In terms of Nike basketball sneakers, the Foamposite One is an outlier. Its full foam upper, with ridged waves on the side, made it visually unlike anything else when it was released in 1997. It was designed by Eric Avar, who went on to be Kobe Bryant’s right hand design man. But it took him three years to make the design come to life—usually it’s 18 months for a sneaker.
Avar started working on it in 1994. It bounced around from Scottie Pippen, to Mike Bibby in college, but was made famous by Penny Hardaway, a guard for the Orlando Magic. Even though it’s the Foamposite One, it wasn’t Penny’s first sneaker with Nike. He already had two shoes out by then, and even did commercials with Lil Penny and Tyra Banks. But he was able to make the Foamposite One his own.
They’re like boots—almost indestructible. They gained popularity on the streets due to their lofty price. They first retailed for $180 and push $250 these days. It’s a shoe that’s taken many forms, including the Foamposite Pro, as well as many different colorways and prints. They even caused riots when Supreme did a collaboration on the sneaker in 2014. Some say it’s dead. Some say it never left. Its cultural home is the DMV area, where its popularity and status never waned. Just ask someone like Wale. Most importantly, it’s a shoe that people care about and have an emotional attachment to. Here are our picks for the Best Nike Air Foamposite Ones of all time. —Matt Welty
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