NIKE SPORTSWEAR
CORTEZ
Way back in the early seventies, before the dawn of AIR and gazillionaire athletes, Nike lit the wick on a series of light-weight nylon running shoes that redefined the entire notion of athletic sportswear. And right at the epoch’s flying start, you’ll find the wise ol’ grandaddy Cortez, proudly hiding under bilious bellbottoms and bookending some of the shortest running shorts ever sported by weekend roadwarriors. Born in 1972, the Cortez featured a radical full-length midsole and a degree of comfort never felt before by humankind, that also managed to look turbo-charged even when standing still. Indeed the classic silhouette of the Cortez was so influential and highly regarded that it was still being cajoled into new forms almost into the eighties – peep the Monterey, Le Village, Marathon, Obori and Kenya – all direct descendants of this old-schoolmaster. What single greater compliment can there be for a shoe?
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