Nike puts a significant amount of money into research and development. That said...
Does Nike offer a better product than it's competitors?
Nike puts a significant amount of money into research and development. That said...
Does Nike offer a better product than it's competitors?
nike offers more than one product. some of its products are better than those of its competitors in their categories. some are not. but all judgements of "better" depend on what you in particular like to see in a shoe anyway.
I personally feel that their spikes are some of the best period. But their running shoes leave something to be desired. I go for asics or brooks before nike in a running shoe. Nike's clothing is ok at times too.
I'd be interested to see your sources RE the research Chris, I know Mizuno spends a shit load in research every year (more than any other brand), but does that make their shoes great? After all, all you need in a piece of EVA under your foot...
Unfortunately NIKE has to cater to the masses in the US running shoe market and therefore many of the training shoes on the market in the US are not developed with serious or elite runners in mind.
However, they produce some very good training and training/racing flats that are marketed for the Japanese Market. It is possible to get these shoes from Japan, Australia or sometimes the UK, but the shipping cost is very high.
If you do the balance of your training on soft surfaces, then some of NIKE's light trainers and racing flats available in the US are excellent for training.
Training shoes are crap, spikes are awesome, apparel is apparel.
Actually, that's not correct. If you combined all of the footwear brands R&D budgets, you'd still fall short of what Nike spends on research, design, and development.