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Nike were really pushing a few boundaries around the time the Nike Air Moc saw light-of-day. Looking like the Aqua Sock's haggard brother, it's a shoe that helped define a decade. There's no getting around it. This was and is an ugly sneaker, but as with many of the era's oddities, it found a Japanese audience. A laceless, brilliant non-shape, at the time you could only marvel that Nike would mess with you like this and looking at the ACG releases circa 1994, it represents one of the most innovative, uncompromising batches of footwear the brand ever released. God bless that Advanced Project Development department and light hiking lunacy like the Moc.

It's always been heartening that an audience would willingly redirect weirdo performance pieces to trend level without a blog or ad-campaign directing them there. A nod in a The Face and clued-up storeowners amplifying the RRP could do the job. The following year's Rifts and Footscapes would channel more oddball silhouettes to trend level. This shoe typifies why Nike just took such a lead across-the-board after Reebok spooked them earlier in the '90s. They demonstrated a certain tethered lunacy, tied to hardcore performance, but free to take heavy risks. That's why we worship at the altar of vintage All Conditions Gear.

If it looks like an Ugg, that's because it was a reaction to folks slipping on a pair of the fleecy boots with ease. Former Nike designer Tory Orzeck (who also had a heavy hand in the Footscape and reportedly, Foamposite technology), one of the main minds behind the Moc, has clarified the Ugg-influence and best of all, confirmed that the potato-like appearance was deliberate. In fact, in this interview on the mighty Rift Trooper site, he even points out the fork-like perforations too. Part of the first wave of shoes to implement Regrind rubber soles, they're a precursor to the Considered initiative too.

Air Chukka Mocs (which took it too far into Ugg territory) weren't as fun, and the 2001 sequel smoothed out the Moc formula a little too much, though we've got love for the 2002 HTM Mid version of the Air Moc 2. Hiroshi, Tinker and Mark appreciate the relevance of this creation. And we'd like to get our hands on the camo 1999 versions of this Moc that the Japanese mags used to showcase.

These were rough and ready madcap perfection. If this spirit of design adventure was restored, lord knows where we'd be now, but from the neoprene lining to the sole design, we can see the Moc's influence in a myriad of modern shoes. Now Moc in a sneaker's name seems to indicate a Red Wing knockoff. Meh. It's good to see that there's a sympathiser at Nike Sportswear putting these out again, alongside the Air Revaderchi and soon, the Air Escape. We saw some 2006 reissues evade these shores, but these Quickstrike reissues are part of an earthy trio that arrives in the Crooked Tongues store very shortly.

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