words // Zack Schlemmer
Before there were countless message boards, blogs, magazines and Instagram accounts dedicated to sneakers and sneaker culture, a lot of important information about athletic footwear went undocumented. Before the digital age took over—before the time when everyone knows about an upcoming shoe sometimes a year before it actually releases—there were about three ways you found out about new shoes: (1) Going into a store and actually looking at them, (2) spotting somebody wearing a pair of dope kicks and asking, "What are those?!", or (3) seeing them in a print ad or commercial. With many old commercials being lost forever or reduced to grainy, pixellated footage on Youtube, the print ads found in your dad's old copies of Sports Illustrated and the like have become a wealth of sneaker history, and one of the few physical documents left of sneaker history—as the actual shoes themsleves become more and more rare or begin to crumble.
One of the most important tools we all have for filling in the blanks of sneaker history is the good old-fashioned print ad. And that's why I've dedicated time to searching out, scanning, and presenting old sneaker ads for my Vintage Ads series here on Sole Collector. Over the past three years, we've seen quite a few classic ads here on the site, so I thought it was time for a greatest hits compilation, if you will, containing ten of my favorite ads featured so far. Stay tuned to Sole Collector each week for plenty more of these relics of sneaker history still to come.
(Click the title of each ad for the original Vintage Ad post.)
PUMA Clyde Ad With Walt Frazier - 1985
Could a shoe ad get any more classic than this? Clyde decked out in fur and one of the most iconic sneaker silhouettes of all time. Priceless.
Sneaker ads were once educational, as you can see by this awesome two page spread introducing Nike's 180 Air technology
Nike Air Tech Challenge 3/4 with Andre Agassi - 1991
Rock N' Roll Tennis in full-effect!
Converse Aeroglide with Grandmama - 1991
Absolutely no best-of list that has anything to do with sneaker advertisement could be complete without Grandmama!
Nike Air Flight Huarache - 1992
Imagine what it must have been like opening up a magazine in 1992 and seeing this radical new shoe for the first time.
Nike Air Huarache Light - 1993
Sexy, indeed.
Nike Team Sports Ad With Michael Jordan in the Air Jordan IX - 1994
One of the most iconic print ads of all time, and one of the few pictures of MJ wearing the IX.
FILA Jerry Stackhouse Ad - 1996
A perfect example of slightly corny, yet still totally awesome 90's advertising.
Nike Air Shake NDESTRUKT - 1996
There are a lot of these classic "phone number" ads from Nike to choose from, but for one of the two featured here,I decided to go with one of the few classic Nike Basketball models we're still waiting for a proper retro of. Let this ad be a reminder that we still need them!
Nike Air Foamposite One - 1997
Much like the Air Flight Huarache ad earlier, this must have been one that left a few people staring at the page.
Browse all Vintage Ads here.
