An Ode to Nike’s Free Run 2
Streetwear culture has never been so close to high fashion. Over the last eight years, infiltrating and pillaging street/youth culture to create the ultimate overpriced trainer has been the brief of every high fashion house .
The trainer re-entered the consciousness of the masses when adidas, reloaded the everyday-wavey Stan Smith in 2012. The culture has been fed a Mario mushroom by profit-hungry execs and now everybody’s become a sneakerhead overnight. These days, we have £600+ ‘’trainers’’ from Balenciaga which resemble a stale birthday cake you might find in Arrested Development’s model home.
Yeeeeuggh. *Pusha T voice*.
Amongst all the excess though, are a number of simple, utilitarian silhouettes that provide comfort and look good too for people who aren’t entirely bothered about having a fire fit. Think adidas’ NMD range. It can be argued this trend started with Nike’s Roshe Run way back in 2010. The triangular, sock-like, almost slip-on trainer offered style, comfort and a slickness that could work across different kinds of looks. This birthed the NMD, Yeezy 350 and 350 v2, even the re-issued adidas EQT 93/17 and many more knock-offs. It’s a good time to buy trainers if you don’t care about trainers.
But one trainer – influential yet, unnoticed – quietly slipped into the archives at Beaverton while they ferreted away to create the VaporMax and/or React technology.
Nike’s Free Run 2.
Svelte, sleek, simple.
This trainer was ahead of its time. Light, comfortable, true-to-size, breathable, functional. You could run 26.2 miles in them. Or go for dinner wearing them. It was the water carrier, pivot and the occasional destroyer, like N’Golo Kante of Chelsea and France. No airs and graces. An antidote to the largesse we’re seeing right now.
The Nike Free Run 2 was a future-facing product, like all the great innovations. Its multi-functional design is behind the streamlined, deconstructed ‘’tech/urban ninja’’ trend favoured not only by Nike, but by collaborators Acronym, Arcteryx, ALYX, Uniqlo, and more. Though we’re slightly moving on from the Urban Batman steez and trickling into a more farmer-esque/trucker aesthetic, the Free Run 2 was part of the race that led us here.
Times change, trends change. That’s how it goes. Even I’ve jumped on the chunky ‘’dad’’ shoe aesthetic. But the Free Run 2 is one of Nike’s greatest ever designs — and harkens back to a time when streetwear was a lot less bloated. Before applying to endless raffles for trainers. Before battling bots to buy trainers you like. Before StockX was worth one billion dollars.
Even one of streetwear’s most prominent figures — the late, great Virgil Abloh — founder of Off-White and Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton said ‘’streetwear will die’’. Which is ironic. Part of Virgil’s fantastic legacy will be highlighting the value of streetwear and its surrounding cultures for corporations - and the elite. He created opportunities in these spaces for young black creatives, even if some of the cultural essence became diluted. Cultures shift and times change. Streetwear was once an emblem for a youthful rebellion but has become paying $2000 for a pair of Dior Air Jordan 1’s. The culture will change once again. But until then…
Free Run 2, the streets remember.