Nike Air Max 270 React runners

Air Max 270 React

In 2017, Nike began using a new type of foam known as React in some of its sporting footwear. Just two years later, the brand added this lightweight, responsive cushioning material to its first ever fully lifestyle Air Max model, 2018’s 270. The resulting shoe is the Nike Air Max 270 React, and it is now considered one of Nike’s most comfortable lifestyle sneakers.

The Air Max 270 React is built upon a sole unit with a 270-degree visible airbag wrapping around the heel. When it was used on the original Air Max 270, this shiny window was the tallest Air Max unit to date, and it was widely praised for the all-day comfort it provided. On the 270 React, it is accompanied by React foam, thus offering exceptional support.

Underfoot, the interplay between the React foam and the outsole rubber forms rounded shapes across the front portion of the outsole that evoke those of the React Element 87, which has the same design across its entire sole unit. Although it gives an intriguing look to the Air Max 270 React, this tread pattern also serves an important function: it has been arranged in such a way as to protect the most high-impact areas of the shoe. In the heel, the outsole resembles that of the 270, with a thick band of hard-wearing rubber looping around it.

For the upper, Nike’s Dylan Raasch, who designed both the original 270 and the 270 React, was influenced by the React Element 87 and previous Air Max models like the 93, whose wavy mudguard is referenced on the shoe’s mudguard. More curved panelling has been layered up around this and attached with no-sew methods for a seamless appearance. Its heel pull tab is taken from the Element 87, as is the design of the eyestay, whose dynamic floating effect is created using a modern stitching process known as bar tack. As a nod to the sporting heritage of the Air Max series, Raasch added a speed-lacing system to the 270 React, making it a versatile shoe. Lastly, its elegant branding includes sidewall logos, an embroidered heel swoosh and the name of the model lightly stamped into the tongue.

Many of the earliest Air Max 270 React colourways were based on 19th and 20th century art and design movements, with the first releases having tones and textures referencing the work of the Bauhaus art school. Subsequent art-inspired colourways incorporate elements from Impressionism, Mid-century Modern design and Geometric Abstraction, as well as the Pop, Op and Psychedelic art styles, each with a special graphic printed upon its insole that reflects the artistic movement it represents.

Alongside these artsy designs, dozens of traditional colourways have been released since its launch in 2019. Allied with the high-class blend of React and Air Max cushioning that supports the shoe, these eye-catching combinations of colours and materials make the Nike Air Max 270 React an outstandingly comfortable everyday lifestyle sneaker with its own distinctive style.