Nike Pegasus

Pegasus

There is a little known fact about Nike’s founder, Bill Bowerman: he was instrumental in popularising jogging in the United States in the sixties. This was back when Nike was still known as Blue Ribbon Sports, and it helped create a whole new wave of casual athletes who all needed an appropriate shoe to run in. Thus, the conditions for the Nike Pegasus were created.

It wasn’t until the early eighties that Nike began crafting a reasonably priced Air running shoe, and Bowerman’s jogging converts would finally have an exciting, accessible solution.

The Pegasus was released in 1983 under the leadership of Mark Parker, Nike's director of concepts, designs and engineering at the time, with design oversight from Air Force 1 designer Bruce Kilgore. It came brimming with the latest technological innovations of the time, such as the heel Air bag, the improved EVA foam heel support, and enhanced factory techniques that produced slip-lasting of a higher quality.

Initially named the “Air Wedge Trainer”, this title was dropped in favour of “Pegasus”, after Greek mythology’s fantastical winged horse. This referenced the majesty, freedom and sense of flight that came with running on “Air”. It’s now known affectionately by fans as The Peg.

In the mid-nineties, Nike designers decided to go running together to chat about the stalling sales of the Pegasus. They came to the realisation that something had gone awry – not a single person from the team wore the Pegasus on that run. They resolved to discontinue the shoe for the time being, but reintroduce it when they felt they could do the fundamental values of the Pegasus justice again. Pegasus fans, impassioned retailers and avid runners were crestfallen and wanted to know when Nike might bring the legendary trainer back.

The big return happened in 2000, by way of Sean McDowell, designer of the Nike Air Max Plus, aided by Tim Slingsby, footwear product manager for running, and product developer, Emily Dennison. As a keen runner, the Pegasus had been a favourite of his thanks to its balanced cushioning. So, McDowell took the Pegasus back to what he believed runners wanted: function first, aesthetics second. This explains why the re-released 2000 version abandoned the visible Air which had appeared in many of Nike’s shoes since 1996.  

The Air sole, which ran the length of the shoe, was put inside it to save weight, and the team added a Phylon midsole for added cushioning. Bowerman’s retro waffle outsole also made a return, along with flexible grooves, an expanded midfoot area and the new additions of sweat wicking 3D mesh and 3M reflective bands.

Since then, the technology of the Pegasus has run with the times, leading to it being adopted by superstar athletes in training such as Eliud Kipchoge, who set a new world record for the marathon in Berlin 2018, Joan Benoit Samuelson, a longtime marathon world record holder, and Mo Farah, a British Olympic multi-gold medallist and distance runner. Though loved by such stars, it’s still a favourite all-round runner’s shoe thanks to its core priorities of providing balance along with a soft, light step. Not to mention its long-held reputation as having a secure fit, which was reinforced in 2004 when Nike released a Pegasus that catered for the particular shape of the female foot, leading to a model made specifically for women in 2006. 

The Nike Pegasus has travelled countless miles on thousands of runners’ feet, supporting them through the highs and lows of the sport along the way.