Friday, 9 December 2011

The Air Trainer SC II is one of the greatest Nike designs ever.

 I have to get my hands on these bad boys when it's out.

Source from Crooked Tongues: 

'We never saw Jerry Seinfeld opt for this one (in the Velcro forefoot stakes he was more of an Air Trainer Max man), but there's an air of 'Home Improvement' to this silhouette. Kudos to Nike for paying attention to what the fans wanted back, and if you were a sneaker fanboy or girl circa 1990, you may have envied this model from afar, despite only having the budgetary means to cop a non-Air Nike Trainer release with the neon tongue that was close but no cigar. We wanted the Bo Jackson SC with the sailcloth-style details, visible air and killer colourways. Especially in the then rarely-seen Raiders colours or the blue and orange. Bo definitely knew, and 1990's SC sequel was a no expenses spared affair that chucked everything and the kitchen sink in, yet somehow it worked.

This model's option to remove that polarizing forefoot Velcro strap was a smart one — bringing a trademark of OG Air Trainer to proceedings — and the inner collar that elevates the Air Trainer SC II to mid is the one of the godfathers of Mowabb and latterly, the Kobe VII's ankle strap system. When the 1989 SC came back, we had a sneaking suspicion that SC IIs could be back on that tooling too. The versions from late spring were decent, but the pleather let them down. The Quickstrike from summer was something else though — materials were on point and even the Velcro had been tweaked in line with the originals. The teal and blast of zesty pop colour was perfect and the red and grey was phenomenal too. For some inexplicable reason, we Euro-heads were denied that release, so - in an echo of the fortunate few who had a Stateside holiday and came back with Bo hookups — we had to grab them on our travels.


Now we've been given this Quickstrike colourway that's not bad at all. It's murky and winter-friendly, failing to top those OG shades, but it's reminiscent of that Raiders makeup, with the Scotchlite heel panel, swoosh and collar eyelet detail as excellent additions. It's crazy to think that once upon a time, Bo shoes were as sought-after round our way as Mike's signature models, but it's a serious footwear legacy that deserves respect.'






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