YO! REEBOK PUMP UP, AIR OUT!
By the time the 1989 Sporting Goods Manufacturers’ Association took place on February 10th, a demo version of Pump was exhibited. At this point in time, Reebok’s Energy Return System (ERS) was on the market and rumored to be backed with a tagline reading ‘The Revolution Is Over’. ERS was partnered with a ‘mysterious inflating technology’ although oddly, it wasn’t the mooted star of the show.
Reebok still alluded to the mysterious ‘Dr. Detroit’ shoe that carried a mini-trampoline in its sole, which sounds not entirely dissimilar to L.A. Gear’s Catapult technology (L.A. Gear also created the craptastic ‘Regulator’ Pump knockoff).
Other touted ideas were a model that would change colour via the insertion of cartridges and Hexalite, the honeycomb padding apparently used in space shuttle seating.
At this point, Nike were already in the process of releasing the clunky Air Pressure, which used a special air-filled accessory to inflate the ankle area. On November 24th 1989, Reebok’s ‘The Pump’ (‘A new idea that’s going to fly’) shoe hit the shelves. Complete with a button on the heel to deflate, the basketball valve branding was instantly appealing and the $170 price tag was sufficiently vast to confer aspirational status. It’s still a crazy price twenty years later, but remember kids, this was the ‘80s and bigger was infinitely better.
Check out our next feature: HISTORY OF SKATE SHOES - PT 1
