The 50 Greatest Running Shoes of All Time

Fall is fast approaching, and with it, prime running weather. So to commemorate the end of summer, we called on all-around sneaker expert Gary Warnett to compile his list of The 50 Greatest Running Shoes of All Time. Some you'll recognize, some you won't, as all-time classics like the Nike Air Max 90 take their place alongside lesser-known (but hardly lesser) models such as the Mizuno MZ-84. So we invite you to click through the gallery and take a walk — make that a run — down memory lane.

RELATED: The 90 Greatest Sneakers Of The 90s
RELATED: Sneaker Report - The 10 Best Women's Running Shoes for Beginners
RELATED: Sneaker Report - The 10 Best Gore-Tex Equipped Running Sneakers This Winter
RELATED: Sneaker Report - The 10 Best Sneakres for Long Distance Running

Year: 1988

This is an underrated shoe. The entire ZX family from adidas could make up the bulk of this top 50, but we tend to forget the 510s and 930s of the 1980s' adidas running output. The teal, grey and red on an upper that evokes the old 710 design from 1987 is set off with an all terrain sole unit that was pretty damned technical in its day. It's a lot of numbers to have to deal with, but this is one of the greatest adidas colorways of all time on an amazing shoe design that was built to take some distance. That's all you need to know. And this French-made classic really doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Year: 1983

Mizuno's branding was poor, but their shoes were insanely advanced in the quest for peak performance. The Cassette Insole system was the stuff of techy fantasies, coming with a duo of insoles that had a variety of separate forefoot and heel pads that clipped in, complete with an elaborate chart to document the benefits. Tailored to your weight, the shock absorbing properties were a bespoke solution, and on the MZ-84, the pronation bar and resilient midsole completed a sensible-looking shoe that concealed its insanity well. The adidas Micropacer's stopwatch and PUMA's RS Computer Shoe went crazy on the gimmicks, but this one knew to keep the funny stuff hidden.

Year: 2008

This is the newest entry on this list solely because it feels like one of the few contemporary runners that's likely to see a retro somewhere down the line. There's barely anything to the Nike Lunar Racer — the Flywire framework, almost-transparent upper and startling lack of weight makes it the logical conclusion to plenty that's gone before. Mayfly's hardly-there feel, the colored midsoles of the 'Personal Record' pieces of the late 1980s like the revamped Mariah and Duelist are in there too. Any more resilient Nike running shoe that got a Racing strip-down informed this shoe and Lunarlon foam followed on from Phylon as the new application of choice, superseding Air as the innovation that informs most of what's on the shelves today. Sneaker design became dull for a few years until Lunar arrived.

Year: 1989

An amazing shoe that's rarely mentioned, the Span was left in the shade by the pricier Stab and lure of exposed Air, although they were picked up by runners looking for something that looked good, performed well and didn't cost the earth. It's imbued with the design elements of the time, but in white, grey and light blue this felt like the lump sum of the previous decade's finest offerings. There's plenty more from this era that don't get the shine they deserve, but this (and not the faintly inferior Span II) deserves a reissue, just so a new generation can appreciate this road running creation.

Year: 1986

The Reebok GL 6000 is a shoe that quietly redefined the runner alongside the likes of the Phase II. The total support system, dual-density midsole and that distinctive wavy (free Max B) forefoot application, plus that secure strap lacestay that threw back to other classic Reeboks made this perfect. It's all in that shape. The Goodyear Indy 500 rubber outsole was a perfect finishing touch. A weak post-Millenial retro was followed by an excellent one a couple of years ago. It's all in the shape.

Year: 1998

Some shoes just go under the radar for no good reason. 1997 and 1998 and the dawn of Zoom Air gave Nike the opportunity to go crazy on the design front without the shackles of a large Nike Air unit. The result? Some outlandish looking sneakers. This Tinker Hatfield design arrived ready sliced in terms of appearance and was originally built for Mr. Michael Johnson in track spike form. The black and gold striped look is like nothing we'd ever seen before, and while some cues from this classic cropped up in more late '90s/early '00s designs, they never pushed things this far out. Like all the best Nike styles, it's not some nostalgia-trip — the Zoom JST was defiantly next-level around the same time that the Foamposite was making the competition look quaint. An underappreciated masterpiece.

Year: 2004

This is another one of those Nike moments that changes everything. Around 2000, the matter of making a training shoe that carried the benefits of barefoot running. In 2004, it dropped, complete with stern warnings about potential pain. No complaints or reports of injury materialized, but these shoes were still a serious business. This Nike Free's 5.0 put it half way between barefoot (0.0) and a standard Nike running shoe of that time. Now Free-style flex siping are a standard issue on nearly every performance shoe on the market. An influential release.

Year: 1984

Etonic went all out with the Quasar design. In terms of technologies and money's-no-object madness in the quest to be number one (for which we can blame the jogging boom of the time) 1984 was the year when the expensive running shoes started dropping in greater quantities with some bombastic advertisements. Etonic put the fiberglass Dynamic Reaction Plate into this model to disseminate impact, stop over-pronation and propel the foot for the next stride. Bizarrely but brilliantly, the lacing ran around the collar to support the rear of the foot and you can't knock any shoe that had a application called the 'Dr. Rob Roy McGregor Foot Cradle' the technology that was originally applied to 1979's excellent StreetFighter.

Year: 1992

Which Pegasus warrants a position here? Most of them up to 1992 are fantastic. The 1983 original, Pegasus Plus, Pegasus GX, the Pegasus ACG, the 1988 version (marginally better than the 1989 take that got retroed), the 1990 version with the heel lettering and the forgotten Pegasus Racer are classics, but the 1992 variation in concord blue, maize and white is the ultimate entry. After this, the formula got stuck in repeat before the shoes became progressively more ugly until they got pretty again in late 2008. This model's plastic heel application and teched-out sole unit is a thing of beauty. Whether they were black-on-black or kept light, it seemed the line peaked right here. Other shoes from the era like the Air Base IIs were cool, but the cheaper Icarus line of lightweight running couldn't come close to their similarly mythically monikered siblings.

Year: 1987

With that single-density sole unit, resilient rubber outsole and effective but basic looks, the Air Windrunner's an unlikely contender. Some would say 1987's Air Support deserves a place over this shoe. It wasn't the kind of shoe aimed at "real" runners, but it was fairly affordable (more so as the years passed) and was picked up by several hip-hop acts (witness Kid 'n Play repping the Windrunner), got a Jordan III-style elephant print application in the late 1980s before it became played out and was incorporated in the fabled Escape line too. That's serious. Contrary to misinformation, the Heaven's Gate cult offed themselves in black and white Nike Decades rather than the Air Windrunner.

Year: 1991

The Dellinger webbing is a pattern that performed, with the polyamide netting offering shock-absorbing properties. The fact that Bill Dellinger was once Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman's right hand man, and that one of the shoes that debuted this technology (alongside the Atlanta) in 1982 was called Oregon — Nike country — almost certainly rankled. That ghilly-laced silhouette inspired this 1991 update that applied a Soft-Cell to the heel and boosted the shape as if it was an Air Max 90 retort. That said, adidas's history of updating classic models with 'Super' and 'Ultra' editions goes way, way back. The New York, Marathon TR, Toronto and Waterproof are two more hugely significant Dellinger-assisted running designs worthy of note.

Year: 1990

The original Mariah was one of the early Air experiments in cushioned nothingness for maximum performance, dating back to 1981, then it was brought back in racing flat form at the end of the decade, clocking less on the scales This 1990 version was part of the PR 'Personal Record' set which included an update on the excellent Duellist too. The Mariah PR fits small, but that Radiant Pink sole set the standard for the colored soles on the Lunar pieces almost two decades later, while the white/pink/purple palette cropped up on other fine runners like the Air Apparent and Air 180 the following year.

Year: 1994

1993's Pump Fury is bugged out like the Nike Rift from a couple of years later. The world still isn't ready for it. But the Pump Fury's more accessible sibling, the Fury Road, is a marginally better shoe. It took the same Pump-up exo-skeleton style and gave it a little more body for road running. Insta Pump was a flop and the Road was sidelined in favor of the gloriously strange Pump Fury, but the orange, navy and white Insta Pump Fury Road is one of the greatest sneakers ever designed. This was a victim of a hefty RRP and being pitched alongside its attention-grabbing sibling. Gotta love that visible Hexalite too.

Year: 1978

This is the first sneaker to implement Nike Air. That's why it's here really, because it looks like an LDV, and that sole unit was cautiously chunky compared to what dropped shortly after. The metallic mesh on the prototypes made the shoes rip apart during testing — not, as rumor has it, exploding airbags — but that was fixed with a material change. There's better looking shoes out there, but few would have such a vast impact on pop culture (but Anthony Michael Hall's Nike Internationalists in 'The Breakfast Club' were pretty awesome). R.I.P. Frank Rudy.

Year: 1999

If the New Balance 991 is good enough for Steve Jobs, it's good enough for you. 1998's M990 was a good shoe, but the 1999 incarnation was an expensive dose of ABZORB, beneficial details for the mild pronators, all-terrain styling and a bulk that's like little we'd seen before. This isn't a shoe that panders to fashion, but in neutral colors it's a modern classic that's well-made, unique and a constant bestseller globally, with the horde of European disciples to this, the 992 and the 993 growing by the day.

Year: 1990

adidas have quite a legacy of creating rough terrain runners, but their Torsion system's flexible cutaway always seemed like a delicate-looking technology. The Torsion SP dismissed that notion in aggressive style — reinforced, reworked and satisfyingly chunky compared to its synthetic suede and mesh buddies, the SP was still built to perform. It's even more appealing when the GORE-TEX badge is on the upper, and the original (and subsequent brace of retro versions) makeup was blessed with some of the most appealing colorways in adidas's history. This was the running shoe with added creatine.

Year: 1985

Made as a signature shoe for British runner Steve Cram on the back of his Olympic success in the 1500 meters, this Nike model also arrived as the jogging craze really gathered pace. There was the sought-after Cram Destiny for kids in the same black and yellow combo, but this notably non-Air release killed the competition with that yellow overlay on the forefoot. Many children in the UK lusted after this model from afar in its junior or grown-up form and pleaded for a pair — they usually ended up with Dunlop sneakers and a lecture about the Third World.

Year: 1983

This was the enemy of over-pronation. Look beyond the big brands for a second and take a look at the kind of unassuming-looking creation that built a Teflon rep among real runners. The Brooks Chariot was made to prevent the rolling during a run that caused so many injuries and maintain stability, by implementing a rollbar that was visible on the heel, operating at a distinctly diagonal angle. Classic materials, like nylon and pigskin, an incredibly comfortable insole and neutral makeups made this a classic. The 1988 Chariot CC update is equally notable.

Year: 1983

The Nike Omega Flame is the stuff of schoolyard myths in Europe. 1984's Terra Rainbow model used a similar fiery fade, but the Omega Flame was a direct descendant of an early 1980s' track spike with that garish combination of lurid Swoosh, red suede and the flaming underlay blowing minds. They weren't necessarily scarce on their release, but it feels like that appearance was fleeting. These, the Rainbow and the Aloha remain curiously unretroed, but there's a certain mythos to this model that even the internet hasn't unearthed fully.

Year: 1999

The aim of Nike's Alpha Project was to re-up the brand's appeal with a limitless approach to design. That sounds like asshole-boardroom talk, but if you look at the offerings from this collection, it seems to have informed today's fresh designs a decade later, even if some shoes never made the commercial splash they should have done. Take the Zoom Citizen — a running shoe with bizarre, organic-looking overlays, plenty of mesh and the dot branding that was the Alpha project motif. You don't see too much visible Zoom these days, but it looked incredible on the Citizen, and the shoe seemed to be informed by the LWP and Zoom Swift Triax released a little earlier. A massively underrated shoe that some still swear by for casual runs, striking the perfect balance between weird and conventional.

Year: 1984

Arguably one of the finest of all Nike designs, the Epic wasn't cheap at $100, and arrived around the same time as the Vengeance, with the superb V-Series combining the following year working in some similar design elements. There's plenty of Nike running designs that don't get the respect they deserve — the Support and Structure II for instance — but this model's been given a good retro treatment with the super-limited Footpatrol edition from 2003 (bizarrely, a Hyperstrike pair went on sale in the NORT closing sale for around $20). The original's muted color scheme betrayed the supportive design, Air Wedge application and crucial to the shoe's appeal, that perforated heel section with the Scotchlite underlay for total visibility.

Year: 1986

This is one of adidas's finest running designs and it harbors a technology to rival the changeable inserts on the excellent adidas Fire. Between pads and pegs, adidas were killing them during the 1980s as they offered the consumer ways to personalize their sneakers way before the iD era. That unassuming but sleek upper betrays the application in the APS's midsole — the Antipronation and Shock Absorption System was a technology that allowed the wearer to alter the level of shock absorbing properties using a key — the hidden rods inside could be close to make the midsole more resilient, or farther apart to make it a slightly softer ride. Gimmickry done right.

Year: 1993

Actually, that should read Huarache Light AND Huarache Racer, because bar the road running and racing flat soles, they're very similar indeed. Just as the Pump Fury got a Road takedown into something a little more conventional, the Huarache Light (one of many excellent Huarache running spinoffs) was the sock and framework concept in a more palatable package for the conservative types. But don't get it twisted — it was still a strange and brilliant shoe, with the Racer refusing to tone down in shades of grape. By 1993, the OG Huarache's "Have you hugged your foot today?" slogan had become a mass love-in across brands with pretty much every running shoe on the market ridding the tongue in favor of an ankle embrace, but from the transluscent, liquid-looking lacestays to the lowkey branding, this was a masterpiece.

Year: 1997

The Nike Zoom technology had made a splash on court a couple of years prior on the feet of Mr. Jason Kidd, but could it be applied to a runner? Yes it could. If anything, the lightweight, totally unobtrusive application was exactly what was needed to keep the grams down and reduce finishing times. The Zoom Swift Triax was good, but before that masterpiece ever hit shelves, the Zoom Spiridon changed the game. The Spiridon was released in a few forms during the 1980s, but 1997's incarnation's metallic branding, visible outsole technology and looks akin to a stripped down Air Max 97 — plus a big RRP — made this a connoisseur's favorite. The unreleased version with Paris's Opium store was incredible. The basketball variation was an embarrassment to the good name of Spyridon Lewis, winner of the first modern-day Olympic marathon in 1896.

Year: 1992

adidas's top-of-the-line attempt to take the performance market spared no expense and made some killer moves in implementing those stripes into shoes beyond mere branding. This top-tier runner hasn't been retroed for some inexplicable reason, but those nylon strap stripes spilling over onto the midsole? Goddamn. The Infinity 3000 rubber outsole, external heel support, more lowkey Torsion and visible ImpactCell is a superior combination. The Tubular and Guidance from this period are also very notable indeed.

Year: 1975

You've heard about this one before. The Nike Cortez and Marathon are significant sneakers, but Waffle is an application that really helped mold Nike into what it is today. Bill Bowerman, legendary track coach and the co-founder of Nike, assisted on some classic running shoes in his day for Nike and Tiger before that in the quest for less to strip weight down to the bare minimum. Made from a prototype created by putting rubber into waffle irons — destroying several along the way — this sole unit offered traction solutions and remains a reference point visible on today's Lunar tech runners. That's why they call it the Innovation Kitchen. Waffle was introduced on 1972's Moon Shoe, before going to the Oregon Waffle the following year. 1975's take on the Waffle Training is the most definitive. The colors and materials used didn't hurt either.

Year: 1986

Like the APS or the LA Trainer's peg system, adidas's Fire shoe came complete with an excellent gimmick — removable pads would hone the level of cushioning to meet your requirements. But as with all the best technologies (and it's particularly true of 1980s' adidas output), the application ups the aesthetic greatness of the shoe. That blast of color on the midsole complements the sleek upper — itself the sum total of some of the greatest adidas running looks ever — to make state-of-the-art into a timeless design that's occasionally overlooked. Never cheap or easy to find in the first place, there's an aura to this shoe. Connoisseurs understand and opinions of the rest don't matter.

Year: 1995

Loved and despised in equal quantities, the Air Rift brought some tradition, common sense and glorious weirdness to the running shoe. Feeling like the ancestor of some early split-toe Onitsuka efforts (themselves steeped in age-old Japanese tradition), these were a solution for the Kenyan athletes who favored running in bare feet. Nike would unleash some other fine experiments in minimalism (the excellent Mayfly's one-marathon concept being one) but this became a trend-level favorite, with stores like the London stores shifting them at a markup with a waiting list too, after buying up batches from running retailers. Kenyan colors, Brazil colors, Turbo Pink, tangerine and camo all got wear from both sexes. And we'll probably see a Rift resurgence too.

Year: 1981

You might think the Saucony Jazz looks basic now, but long before it became one of the hardcore scene's shoes of choice this was a pioneering runner. Made with podiatrist Dr. Frank Santopietro as consultant, the Maxitrac outsole, emphasis on balance, sock insert, narrow heel and more substantial forefoot all combined on this bestseller that spawned the Jazz series. Total performance and a softer feel than the harder soles of previous years, plus a simple look that's ultra versatile makes this iconic. The Shadow series also deserves a shout here.

Year: 1998

The Nike Zoom Talaria is a significant shoe that's occasionally overlooked. Name-checked in designer interviews as a significant moment in Nike design, the protected low to the ground performance had plenty of flex too. The Zoom range of footwear hit new heights, with this design embodying the liberated design language of minimal but reactive Air. The neon yellow and orange colorways demanded to be seen with their tennis ball style design cues that could be mistaken for a court sneaker. That outsole was prone to peeling, but that was a small price to pay for something this fresh. That served you right for running in the damned things rather than posing, but why the original colorway was scrapped as a retro at sample stage around 2005 but homaged on an Air Force 1 remains a considerable annoyance.

Year: 1989

Some will get angry at the lack of 576 and 574 here, but they always seemed geared toward casual wear and walking, despite their beautiful looks. Excuses aside, the 577 had to be included here as the bonafide performance piece of the trio. Greys and blues are the definitive no-nonsense palette, while the shark-like silhouette, support and ENCAP-aided shock absorption and resilience all worked perfectly. The Israeli army editions with the Hebrew lettering on the label were serious, but leave those inferior editions with the extra plastic panel well alone.

Year: 1995

Taking people well out of their comfort zones, 1995 was a progressive year for Nike with the Rift, the latest Air Max iteration and this. Asymmetric lacing was nothing brand new on a running shoe — Nike had played with it a decade prior and Converse had used it too — but Footscape was about far more than that; the bizarre shape of these sneakers mimicked the foot fully. The Stasis variation (FS rather than fully-fledged Footscape) took it down to something more lightweight and conventional, but the original was a shock to the system. Kids in Asia got it immediately and as with the Rift, fashion tribes picked up on it quick too, with pairs shifting at some heavy duty markups. A strange and beautiful shoe.

Year: 1990

The ASICS Gel Lyte III trumped the prior Gel Lyte instalments with that split tongue application. Gel is one of the few technologies that seemed to be more than just a placebo to hike up prices and talk nonsense in advertisements, but on the Lyte III, it really came of age. Now a new breed are hoarding colorways with boosts from Patta and Mr. Fieg, and back in the day, serious runners and NYC-based connoisseurs looking for bragging rights and the perfect Polo and North Face accompaniment were preoccupied with that comfortable fit via the model's bizarre split-tongue, featherweight feel and use of pop color. The Gel Lyte V a couple of years later is strong, but it rode the wave of sock-like neoprene fits of the era rather than offering total originality like this.

Year: 2000

If you think Nike's Alpha Project was a failure, you're an idiot. The Zoom Citizen, Kukini, Seismic and Havens are fascinating creations, but the Presto was the line's real success. The logical step from Bermuda, Sock Racer, Air Flow and Huarache, this stretchy design was ultra comfortable, beautifully branded and incredibly versatile. Sold like athletic clothing, in Small, Medium, Large or Extra Large, and in a collection of simple colorways that maintained that apparel theme, it was an early iD option. Woven, velour, leather, neoprene...the simplicity belies the options, and that framework design and toecap application was elegant too. Big in Asia and with a brief boom at street level and at in the trend-level realm, it seemed that this was picked up by the fashionistas before it was ever used for performance, but the intent was there. Bizarrely, Eric Clapton got his own makeup in them around the time of their introduction and Sarah Jessica Parker got her own colorway. No sequel to these — even the mad-looking Presto Clip — came close to this original line. The t-shirt for your feet stays perfect.

Year: 1982

Bizarrely, this model is now released as an Onitsuka Tiger branded shoe rather than ASICS, but most people don't appreciate just how much of a game changer the X-Caliber GT was. The Air Flex canals cut into the midsole might look like gimmickry, but runners have testified to their effectiveness when it came to cushioning. The real breakthrough move here was the application of the plastic medial post for pronation control after research by notable podiatrist Joe Ellis. A very serious sneaker was also a very beautiful one indeed.

Year: 1981

This running flat brought us Phylon — the foam with superior shock absorbing properties that offered neither an excess of cushioning, nor too little, that allowed for some molding that was more anatomically accurate than ever before. Variable width lacing and a reinforced rear added bulk, but a 6.7 oz weight was pretty minimal. Later on, the Eagle would clock in even lighter and 1983's Nike Equator would implement the mysterious cobra pad, building up their shoes. All three models remain iconic, but the Terra T/C's black. white and red colorway is key to the shoe's appeal.

Year: 1989

1989's ZX 8000 was the first time a lot of folks bore witness to adidas's Torsion technology (though it debuted on 1988's ZX 5000). It's curious that adidas have a rep for being more restrained than some rival brands - they're pioneers when it comes to high-concept applications. The 8000 took the ZX blueprint and redefined it with that Unity heel counter and the Torsion bar application. No good for the wide feet out there, but those who could wear a pair comfortably benefited from that aqua and yellow color combination too. The ZX 9000 is also excellent. Built for cushioning, this put adidas back in the race during an era of ludicrous gimmickry (discs on tongues, catapult heels and reactive liquids are a fail), but this model has aged well.

Year: 1988

It's all about the stability. That jagged application to the Visible Air on the Nike Stab completed a top-of-the-line runner that cost some outlandish sums on its debut. The synthetic suede and nylon mix made this one of the most memorable of the late 1980s Nike Air output, alongside some masterful use of pop color. The Stab stayed in circulation for a couple of years, with the Air Structure arriving with similar looks and use of pop shades. Unlike the secret weapons unleashed earlier on the decade, the Air Stab looked costly. Bizarrely, years after the Stab's 2005 re-re-release, it was the subject of some idiotic controversy due to the name and non-existent links to London's knife crime "epidemic."

Year: 1979

The Nike Bermuda was basically a dry run for future Nike running experiments. That bizarre mesh toe was a huge inspiration on the Sock Racer, the Air Current and Flow's truly insane looking running tight inspired forefoot, the Huarache and ultimately the Presto. Add a waffle sole and variable width lacing and you've got one of the most experimental running shoes of the 1970s. With a new decade around the corner, this is the kind of thing that pushed Nike to first place later down the line. Rebel footwear.

Year: 1988

Top-tier performance from New Balance was perfected with this new shape from the brand. That numerical name almost correlates with the shoe's original hefty price tag, but for your money you got the triple-density Evathane pad, ENCAP midsole to withstand compression and the option of multiple widths. This was built to maximize performance and minimize abrasion. That RRP made them a Lo-Life favorite, but to this day, the 1500 maintains a certain aura perfected by the folks of Europe and their Flimby-made variations for a variety of collaborators. For a while the Asian-made takes with the bulbous toe got no love, but the shape has improved significantly. UK and US-made 1500s still win. Rubber, polyurethane, leather and nylon in perfect unity.

Year: 1986

The ASICS Gran Turismo II is the shoe that brought us Gel technology. That was a giant leap for the Japanese ASICS corporation and it's something that kept them at the forefront of proper running shoes to the present day. In a deceptively simple package, that reactive Gel technology, a tri-density midsole, synthetic suede extended heel counter all combined for some athletic alchemy. ASICS were confident enough in this release and their talk of the Geltec, Ltd. company to trash talk Nike in their ads — with the brand once being the breeding ground for BRS which became Nike, that was quite a statement. Long Beach's Proper deserve their place in history for opting to collaborate on a pair back in 2003, breaking out the speckles and military references long before the rest of us did.

Year: 1991

The adidas Equipment line appeared in 1991, with the Support accompanied by the Cushion, Guidance and Runner. The Equipment line was the brainchild of former Nike marketing kingpin Rob Strasser (RIP) and Jordan I designer Peter Moore. That colorway, plus that use of the 3-stripes as a supportive framework made the Support an undisputed masterpiece. The stylish cure to overpronation and a need for motion control can't be tested. This was one of the first carriers of new adidas branding to see in a new decade and it hasn't been surpassed in the design stakes. The EQT Zero's a nice tribute, but it doesn't come close.

Year: 1972

The suction treads on this ultra-flexible runner were just part of the model's appeal — that name stands for 'Super Light' and they were featherweight in their day. This model shifted units and was frequently imitated. Several adidas models implemented the same heel counter panel application and the dawn of the more resilient SL-76 never replaced the SL-72 — it just accompanied it for extra options, with the 72 staying in circulation for several years. Pioneering, and for a long time, an industry standard.

Year: 1991

Just as Nike would work with Native American style for the similarly game-changing Air Moc a decade later, Nike's Huarache — named after traditional Mexican footwear — was like nothing we'd seen before. We'd seen hints in stretch experiments from 1979 onwards, but the neoprene, that sci-fi sole unit, the materials and that futuristic heel tab all made for a dose of what the future was meant to look like. Some critics claimed that their feet boiled in them over the duration of a run, but it was a brilliant work in progress. Best of all, where some experiments gathered dust, these were a success with an audience already spoilt for choice with amazing footwear — in stark contrast to today's reign of the retro, kids at street level went crazy for this too (it got The Source's sneaker-of-the-year award in an end-of-year roundup). Soccer, cross training, tennis and basketball all got the Huarache treatment too, and it's a system that stays relevant.

Year: 1972

The Nike Cortez is the dual-density breakthrough for Nike that built on Bill Bowerman's assistance on Tiger's Cortez. It might be more closely associated with gangbangers, Forrest Gump and a short, fat, devious man called George nowadays, but this was pure performance in its day. The clumsier 1971 incarnation gave way to the 1972 version we know and love, and there's been nylon, leather and suede takes since — we've even seen jewel Swoosh takes too. A staple sneaker that's at its best with a dose of nylon on that iconic upper.

Year: 1984

Insanely expensive on its release at $130 plus tax, the New Balance was made for the real-deal runners. But that RRP made them appealing to the ballers out there too, who probably wouldn't have reaped the benefits of the 1300's carbon rubber outsole, new last, encapsulated midsole, talk of orthotics, shock reduction and motion control. They might have appreciated the stealthy shape, premium nubuck on the upper and the way the whole shebang stayed lightweight, but it was the fact that this was the Maybach of the footwear world that puts them up here in the list. US-made and UK-made versions are still readily available, and because of their breakthrough status, they edge the 1400 out this list.

Year: 1990

The Air Max series was in the infant stages when the Air Max 90 dropped. We'd had the original Air Max and a similar sequel with 1989's Air Max Light update, but this was the 'Godfather Part II' of sneaker follow-ups, with the side panels, maximized window and plastic detailing making the Visible Air concept still seem revolutionary. Was it targeted at serious runners? That's debatable — Nike had some tremendous offerings around this time with them in mind, but that silhouette is a definitive running style. This is Europe's own Air Force 1 in the street-level stakes and it's still a bestseller among kids whose parents were at the holding hands stage back when it dropped. An undisputed icon.

Year: 1984

It's tough to call the best ZX shoe and many will advance on this list, torch in hand, furious about the omission of the 380, 600, 700 and 800. But the adidas ZX 500 was a pioneering shoe in a number of ways: It set off the legendary ZX series of running shoes, but it also set the standard for the definitive running shoe alongside some efforts from New Balance and Nike. The father of a million styles, the 500 was made for high-mileage running and managed to merge technology with classic adidas looks, yet like plenty more from the class of 1984, it's curiously ageless, proving that this was the year that the running shoe formula was truly perfected.

Year: 1995

The Nike Air Max 95 changed sneaker design. Again. Sergio Lozano's contribution to this shoe as designer was tremendous, with that use of gradient shades and a structured lacing system that was supposed to homage the human spine and skin. Retros have dropped the ball by ditching the 25 PSI and 5 PSI on the Air unit and outsole and 'airmax' on the tongue, but from the box to the shoe, the originals blew minds, with an appearance like nothing we'd ever seen before. Some of the original color pops and this model's spacey attention-to-detail could well have had an influence on the next wave of industrial design from the likes of Apple — enough media types and architects were wearing them back in the day. Influential and unsurpassed. We can even allow for the squeaking bubbles that cursed early batches. The Air Max 96, Air Max 97 and Air Max Plus deserve shouts here too.

Year: 1987

The shoe inspired by the sight of Paris's Pompidou Center is a tough shoe to dislike. The Air Max originally dropped with a bigger air bubble, but quality issues meant it was reduced a little. This is the shoe that let you see its inner workings and it's a model that's got maximum crossover appeal. We've seen way too many nondescript colorways lately, but those original makeups, the Currys, original Atmos variations and Patta takes benefited from the small Swoosh on the forefoot in an early '00s style. Over the years, things have changed in terms of shape and that branding for the worse, but the Air Max 1 still carries a certain aura — especially when the color blocking's on point. This shoe changed everything.