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It gets an update this season (and it's an update that wasn't needed), but it's curious that the Nike Approach has been the underdog of the retro OG trio of Nike trail designs. Pre-dating ACG by 18 years, the Approach first appeared as the flagship piece of Nike hiking hybrid alongside the cheaper Magma boot and the legendary Lava Dome. Whereas the minimal branding of the Magma was the budget pick of the boots compared to the Approach's pioneering 1981 use of GORE-TEX and better looks (the Magma always seemed to be a concession to the purist trail types who wouldn't be able to handle the swoosh on the side) the Approach is the real father of the Nike Boot movement and beasts like the Baltoro and the Lava Dome's legendary offspring.

When the Magma slipped out the Nike line, the Approach held it down for several years post-1981. There was even a brutal looking Air Approach design in the ACG line in the 1990s that paid homage to this classic (we think there was an update on that model too to form a rarely-seen trilogy). Then the Lava Dome came back and the Magma was resurrected in 2008 just ahead of the All Conditions Gear line's 20th anniversary. The Approach's return was a more low-key affair as an Asia VNTG drop, but dropping the GORE-TEX membrane that made it so killer took a little of the magic away, but it did add air. Now we're over that disappointment (and the GORE-TEX is still absent), we can appreciate it as a great piece of basic rugged design. This version's fanciful colour names betray the basic tan and brown shades. A good winter pick with some real history behind it.