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Lunar Gains Ground Despite Air Attack
Nike introduced Lunar cushioning in 2008 just before the Beijing Games. This new technology came at a time that I referred to as the “Beginning of the Renaissance of Footwear Design.” While the technology was just in its infancy and there were many learning curves of the cushioning’s abilities and limitations, 2010 brought what might be the perfect formula for Lunar.
In the running arena Nike developed a line of affordable, high performing shoes that made it to retail in a price sensitive economy at $100 and less with the LunarElite and LunarGlide. The Nike LunarGlide also saw it’s sequel, the LunarGlide+ 2, which became Nike’s biggest selling performance product in any quarter of Nike?s entire history. This Elite and Glide midsole/outsole tooling also crossed over into the casual space on products that include the LunarWood, LunarElite Trail Mid, and Lunar Macleay.
In 2008 and 2009 we saw Nike react to the price sensitive market and added vulcanized soles to a number of classics including the Sabaku, Dunk, Air Flight Lite High, Air Trainer II, and Air Force 180. This trend fell flat with dismal sell throughs and instead headed in the completely opposite direction. Instead of taking a heritage product and stripping it of all its cushioning, Nike Sportswear updated these classics with the latest and greatest in design and technology. We saw this take place on the Lunar Air 180 (update to Air 180), LunarWood (update to Wildwood), and even some new silhouettes in the ACG Boot arena.
While Lunar was catching on in the running world and beginning to take hold in casual wear, Air has been as strong as ever. ?The shoe was a tremendous improvement on the Air Max 360 of 2006. This 360 Max Air unit was played with in the casual space as the Air Max 24-7 combined the great cushioning and a familiar upper of the Air Max 95 and 97 models and saw a better sell through rate than both the original Neon Air Max 95 and the Air Max 97 in the original silver color. The Air unit also made its way into training at the bottom of the Air Trainer 1 and then onto the next runner from the Air Max series, the Air Max 2010.
In the past year, the 360 Max Air also saw a come back in basketball. A newly engineered and basketball specific 360 Max Air bag was created for the LeBron VII which was a hot seller in virtually every colorway.
In the middle of the year, Nike and Foot Locker teamed up to release the Air Attack Pack which featured over 40 different shoes in exclusive colorways to celebrate Air cushioning. While some models saw decent sales, many fell short. ?But the message was clear – Air is here to stay and Nike is going nowhere.
Both the Lunar and Air will be played with in new ways in the coming years. Expect to see more mixes of Lunar and Air to find the perfect cushioning combination. ?Also expect to see both technologies hit new markets and types of footwear.
