Vintage Ad: Nike Air Trainer Max with Barry Sanders

This week's Vintage Ad takes us back to 1993 for a look at a now forgotten Nike Cross Trainer.

words & image // Zack Schlemmer

We should all remember Barry Sanders, one of the greatest running backs in NFL history, but who remembers the Nike Air Trainer Max?

Like many other awesome models from the Nike Cross Training department, the Air Trainer Max has fallen into anonymity in the Nike archives.  Released in 1993, the Air Trainer Max is special for the fact that it was the first cross trainer with Air Max cushioning.  1993 saw the release of the first three Nike shoes with a full 180° heel Air Max bag with this cross trainer, the Air Max '93 runner, and the Air Force Max basketball shoe made popular by Charles Barkley and the Fab Five.  Of the three shoes, the Max Trainer definitely gets the least amount of love. 

In this ad with a Dr. Suess-esque poem, we see a very small Barry Sanders and a very large Air Trainer Max.  The Air Force Max is set to return yet again in 2013, but who would like to see the original Air Max cross-trainer make a comeback as well?

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