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Thanks to various celebrity endorsements and buoyed by the "Pump Up, Air Out" campaign, the Pump became noteworthy among professional athletes and sports fans, eventually working its way into pop culture - not to mention every aspiring athlete's closet. The Pump utilized a high-tech air bladder system to provide an at-the-time unparalleled amount of support for feet and ankles. Reebok was one of a few brands manufacturing similar products at the time, but the Pump was without a doubt the most successful - until it wasn't. The shoes come with a traditional bike pump that couples to the metal Schrader valve. If you can fill your bike tires up with air, you can inflate the Small Foot snowshoe. It took about 90 seconds to inflate each snowshoe.
Nike would only go on to release two additional inflatable basketball shoes in the NIKE AIR COMMAND FORCE –that used a pump in the collar- In 1893 Fillmore Moore created the Pneumatic Insole, an inflatable sole that could be adjusted. In addition to being the first work cited by Reebok for the Pump it is also the first work cited for Nike’s ‘Air’. As the designer shares, some of his conceptual shoes have a soft texture and a puffy size while the others appear to resemble mutated creatures through their spikes and jelly-like tentacles. ‘I do not think shoes have to be practical. They can also stand alone as pieces of art,’ he shares. Just by looking at his creations, it might be a sin not to try wearing his shoes. Probably the biggest question is: How durable are inflatable snowshoes? The idea of tromping deep into the woods on an inflatable base might inspire a second thought.
How great would a race be with everyone wearing these super heavy giant boots on their feet?!
The inflated shoes have a bit of a spring to them, making each step feel like you’re literally bounding from step to step.
Of course with success would come imitators, one of which – L.A. Gear- was sued by Reebok (we’ll get to that later).
You ca get the giant boots in a ton of different color options to choose from!
Sponges and soft paddings are sandwiched in the middle of the shoes, adding some comfortable support for the feet. In one of the shoe ideas, UV-Zhu replaces the sponge with an inflatable filled with candies and the outsole with cotton buds-looking bristles. The designer destroys, reassembles, and recycles already-made shoes, a dive into his creativity and a personal analysis of how shoe designs can develop.
When designboom highlighted concept designer UV-Zhu’s inflatable shoes, they seem to mark the signature of his conceptual shoes. At times that he inflates the shoe floaters, he fills them up with candies for those who have sweet tooth, and they anchor this playful and zesty energy as these shoes refashion the current fashion climate by turning accessories into works of art that serve their purpose to just please the eyes. As the designer shares, ‘I do not think shoes have to be practical. They can also stand alone as pieces of art.’ With the way technology and research advance these days, materializing these inflatable concept shoes might be a possibility. The Small Foot weighs about 21 ounces per shoe and is available in size medium and large to fit feet form size U.S. 4-13. What We Lovedto Wesley Snipes pumping up Woody Harrelsons Command Forces in White Men Can’t Jump (fast forward to 1:38)
Reebok however would go on to follow up 1989’s basketball pump with a historic lineup of inflatable shoes across all sport categories over the years to come as well as a memorable ad campaign that put Reebok head to head with Nike. Another series UV-Zhu introduced is the AIR anthology where the designer discloses that he made the shoes by inflating them. He also shares that there is no functional or practical value involved in these designs and that they act as an exploration of forms and abstracts meant to be artistic and ornamental. Your foot is cradled by three straps: two that cinch down over your foot’s toe and throat and a third that snugs behind the boot.
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Neon colors ornate UV-Zhu’s designs. A strip of purple and green mesh with gray, or a flush of pink and yellow against caramel. They amplify the fun and vibrant vibes the shoes exude. But no matter what the color combination is, the chunkiness of the shoes may steal the limelight at a first glance. The inflated soles add inches to the wearer’s height, making them appear floating off the ground. They might as well test the shoes out in the water just to see if they will float! In 1991 Spalding hired Design Continuum Inc. (the same company that worked with Reebok) to help them design an inflatable baseball glove that went by the name Air Flex -interestingly enough Mizuno had a similar glove called the AirFit-. Apparently the glove used the same technology used in Reebok’s shoes and the result was a lawsuit. When it comes to cutting-edge athletic footwear, Reebok and its competitors - Nike being the most prominent among them - have been at the forefront of industry-shaking innovations that literally change the way people wear (and buy) sneakers. But few innovations have caused a stir quite like the Reebok Pump. On its way to becoming a veritable game-changer, the Pump - introduced at the tail-end of the 1980s - featured technologies that many brands, including arch-rival Nike, had been tiptoeing around for years. The seams and underside are protected by a heavy-weight Cordura, buffering the shell from abrasion.
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