Just as outdoor companies are dulling down the tech factor and taking aim at lifestyle gear — think city-to-mountain — Nike is moving to meet them in the middle. Nike is a sports brand, but it’s always dominated the lifestyle space, influencing many outdoorsy product designers in the process. Many of its designers are outdoorsy folk too (remember that its headquarters is in Oregon), and it’s partially for this reason that the All Conditions Gear line exists. The newest entry to the ACG collection is the updated Air Revaderchi, a go-anywhere shoe with the tagline “Go Outside.”
When the Air Revaderchi first debuted in 1992, it exhibited much of the chunkiness of many nineties sneakers, but it also had an integrated toe cap to provide protection, a grippy rubber sole inspired by mountain biking shoes, a sock-like cuff for fit and a built-in plate to aid when walking on jagged rocks. These features all make their return in the much sleeker and more modern redesign, which is billed as an all-around adventure shoe. That being said, the original quickly found its way off the trail and into the streets and, knowing Nike, the same will likely occur with the remake.
Nike launched a similar genre-bending hiking boot last month and it’s already gone — expect that to happen to the Air Revaderchi too.
