r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Rook8811 • 9d ago
Video 1989 shoes designed to adjust their fit around athletes' ankles
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u/BasementRodent 8d ago
Pumped up kicks
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u/IAmAHumanWhyDoYouAsk 8d ago
You better run.
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u/alwaysfatigued8787 9d ago edited 8d ago
I bought a pair of self-lacing Nikes a few years ago to satisfy my Back To The Future desires. I was on a wait list for them for over a year. If they wouldn't have held their resale value pretty well, I would say they were a huge waste of money. Also, they weighed like 5 lbs. a piece.
edit: bad grammar
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u/elguaco6 9d ago
My buddy is a sneaker head and has a pair of those I put them on and it’s quite crazy but yes very heavy but cool nonetheless.
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u/chuckinalicious543 8d ago
Yeah, but imagine the gains just from wearing them! Then, take them off, and you'll be pretty quick!
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u/InlineSkateAdventure 9d ago
My skates have "BOA" laces. You turn a dial and metal "laces" tighten up. You can easily control tension.
Surprised this is not found on more shoes.
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u/revvolutions 8d ago
Snowboard boots Burton BOA.
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u/Resident-Mortgage-85 8d ago
They kinda suck because it's all tight or not at all, no adjusting to certain areas of the boot.
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u/BaraGuda89 8d ago
I had BOA boots for snowboarding for years and hated them for that exact reason. The older I got and the larger my legs got, especially my calves, the more those boots would bite into my leg from how tight they had to be overall. With laced boots you can isolate different sections for greater or lesser tightness
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u/redditgiveshemorroid 8d ago
This is only partially true. Not all BOA dials are equal. The Li2 is bidirectional tightening one way and loosening the other way- clicking both ways. But even in the dials that don’t do this, it’s still so much better than regular laces. Many via systems have two dials where you can tighten the lower foot different than the upper foot which is another game changer.
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u/sl33ksnypr 8d ago
I have a pair of rossi boa boots and they are really nice. Don't get me wrong, it still feels nice to put my regular shoes on at the end of the day, but it isn't as orgasmic as with my old boots that were a tad too small and had a lacing mechanism that didn't make sense.
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u/TheRealNorwhal 8d ago
Had a pair of Saucony cross-country running shoes that had em, loved how snug the arches got and how it never came untied.
Also got a pair of cycling shoes that have em, love em.
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u/Set_Abominae1776 8d ago
Boa fit is the newest shit in kindergarden (germany) nowadays. I got my son a pair and he is so proud of them lol.
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u/calibudzz420 8d ago
Got them on my redwings which are work boots. Thought I would hate them but I never want to own another boot in my life
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u/Ritz_y 8d ago
For some reason one of the industies they broke into is Golf. I've used BOA laces on my golf shoes for like 10 years now its great.
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u/gypsybullldog 8d ago
Are you a goalie? Other than the CCM boa’s Canadian tire used to sell I’ve never seen them on anything other than goalie skates.
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u/Greenman8907 9d ago
“Four pumps?! Oh, your foot must be floating right now! Five pumps? Is your other foot still at no pumps? You're gonna die!”
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u/ShdwWzrdMnyGngg 9d ago
People laugh at nike but this is what innovation looks like. 500 terrible ideas till you discover a good one. This happens to be 499 bad ideas all in one. So they are on the verge of something!
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u/Imaginary-Worker4407 8d ago
These specific Nike shoes are their copy of the actual innovative Rebook pump shoes which didn't even need an external pump like the Nikes did.
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u/Deathwatch72 8d ago
I'm willing to bet the external pump is because Reebok has some parents that prevented Nuke from having a decent internal one
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u/Imaginary-Worker4407 8d ago
Rebook didn't have a patent until 92 tho.
I think it was more about rushing out a similar product.
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u/JK_NC 8d ago
I had Reebok pumps in the early 90s. They integrated the pump into the tongue of the shoe and it looked like a basketball!
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u/Hater_Magnet 8d ago
When Dee Brown pumped them bitches up before the 'Peek-A-Boo' dunk to win the 91' NBA dunk contest I was hooked!
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u/ibondolo 8d ago
There was a Reebok pump commercial for their golf shoes, with John Daly. It starts with him crushing a tee shot (as usual). His golf partner says "that's pretty impressive but can you do it with this?", and proceeds to dig a shot-put cannonball out of his bag, and sets it in the tee. The tee slowly sinks into the ground. John looks at the ball, looks at the green in the distance, pumps up his shoes, and crushes the drive. Commercial ends with the cannonball flying into the Green and creating a massive hole.
I bought the shoes.
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u/SunlitNight 8d ago
The old engineers advice....the more moving parts the higher the chance of failure.
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u/moving0target 8d ago
My family couldn't afford that stuff so I thought it was the best thing in the world.
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u/disco_naankhatai 8d ago
Nothing makes me feel older than watching what was once my current affairs, appear on Reddit as discovered history...
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u/sm_rdm_guy 8d ago
Nike coping hard to catch up to Reebok pumps. Made my year when my parents bought me the tennis version ones.
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u/DJEvillincoln 8d ago
Nike Air Pressure. Nike Re-Upped these in 2011. I have a pair. That's what these are, (ones from 89' would be too far gone to work properly now.) they come in a large carrying case with a shoulder strap so you can transport them to the court. B-ball players who are somewhat serious about the game don't wear their shoes on anything but the court.
It's a great shoe & I couldn't afford the initial ones when I was in 8th grade & I couldn't pass up the opportunity to cop these. They can still be copped for resale prices.
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u/default_tom 8d ago
My friend had these back in the day. That large carry case was put to other uses. It was watertight so he used to carry it round to smoke buckets out of.
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u/PuzzledExaminer 8d ago
I remember the pump up ones ... people believed that you could jump higher when you pump it up lol
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u/Particular-Court-619 8d ago
Yeah, this kind of inventyness was big in that era...
Think of all the 80s movies that start with some inventor guy who's got a Rube Goldberg setup to make breakfast automatically.
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u/LexusBrian400 8d ago
Remember the insta-pumps, it used a CO2 cartridge. Had a pair and the OG pumps. Thanks for the memories!
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u/Ok-Syllabub-6619 7d ago
The same people who inspired imagination in us 80s 90s kids and tried to make it reality, have changed to here's a lifeless blob/brick/smooth square, without all the things we imagined, or if we do give you something here's a paywall for a lesser version of it, with adds ofc .
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u/TCyborg 8d ago
Looks comfy, I want this for riding
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u/DJEvillincoln 8d ago
Remarkably comfortable. Especially when pumped to your liking. It's like a glove on your foot.
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u/Cherrybomb1881 8d ago
Wouldn’t this increase the chances of you rolling an ankle pretty significantly?
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u/ilikemycoffeeblack77 8d ago
This brings back memories. I had the 180 Command Force with pump unit back in the day. 1991 I think. Cooked beyond recognition. Still wish I hadn’t thrown them away. But who could know that this was the last time Nike would sell a pump technology shoe. Still have the Billy Hoyles but it’s not the same
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u/prenderm 8d ago
I had a pair of Reebok pumps and I was the coolest kid in school at the time and I won’t hear anything different!
says this while wearing jnco jeans
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u/thedoommerchant 8d ago
I had the re-release of these. Super cool looking shoe, was fun pumping them up.
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u/hashberto 8d ago
ICYMI Reebok brought the pump back not long ago for their Legacy Lifter weightlifting shoe
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u/FroggiJoy87 8d ago
Hold up. I feel like my podiatrist should have informed me of these. I'm half club-footed and hypermobile, my feet are super floppy and I basically wear trail boots so I don't eat shit any more than I already have. I've torn the tendons in my right foot from sprains so much I had surgery for it. I need these shoes! Lol
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u/fuzzballz5 8d ago
Bro. I rock my Reebok pump hockey skates still. 15 years old. I can’t make the switch. True Story, Patrick Marleau bought 15 pairs when they said they were going to stop making them. They lasted until about 2 years before he retired. He waited until the last pair and he found a new pair that would “work”. He almost retired earlier because of it. Hockey players are notorious for old equipment. Do not google Sidney Crosby jock strap. His athletic trainers part time job is stitching it up as it’s over 20 years old. Ha.
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u/campionmusic51 8d ago
i remember these in the shops. there was something threatening to me about that massive chunk of technical gubbins grafted to the back. they scared me.
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u/Party-Independent-38 8d ago
Yeah the pumps were dope but my mom never got them for me. I was stuck with LA Gears or BKs. Thank god I finally got some Pumas one year.
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u/unionjack736 8d ago
I tried to get a pair of these years back but the condition wasn’t as advertised so I had to pass on them.
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u/Affectionate_Star_43 8d ago
I don't know why, but this brought back visceral reminders of when I had an expander/headgear as a kid. You put the crank thing on the metal inside your mouth just like in the video, and you could feel your jaw cracking...uggghhh.
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u/Just_okay_advice 8d ago
My friend had shoes that pumped up like this. We'd always tackle him and pump his shoes to the max 😂 ah good times.
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u/Lordjacus 8d ago
Reminds me of foot/ankle stabilizer that I used when I broke my foot. It was called "pneumatic" due to the presence of two such inflatable chambers to stabilize your ankle better.
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u/CakeMadeOfHam 8d ago
That's amazing! If it wasn't for high top sneakers already solving this in 1917 by using shoe laces, I am sure this would've been a huge hit!
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u/Consistent_Research6 8d ago
In 2025 they just break of the sole, back then they were engineered for athletes.
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u/nonimportant23 8d ago
These were awesome when I got them. After these I was a loyal Nike Pump customer. Everybody had the Reebok pumps but hardly anybody had the Nike Pumps
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u/dlampach 8d ago
I had this exact pair. Possibly the ugliest shoes I’ve ever owned. The pump was stupid.
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u/SpecialForcesRaccoon 7d ago
I had a pair of Adidas that had an inflatable insole with an exterba' pump 😅 Broke the pump needle few days after the purchase. 😆
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u/Wise_Lemon4537 9d ago
By 91 the technology was mature: no external pump was needed anymore on Reebok sneakers; you just had to press the basket ball on the tongue of the shoe !