Years after Pebax/Zoom/whatever foam came out, and the shoe companies still don't want to put a THIN, CUSHY piece of foam in a racing shoe. What, Reebok did it, and that was it? A bit perplexing and annoying.
And I'm guessing that some will say, "That's because they want to sell more $250 super shoes."
But does that theory really hold water? All of these companies did and/or do sell more niche shoes that relatively few people buy. If having niche shoes detracts from purchases of other shoes, why would any of them ever have done it?
More specifically, if Nike came out with a Streak-like (i.e., quite thin) shoe with Zoom foam (just like that old Reebok), would their super shoes sales really go down meaningfully? I wouldn't think so.
They may be niche compared to top sellers, but some of these shoes are not that niche anymore. I saw vaporflies on tons of hobby joggers at any given road race, even guys running 20+ for 5k are wearing them.
"Niche" is relative, obviously, but I was placing thin, more traditional (and hopefully Pebax-like) flats in the niche category, and very expensive super shoes in the non-niche category. As in, if you're Nike and you can get every person entering a race to buy a freakin' $250-275 shoe, well then let's go for that! (and perhaps not give anyone the option of a $100+ Streak-like flat).
They may be niche compared to top sellers, but some of these shoes are not that niche anymore. I saw vaporflies on tons of hobby joggers at any given road race, even guys running 20+ for 5k are wearing them.
"Niche" is relative, obviously, but I was placing thin, more traditional (and hopefully Pebax-like) flats in the niche category, and very expensive super shoes in the non-niche category. As in, if you're Nike and you can get every person entering a race to buy a freakin' $250-275 shoe, well then let's go for that! (and perhaps not give anyone the option of a $100+ Streak-like flat).
Dead horse, here, but it's STILL interesting to me whether or not something like the following has ever been uttered at Nike:
"Boss, mind if we throw a slice of Zoom foam under a Streak/Streak-LT upper? No biggie, right? Cushy, probably about 4 ounces. I mean, REEBOK did it !!"