total Air Bus:
-Jerome Bettis sig. If other obscure runners or basketball shoes get retroed, why not these?
1998 Air Ubiquitous Max:
-Apparently a Jerry Rice sig. Unique, some what ugly. Falls into that "why not" category. I've seen molds created for far more complex retros that flopped.
1997 Air Zoom Turf Jet:
-Many call these the "Brett Favres". With the Barry Sanders retros being done a couple years back, why not these?
1997 Air Super Zoom:
-Michael Schumacher Edition. Maybe these flop. Maybe they don't. Give them a chance
1996 Air Streak Max:
-Released in all sorts of team colors. For the retro, maybe a simple white/black to start things off. aka the "Reggie Whites"
1996 Air Muscle Max:
-Screams 'rugged' to me. Just feels and looks like a classic. Hard to explain.
1995 Air Speed Turf Max:
-aka " Marinos". Maybe one of the most highly requested retros I've seen on the forums. Nike, give us both
1995 Air Diamond Fury Mid:
-The Ken Griffey Jr. c/w before he had his own shoe.
1995 Air Barrage:
-Love it or hate it shoe. Worn by the likes of Marshall Faulk.
1994 Air Trainer Huarache:
-Same release year as the Carnivore. This one also laceless with only velcro holding you down.
1994 Air Diamond Turf II:
-The white and black colorways are okay, but the red majority upper with gold accent is where this models strives for excellence.
1993 Air Trainer Max:
-Love it or hate it model once again. Some would consider too basic or bare. Something needed to compliment the red DT IIs above and the mariner emerald and black griffeys.
1993 Air Trainer Accel Mid:
-Working our way back, quite possibly the beginning of the end for cross trainers as we once knew them as. Still not an entirely bad shoe, thats why its here.
1992 Air Trainer Lite:
-Majority white upper with hints of purple? Yet for me personally it works well. With so many horizontal lines on the midsole and upper purple piece, it looks like the shoes moving. Very edgy design, literally.
1992 Air Trainer Huarache:
-The most notable of course, is the Black/grey colorway. But these two original colors should get atleast one go ahead.
1991 Air Trainer Max:
-A Bo Jackson signature classic. This colorway a little less known about. We got the black whites last year, along with the grey/yellows.. The grey/yellows were butchered as well but after two butchering cycles, I decided to pass the torch over to this original colorway. I gotta move on past the grey/yellows.
1991 Air Trainer E Low:
-Marketed by the likes of Nolan Ryan, a classic colorway execution with almost all white and then hints of color. Perfection!
1991 Air Cross Trainer IV Low:
-A relative of sorts of the E trainer. The Air Cross Trainer IV had similar design elements and a cheaper price point. Many of these second tier products were more popular than the "signature" model.
1991 Air Trainer TW Lite II:
-My favorite aspect is the white upper with colored toebox. It tends to frame in the entire shoe giving it that "pop". Add in subtle hints of color and it's perfect.
1990 Air Trainer SC III High (simply now known as the SC Trainer)
-I really had to think about this choice. Nike released two similar colorways to these in 2010. But in my opinion, were so bad and off base to their originals, that I decided they should be redone the right way this time.
-Is Nike afraid of doing an almost all white cross trainer? It seems like they feel it'll be too basic for people to like (word to the black/chlorine blue snakeskins they just released)
&
(shown here the 1997 retro). Nike did attempt to do this one just a year ago. All pleather upper leaves a lot to be desired. So this one made my top 50 list.
1991 Air Trainer TW Lite I:
-White/grey/black/Infared seems to work on just about anything else.. They have yet to do it on a trainer.
1989 Air Trainer TW II:
-Maybe the bitterest moment as a trainer fan was the day we saw Supreme was retroing this model and making it highly limited. Then NikeSB takes them over and releases more crap. A model 17 years old at the time, gets retroed for the first time and not one of the colorways since then, now four years later, has been an original? Blasphemy.
1989 Air Trainer SC II High:
-We know for 2011 that one of the retros is similar to the second pair above. Missing in that retro could be the turquoise sock liner. So both of these models remain on my list of needing to be RETROED.
-Sadly last year both of these colorways were done correctly on a hybrid AUTO TRAINER, for the GradeSchool (GS) model. Talk about a kick in the balls.. But I still hold out hope.
1989 Air Trainer SC II Low:
-My favorite part about these is in the details. The tongue features horizontal lines of varying thickness creating this nice effect on the tongue.
-White/grey/black/ANY COLOR is the formula for cross trainer success
1988 Air Trainer SC (now called simply the air trainer III):
-Both of these original colors were retroed around 2000-2001. Worn by the likes of Spike Lee and other celebs of that time in 1989, these were as sought after as jordans and other bball shoes were.. You want that mars IV jordan or jordan III white cement? Well here is your air trainer III equivalent above.
-Notably missing here is the medicine ball trainer colorway. Those were retroed in okay fashion in 2009.
1988 Air Trainer TW I:
-TW stands for Totally Washable. Same strap as the at1 and almost the entire upper similar to other trainers. But it still needs to release.
1988 Air Cross Trainer Low (might be refered to as the air cross trainer I):
-As talked about above with the other air cross trainer, these were essentially relatives of the air trainer high (at1) and the sc trainer (atIII). For many, these were all they could afford and thus the 2nd tier models really came to shine for people.
-One white and red c/w. And to contrast that an escape colorway featuring 4-5 colors and materials
1988 Air Cross Trainer High (might be the air cross trainer high I):
-Same basic info as above. This one, if you're familiar with the Jordan III, feature reverse lacelocks of that of the jordan III. Tinker blended quite a bit from every genre he worked on.
1988 Air Trainer High:
-Not much is known on my end about this colorway. All black with what appears to be safari print.. Some call the classic air trainer 1 colorways too plain.. How about this one?
1988 Air Trainer Low:
-Much like the one above. Some hate the white/grey/ original, which also retroed in 2005, so this one really takes it back.
We're getting close to the end here... Onto my favorites:
1987-88 Air Trainer High (now referred to as the air trainer 1):
-Right back to the beginning here. Nike had two release cycles starting in early 1987 and went through to 1988. In late 1990, the white/green colorway "retroed", a bit of an uncommon thing Nike did back then. In 1993 and 1994, both the green and red colorways got released again. Popularity on these was staggering.
-Late 2000 was about the last time that these were a widespread General Release
-Some might be asking why these are on the list. 2002 & 2008 had a limited overseas release. 2009 saw it twice in limited fashion. I've talked to a lot of people on NT over the years and so many appear to want these but don't want to dish out the $150 starting price on the subpar quality overseas releases. Others simply cannot find their size. If done right, havoc would be made.
To outdo themselves Nike could release the wear test and promo sample 1987 Air Trainer High
With a separate toe piece, these were what was envisioned but ultimately not done to the air trainer high.. Time to change history and get it right
Lastly another take on a classic
1988 Air Trainer High
This model featured a mesh toebox and medial side.. With no white leather on this model, it gave this model an even lighter feel to them.
There was dozens and dozens of omissions. I could've stayed in the early 90s for this entire list, but tried to spread it out at least to 1999.
Final thoughts: Even if Nike stayed on pace and retroed just 3 of these per year, we would need a lifetime to truly cover all of what's out there. The further we get past 1987, the bigger the hole gets. I don't think Nike can ever catch up.
Some of these take obvious precedence other others but I didn't want to really get into a numbers game. For example I'd take one solid GR of the chlorophyll air trainer 1 and never ask for the other 49. What are some of your must haves? Post pic's, stories...etc... Nike needs to know there are still trainer fans out there (word to the 6 foamposite threads dominating nike retro).
-Air Trainer III Medicine ball & Auburn SC Trainer High in 2009
-Freshwater& Volt Griffey 1, two Carnivore c/w's, two diamond turf I deion sanders, and two air trainer max 91 og c/w's in 2010
and for 2011: the trainer huarache black/greys, nomo blues, SC trainer II white/grey, trainer max 97, and griffey 2s,
You almost get the impression that Nike has done a seemingly decent job in the world of Nike cross trainers. But of these 11 or so shoes, we've seen at least double that in non OG lifestyle themed colors wasting away on shelves. With a history that spans at least 50 solid models, there is no excuse we are only seeing 3 or 4 new models/og colorways each year
I couldn't really get an order down so I'll just start with the most recent and work back to 1986. I tried to cover some of the late 90s. There are only a few that I am fond of, but this list isn't about me. So I attempted to search through the forums here and see what was desired over the years.
Presenting 50 Nike "cross trainers" that need to be retroed.
2004 Air Zoom Trainer 1 Mid:
- With Nike's recent attempts in 2009 in rebirthing the original air trainer, this 2004 model is far superior in just about every facet. With actual marketing and backing of Nike, these would succeed, unlike the 2004s which were seen at outlets as low as $39.99 (Msrp was $110)
2005 Air Trainer 1 FT (firsttake)
-What was designed to be the first ever cross trainer in 1985-86, these didn't become a reality until 2005. And the marketing Nike gave what was 20 years in the making? Nothin'.
2000 Air Griffey IV
-With three of the more popular griffey models being retroed (griffey 1 emerald and freshwater and the griffey 2 black), this one in my opinion stands above the griffey III, on the "next in line" list.
1999 Total Air Pillar
-Some reports in various thread here at NT state this might be too complex to have a retro done. We still DEMAND them though.
1998 Total Air Bus:
-Jerome Bettis sig. If other obscure runners or basketball shoes get retroed, why not these?
1998 Air Ubiquitous Max:
-Apparently a Jerry Rice sig. Unique, some what ugly. Falls into that "why not" category. I've seen molds created for far more complex retros that flopped.
1997 Air Zoom Turf Jet:
-Many call these the "Brett Favres". With the Barry Sanders retros being done a couple years back, why not these?
1997 Air Super Zoom:
-Michael Schumacher Edition. Maybe these flop. Maybe they don't. Give them a chance
1996 Air Streak Max:
-Released in all sorts of team colors. For the retro, maybe a simple white/black to start things off. aka the "Reggie Whites"
1996 Air Muscle Max:
-Screams 'rugged' to me. Just feels and looks like a classic. Hard to explain.
1995 Air Speed Turf Max:
-aka " Marinos". Maybe one of the most highly requested retros I've seen on the forums. Nike, give us both
1995 Air Diamond Fury Mid:
-The Ken Griffey Jr. c/w before he had his own shoe.
1995 Air Barrage:
-Love it or hate it shoe. Worn by the likes of Marshall Faulk.
1994 Air Trainer Huarache:
-Same release year as the Carnivore. This one also laceless with only velcro holding you down.
1994 Air Diamond Turf II:
-The white and black colorways are okay, but the red majority upper with gold accent is where this models strives for excellence.
1993 Air Trainer Max:
-Love it or hate it model once again. Some would consider too basic or bare. Something needed to compliment the red DT IIs above and the mariner emerald and black griffeys.
1993 Air Trainer Accel Mid:
-Working our way back, quite possibly the beginning of the end for cross trainers as we once knew them as. Still not an entirely bad shoe, thats why its here.
1992 Air Trainer Lite:
-Majority white upper with hints of purple? Yet for me personally it works well. With so many horizontal lines on the midsole and upper purple piece, it looks like the shoes moving. Very edgy design, literally.
1992 Air Trainer Huarache:
-The most notable of course, is the Black/grey colorway. But these two original colors should get atleast one go ahead.
1991 Air Trainer Max:
-A Bo Jackson signature classic. This colorway a little less known about. We got the black whites last year, along with the grey/yellows.. The grey/yellows were butchered as well but after two butchering cycles, I decided to pass the torch over to this original colorway. I gotta move on past the grey/yellows.
1991 Air Trainer E Low:
-Marketed by the likes of Nolan Ryan, a classic colorway execution with almost all white and then hints of color. Perfection!
1991 Air Cross Trainer IV Low:
-A relative of sorts of the E trainer. The Air Cross Trainer IV had similar design elements and a cheaper price point. Many of these second tier products were more popular than the "signature" model.
1991 Air Trainer TW Lite II:
-My favorite aspect is the white upper with colored toebox. It tends to frame in the entire shoe giving it that "pop". Add in subtle hints of color and it's perfect.
1990 Air Trainer SC III High (simply now known as the SC Trainer)
-I really had to think about this choice. Nike released two similar colorways to these in 2010. But in my opinion, were so bad and off base to their originals, that I decided they should be redone the right way this time.
-Is Nike afraid of doing an almost all white cross trainer? It seems like they feel it'll be too basic for people to like (word to the black/chlorine blue snakeskins they just released)
&
(shown here the 1997 retro). Nike did attempt to do this one just a year ago. All pleather upper leaves a lot to be desired. So this one made my top 50 list.
1991 Air Trainer TW Lite I:
-White/grey/black/Infared seems to work on just about anything else.. They have yet to do it on a trainer.
1989 Air Trainer TW II:
-Maybe the bitterest moment as a trainer fan was the day we saw Supreme was retroing this model and making it highly limited. Then NikeSB takes them over and releases more crap. A model 17 years old at the time, gets retroed for the first time and not one of the colorways since then, now four years later, has been an original? Blasphemy.
1989 Air Trainer SC II High:
-We know for 2011 that one of the retros is similar to the second pair above. Missing in that retro could be the turquoise sock liner. So both of these models remain on my list of needing to be RETROED.
-Sadly last year both of these colorways were done correctly on a hybrid AUTO TRAINER, for the GradeSchool (GS) model. Talk about a kick in the balls.. But I still hold out hope.
1989 Air Trainer SC II Low:
-My favorite part about these is in the details. The tongue features horizontal lines of varying thickness creating this nice effect on the tongue.
-White/grey/black/ANY COLOR is the formula for cross trainer success
1988 Air Trainer SC (now called simply the air trainer III):
-Both of these original colors were retroed around 2000-2001. Worn by the likes of Spike Lee and other celebs of that time in 1989, these were as sought after as jordans and other bball shoes were.. You want that mars IV jordan or jordan III white cement? Well here is your air trainer III equivalent above.
-Notably missing here is the medicine ball trainer colorway. Those were retroed in okay fashion in 2009.
1988 Air Trainer TW I:
-TW stands for Totally Washable. Same strap as the at1 and almost the entire upper similar to other trainers. But it still needs to release.
1988 Air Cross Trainer Low (might be refered to as the air cross trainer I):
-As talked about above with the other air cross trainer, these were essentially relatives of the air trainer high (at1) and the sc trainer (atIII). For many, these were all they could afford and thus the 2nd tier models really came to shine for people.
-One white and red c/w. And to contrast that an escape colorway featuring 4-5 colors and materials
1988 Air Cross Trainer High (might be the air cross trainer high I):
-Same basic info as above. This one, if you're familiar with the Jordan III, feature reverse lacelocks of that of the jordan III. Tinker blended quite a bit from every genre he worked on.
1988 Air Trainer High:
-Not much is known on my end about this colorway. All black with what appears to be safari print.. Some call the classic air trainer 1 colorways too plain.. How about this one?
1988 Air Trainer Low:
-Much like the one above. Some hate the white/grey/ original, which also retroed in 2005, so this one really takes it back.
We're getting close to the end here... Onto my favorites:
1987-88 Air Trainer High (now referred to as the air trainer 1):
-Right back to the beginning here. Nike had two release cycles starting in early 1987 and went through to 1988. In late 1990, the white/green colorway "retroed", a bit of an uncommon thing Nike did back then. In 1993 and 1994, both the green and red colorways got released again. Popularity on these was staggering.
-Late 2000 was about the last time that these were a widespread General Release
-Some might be asking why these are on the list. 2002 & 2008 had a limited overseas release. 2009 saw it twice in limited fashion. I've talked to a lot of people on NT over the years and so many appear to want these but don't want to dish out the $150 starting price on the subpar quality overseas releases. Others simply cannot find their size. If done right, havoc would be made.
To outdo themselves Nike could release the wear test and promo sample 1987 Air Trainer High
With a separate toe piece, these were what was envisioned but ultimately not done to the air trainer high.. Time to change history and get it right
Lastly another take on a classic
1988 Air Trainer High
This model featured a mesh toebox and medial side.. With no white leather on this model, it gave this model an even lighter feel to them.
There was dozens and dozens of omissions. I could've stayed in the early 90s for this entire list, but tried to spread it out at least to 1999.
Final thoughts: Even if Nike stayed on pace and retroed just 3 of these per year, we would need a lifetime to truly cover all of what's out there. The further we get past 1987, the bigger the hole gets. I don't think Nike can ever catch up.
Some of these take obvious precedence other others but I didn't want to really get into a numbers game. For example I'd take one solid GR of the chlorophyll air trainer 1 and never ask for the other 49. What are some of your must haves? Post pic's, stories...etc... Nike needs to know there are still trainer fans out there (word to the 6 foamposite threads dominating nike retro).
