8 Original Air Maxes That Have Never Come Back Out

Nike’s Air Max line started in 1987 when designer Tinker Hatfield, inspired by the Centre Pompidou in Paris, created the concept of visible Air for the Air Max 1 sneaker. The line has grown since then and put out a new shoe every year. There are plenty of classics that people are familiar with: The Air Max 90, Air Max 95, Air Max 97, and the list goes on. But there are also models that have slipped under the radar, either due to similarities to other Air Max models or they were never that popular upon release. As Nike continues to scrap the bottom of the barrel for shoes to retro, which saw the recent re-release of the Air Max2 Light, it is worth discovering which models haven’t seen the day of light.

For Air Max connoisseurs, the shelf life of shoes is limited. The midsoles crumble, the Air bags deflated, and the shoes fall apart. So most shoes that are over 10 years old can’t be worn. That’s why retros, and good ones, are so important.

Year: 2006

The Air Max 360, like other Air Maxes before it, was revolutionary. It was the first Air Max model to feature a 360-degree Air unit, although several of its predecessors have had full-length bags in the past. The shoe was launched as part of Nike’s History of Air collection, which saw a retro of all the brand’s marquee models, as well as "One Time Only" mashups of the 360. The original colorway of the shoe was inspired by the Air Max 1, and even Kevin Lyons did a limited-edition spin on it, too. The only issue with the 360 is that the plastic cage around the Air unit made it uncomfortable.

Year: 2003

The Air Max 2003 has never come back and maybe for good reason. If there’s any model in the Air Max lineup that screams, “I’m a bro who plays golf and wears khaki cargo shorts,” this is it. The upper is monochromatic without any standout design cues, and it has a full-length Air unit similar to the Air Max 97. Here’s one interesting tidbit, though—the Air Max 2003 was designed by the man behind the Air Max 95, Sergio Lozano.

Year: 1999

The Air Tuned Max was close to seeing a retro in 2017, as its inspiration was placed on the Air Max 97 in a collaboration with Skepta thanks to late sneaker writer and consultant Gary Warnett. The shoe itself was released in 1999 and came with an iridescent upper. Although it’s technically not an “Air Max” model (it features Tuned Air, which is slightly different than traditional Air) it’s still lumped into the family. The problem with recreating this shoe, though, is that the tooling isn’t currently in use by Nike and would need to be redone from start to finish, which would be an expensive process.

Year: 1996

The oddest shoe on this list never to be retroed is the Air Max 96. Some might stop and say, “Wait a minute, this shoe was retroed recently.” Not really. It didn’t come with the original tooling, much to the dismay of purists. There was also an odd Tailwind-esque version sometime in the late 2000s. Once again, this shoe likely wasn’t retroed in proper fashion due to Nike not currently producing its sole unit, and it may be years or never when we see the Air Max 96 return in its correct form. There's also a second version of the shoe that's never seen a proper retro, too, but don't hold your breath for those, either.

Year: 1996

The Air Max Triax model that most Air Max aficionados reference back to is the first version from 1994. That shoe has seen a shoddy retro, but one of many Triax shoes that Nike has yet to retro is the version from 1996 that was connected with the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, with a red, white, blue, and gold, of course, with an American flag on the tongue. The interesting thing about this Air Max model is how small the Air unit is compared to other shoes from its area.

Year: 2002

One of the most-talked-about Air Max sneakers from 2017 didn't have laces. It wasn't the first of its kind, however. There was the Kukini from 2000, which wasn't technically an Air Max model, although it has a heel bag on it. There's another sneaker from two years later that you likely don't remember that also eschewed its laces. As late sneaker writer Gary Warnett put it, "It was a laceless creation that looked like performance Hush Puppies with its tech-loafer look."

Year: 1998

Nike’s Air Max 98 has seen its share of love of re-releases over the past few years, partly thanks to Supreme’s collaboration on the shoe. There was another version of the 98 that released that year, the 98 TL. What makes this shoe different is that it has a Phylon midsole, which holds up better over time than most polyurethane ones.

Year: 2001

I don’t know if the Air Max 2001 is a good or bad shoe. I honestly don’t remember them when they first released, and the shoe’s technology, Tubed Air, was only a thing for Nike in the early 2000s for a few years. The shoe itself is more Transformers than high-end running shoe, but with the popularity of chunky shoes these days, you never know if it could be a retro hit.