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On of Nike’s greatest shoes is back with a touch of 21st century technical enhancement! It’s been half a century since one of Nike’s iconic and original racing shoes made its stamp on the world stage, but now its back, and we want a pair!

The Air Max Waffle blends two of our most revolutionary sneakers together to create an audacious new design that’s rooted in Nike heritage. It takes the midsole and Tuned Air experience of the Air Max Plus and pairs them with the lightweight upper and Waffle outsole of the famed Waffle Trainer. This edition mixes a Bright Ceramic hairy suede upper with smooth Sail leather accents to give you a stunning finish. You gotta love that rusty orange upper!

Nike have always been at the forefront of sports shoe technology, the original iconic Nike Waffle, first launched in 1972 which was the brands first major innovation.

The Nike Air Max shoe launched in 1987 which ignited a love for the iconic clear bubble in the sole, the iconic Nike Air Max 1 actually draws its design from the architectural codes of the emblematic building by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. Imagined by design star Tinker Hatfield, it embodies the concept of a largely transparent structure—it was the first shoe with a visible air bubble.

Initially, the idea is met with strong resistance from the Nike’s executives, who fear customers will be put off by the apparent fragility of such a sole. However, in 1987, the brand launched the new running shoe featuring the famous visible air bubble: the Air Max 1, entirely designed by Tinker Hatfield, it rapidly become a hit! And Sold in millions of pairs worldwide, available in dozens of limited editions, the Air Max is now a true totem of sneaker culture.

Then there is the Nike Vaporfly, it would be difficult to overstate the effect of the Nike Vaporfly had on the footwear design. With its launch nearly ten years ago, almost every brand has followed the design with bigger, lighter and most importantly, faster shoes.

The Vaporfly owes its existence to the original forward innovative thinking of its co-founder Bill Bowerman and the 1972 Waffle.

The Legendary Waffle

According to Nike, brand co-founder and former track legend Bill Bowerman came up with its unique lug-like outsole by pouring rubber into his wife’s waffle iron.

Though crude by design, it worked, giving his athletes (including Steve Prefontaine) extra grip without the added weight of spikes.

Since then, Nike hasn’t been shy about using waffle soles across its catalog and it’s become one of the brand’s most storied and consistent motifs — second only to the Air Max in terms of prestige and regularity.

With the Air Max Waffle, however, the two innovative technologies come together to breathe new life into Nike’s original super shoe. Only here, it takes the form of a sleek everyday sneaker for use off the track.

From the front, the design looks like the standard Waffle Racer, showcasing a synthetic upper with tonal suede accents and a high-contrast Swoosh for good measure.

However, the shoe starts to chart its own course the further back you go, namely with a sculpted foam midsole and visible Air unit in the heel. The interplay of innovations is probably most apparent underfoot, where Nike blended both systems and even sealed the design with a Tuned Air badge.

Pricing and availability

Previously released in the second half of 2024, the Air Max Waffle returns on 18th June with two new colour-ways: Bright Ceramic and Sail, as well as Sprinter Green and Electrolime.

£129.99

The above Sprinter Green and Electrolime edition will only be available on the Nike SNKRS App, Click HERE to download the app.