This technology was used for the first time in 1979 with the Air Tailwind and then proposed again with the Air Force and the Jordan 1, but always enclosed inside the sole. We had to wait until that fateful March 26, 1987 to see the Air Max I and its iconic air technology in the stores. 

The idea of showing the Air unit - an internal and structural part - came to Hatfield studying the design of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, designed by Renzo Piano ten years earlier. The building, considered contested by many and loved by others, reveals the entire inner structure in a complex interweaving of coloured tubes and load-bearing elements. Just as tourists in the French capital could see the museum's interior from the outside, sneaker enthusiasts could see what was hidden inside their shoes.

Despite its technological characteristics, this model does not achieve the expected sales success, both because the price is around 15900 pesetas, comparable to 350 euros today, and also basketball shoes were much more used in that period than running shoes. 

Two years later, Hatfield himself decided to create a lighter model than the Air Max I, the Air Max II, also known as Air Max Light. Compared to the previous one, this shoe has a sole divided in two: the front part in EVA and rear section in EVA and visible Air, designed to facilitate the movement.

But for Hatfield it is not enough to have created a shoe that captures the attention not only for its aesthetics, but also for its composition and structure and to have presented to the world a product at the edge of perfection.

Nike's architect and designer decided to face an almost impossible challenge: to improve the two previous models in terms of design and performance. There were two possibilities: to fail miserably or to create an even greater masterpiece. 

So, at the end of the Cold War, while in Berlin the Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled, in Moscow the first McDonald's opens, in Italy the World Championships are held, in Spain the 1992 Olympics are organized and everyone is getting ready for the birth of the World Wide Web, the small world of sneaker fans begins to grow and the Air Max III marks a real turning point. 

The new design presents an even clearer division between the front and the rear, which enables the sole to be composed of many elements made of different materials. 

In addition, the Air Max III has an Air Sole with greater volume than the previous ones, which makes the whole sole higher, a multi lace lock that offers the wearer the ability to customize the way to tie the shoes, the fluid lines of the side panels of the sole are ribbed and serve as a frame to further enhance the Air Unit.

"Hyvent Orange" is the colour chosen for the details of the first colorway, making this shoe a style icon of those years. This shade of red will then take the name of "Infrared", from then on, each model with this color will be named this way. 

Since their launch, the success of the Air Max III has undergone several changes: between 1992 and 1993 it began to have a lot of space inside the Spanish shops, while in 2000, the year in which it was renamed Air Max 90, taking the name of the year of its release, it took second place. For example, when Nike relaunched the Air Max I in 2002, people were so uninterested that they only cost 30 euros.

For the real success we have to wait until 2005, when unexpectedly the public rediscovers this iconic shoe, ensuring a place in the Olympus of sneakers. 

Since 1987, Nike has continued to present to its audience several versions of the iconic Infrared and new colorways or models born from the collaboration with artists and designers. The result is a shoe that looks like it's moving even when it's still.