At Less Than $50, This Might Be the Best Nike Sneaker Deal of 2025

Nike’s modern Waffle sneakers balance retro design with everyday wearability—and right now, one standout style is selling for a steal.

Close-up of the back heel area of a black and white sneaker, featuring a white pull tab with visible stitching and a textured black upper with mesh detail. The midsole is white, and part of the black outsole is visible.

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By Gear Patrol

Published September 4, 2025

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Updated September 4, 2025

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Nike’s Waffle sneakers have long since traded the cinder tracks of the 1970s for city sidewalks and weekend wardrobes.

What began as a pioneering running shoe, optimized for use on the new artificial turfs and surfaces slowly taking over track and field, is now a go-to for those seeking heritage styling in a market full of loud retro runners.

Both the Nike Waffle Nav (bottom) and Waffle Debut (top) share a similar DNA that stretches all the way back to the first Nike sneaker. Currently, the debut is on sale for some of the lowest prices we’ve seen Nikes hit.

Nike

And while Nike’s Waffle family has expanded over the years to include sleeker, lifestyle-focused takes and coveted limited collabs, one of the brand’s more accessible interpretations—the Nike Waffle Debut is incredibly affordable right now at less than $50.

Echoes of an Icon

On February 26, 1974, Nike received a patent for its waffle trainer running shoe (shown above). The name came from the original prototype for the running shoe’s innovative grippy sole, which Bill Bowerman created by pouring rubber into a household waffle iron. To this day, Nike’s innovation lab is known as “the kitchen” in honor of Bowerman’s first makeshift footwear lab.

Nike

The story of the Nike Waffle Racer—affectionately known as the Moon Shoe—has taken on near-mythic proportions in sneaker history (there’s even an illustrated children’s book about the origins of the waffle sole.)

The book cover for "The Waffle Story" - How Wendy the Waffle Iron Changed the World — The tale of Bill Bowerman’s early shoe-making experiments involving a household waffle iron that was a cherished wedding present has even been retold as an illustrated children’s book called *The Waffle Story: How Wendy the Waffle Iron Changed the World*.

In 1971, Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman poured rubber into his wife’s waffle iron, creating a prototype outsole that gave runners better traction on track surfaces without adding weight. That small act of experimentation helped birth one of the most important innovations in running footwear and led to Nike’s first commercial hit.

The Moon Shoe’s outsole—distinctly gridded and tacky-looking—left behind a pattern that resembled astronaut footprints, hence the nickname. B

The sole of the Nike Waffle Debut — The modern Nike Waffle Debut features a modern version of the famed “waffle sole.”

But beyond its unique appearance, the waffle sole delivered real performance gains. It helped usher in a new era of thinking around sneaker design: performance meets ingenuity.

A Contemporary Classic

A man wearing a pair of grey and white Nike Waffle Debut sneakers is shown from the ankles down. The man is also wearing camouflage pants — The key distinguishing detail of the Nike Waffle Debut is the exaggerated heel tab that extends from the stitched-on swoosh. However, as some ambitious Reddit users have proved, it can easily be removed to give the shoe an even cleaner look.

Nike’s modern Waffle lineup has expanded beyond a single silhouette, with multiple models paying homage to the original in subtly different ways.

The Waffle Debut keeps things clean and minimal, using smooth suede overlays and nylon uppers to echo vintage runners from Nike’s early years. A sculpted wedge midsole and exaggerated heel tab modernize the shape without pushing too far into trend-driven territory.