crooked tongues magazine News Features

If you thought 2012 came correct on the Nike Running side of things, we think 2013 will be too your liking. Will anything flip wigs like Flyknit did? Probably not, because that was a moment in time that's unlikely to be matched for a minute, but the sheer volume of killer shoes on the Lunarlon platform is staggering. For every breakthrough, there's several nondescript variations, but with Lunar and Flywire, even the nondescript models are better than most. The racing shoes are the ones that made us addicts for the flamboyant foam, dating back to the LunaRacer's summer 2008 debut, but this year's sleeper was the minimalism of the Lunar Montreal that took inspiration from a Prefontaine and Bowerman spike project and came in every colour possible — these Nike LunarSpeed+ are just as pleasing to the eye. With a Lunarlon variation of the Nike racing shoe sole, this ultralight model has enough shape to take to everyday wear, with the jagged stitch splitting the rear and forefoot tones, a super subtle support structure, plenty of Volt, reinforcement where it matters in a translucent form and a vast, football boot style swoosh on the forefoot (we really love forefoot swooshes), plus a fluoro one on the medial side for good measure. Could we live without the huge NIKE on the heel? Yes. Are we mad about it? Nope. We know planning the shoe stack for summer sounds like insanity, but these will get some attention in the hotter months. Contemporary runners (cue Gregg Wallace 'Masterchef' voice) don't get much tougher than this and they arrive in the Crooked Tongues store. Keep focusing on the hype distractions and you'll miss out on the future favorites - these are just the tip of the iceberg. As a performance piece, racers aren't to all weights, styles or needs, but for those with a narrow foot, comfort awaits in the casual wear stakes.