About

Nike Shox R4

The Shox R4 is the shoe that turned cushioning into a visible mechanism. In 2000 Nike placed four hollow rubber columns under the heel, upright, like the springs of a car shock absorber, and left them exposed. The brand had tinkered with it for sixteen years and framed the launch with the promise that you could bounce on it. For the first time you could point with the naked eye to why a shoe felt soft.

The rest of the design follows that idea. Over the leather upper sits a large glossy side panel with pressed grooves, into which the swoosh flows smoothly. The heel features a leather pull tab at the back, the toe and sides are dotted with perforations in panels, and between the columns you can literally see straight through under the shoe. The bottom of the sole continues in a wavy profile.

Its second life came from Europe. The R4 was picked up in France and Italy by a generation who wore it with tracksuits, especially in the Paris suburbs, and it grew into a status symbol there. When the chunky silhouettes from the noughties returned to fashion, Nike’s return path was short: the model came back to stores almost unchanged.

The technical relatives appear elsewhere in the lineup. The full range with all versions can be found on the Nike Shox page, while the Nike Air Max Plus from the same period shows how Nike at the time also took the same route with visible air.

On this page you can see which versions of the Nike Shox R4 are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, from what price they can be found and at how many shops they are in stock.