Pair of blue and yellow Nike waffle trainers

By the mid-20th century designs for lightweight running shoes were becoming more and more innovative. Bill Bowerman, a coach for track sports at the University of Oregon in the 1950s and 1960s, created prototype shoes from home and got his student athletes to test them. Some say he created the famous ‘waffle’ sole by pouring rubber into his wife’s waffle iron.

Many of Bowerman’s innovations in running shoe design are still in evidence today, such as the raised heel, nylon upper and continuous midsole. A 1970s Nike advertisement described the shoes as “made by athletes for athletes”.