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Nike Court: the shape of the Air Force 1 without the technology

Place a Nike Court Vision next to an Air Force 1 and the difference is small but consistent. Both are low leather shoes with perforations on the toe and a swoosh as a separately stitched panel. But look at the rim of the sole: on the Air Force 1 it is high, thick and serrated, with an air chamber inside and AIR pressed into the rubber. On the Court the rim is thin, flat and finely ribbed. There is no air in it.

That is exactly what this line stands for. Nike Court is the affordable, simple branch of the court range: the same recognizable shape, built without the cushioning technology that makes the better-known models expensive. For those who want the look and don’t miss the cushioning, it’s a deliberate choice.

This page mixes several branches, and the title tells you which one you have. The Nike Court Vision is the most AF1-like, with a smooth leather upper. The Nike Court Borough has a sturdier construction and comes in low and mid versions, and also appear the Nike Court Royale, the Court Lite, the Court Vintage and the Court Shot, each with the same straightforward formula.

Important to know: this is explicitly NOT the tennis department. That is called NikeCourt, written as one word, and houses the competition shoes of Federer and Nadal, with soles per surface. If you actually want to play tennis, you should go there; the models on this page are made for the sidewalk, not for clay.

The leather in most versions has a coarse grain texture, which makes the difference with a smoother shoe visible up close but disappears at a meter’s distance. Other brands have the same branch: the Adidas Grand Court does for Adidas what the Court does for Nike, the shape of the classic without the construction underneath.

On this page you can see which versions of the Nike Court are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, from which price they can be found and in how many shops they are in stock.