When thinking about all of the best sneakers from 1996, you’re probably most likely to picture the year’s classic basketball shoes first. And it’s very understandable, since pretty much every one of the most celebrated shoes from that year packed with legendary sneakers comes from the basketball court. The Nike Air More Uptempo, the Air Penny 2, the Reebok Question, the adidas Top Ten 2000…the list goes on. We’re going to cover plenty of basketball shoes in the year to come of Flashback to ’96 articles, but like last month, we’re here to take a look at some more classics from off the court.
In the grand scheme of sneakers from 1996, running shoes seem to be the forgotten category. Go one year earlier, and you have the Nike Air Max 95, one of the most popular and reproduced sneakers of all time. One year later, and Nike’s early Zoom Air models like the Spiridon and Talaria make for some of today’s biggest cult-classics. 1997 also brought us the “silver bullet” Air Max ’97, another favorite for many of the Air Max line. Speaking of Air Max, that’s the line from ’96 we’re here to remember today. Or actually, we might be introducing it to you for the first time, since 1996’s Air Max models are unjustly overlooked—especially when it comes to the retro lines from Nike.
Flashback to ’96 as we take a look at three underrated Air Max Classics: the Air Max 96, the Air Max Tailwind, and the Air Max Triax.