Nike by You
The History of the Huarache
Department of Nike Archives
All the details of this most unique basketball shoe.
Last updated: May 24, 2024
3 min read
In 1991, Nike debuted a shoe that resembled nothing else on the shelf.
“It was such a different design, it didn’t even need a Swoosh,” said Tinker Hatfield, who drove the project. He recalled some people saying, “You can’t design a shoe at Nike without a big Swoosh on the side.”
“My point of view was this shoe was so unique that only Nike would have had the guts to do something like this, so therefore it didn’t need a Swoosh,” Hatfield said.
In 1990 and early 1991, Hatfield sketched several concepts (including the one above) before he landed on what the final Huarache design would look like. According to Hatfield, the idea was born in a lake.
“I had a little bit of an epiphany when I was waiting to be yanked out of the water behind a waterski boat,” he said. “I was sitting in the water inside a neoprene bootie, with my feet lined up one in front of the other on the ski. Just before I got yanked out by the boat, I was thinking, wait a minute, this neoprene stuff is really supportive and comfortable and fits my foot and ankle perfectly.” Ultimately, the design of the Huarache featured neoprene with an exoskeleton for added support.
Making a move to hoops a year or so later was initially met with skepticism. By modifying the shoe’s back strap to accommodate basketball movements, firming up the outsole and lateral side of the shoe and extending the exoskeleton design up around the ankle, the Huarache became a more minimalist approach to basketball footwear.
Initial skepticism was squashed when the Air Flight Huarache was embraced by one of the country’s most interesting college basketball teams at the time, the University of Michigan, who played in the shoe during the 1992 NCAA tournament.
The Air Huarache has become a mainstay, with releases hitting many other categories, including training, tennis, aerobics, lacrosse, football and baseball. The minimal design also went on to inspire other lightweight and flexible footwear designs of the future, like the Kukini, Presto and Nike Free concepts.