Nike Air — When the Bubble Bursts

We get asked quite a lot whether we can repair a popped Nike Air bubble.

Usually the damage looks fairly simple — a small split, puncture or leak in the Air unit. So naturally the first question is:

Can you just glue it?

Unfortunately, it isn't a repair we would recommend.

Air, but not quite air

Nike Air units are sealed, pressurised chambers built into the surrounding sole construction. Modern units are filled with nitrogen and designed to compress under load before returning to their original shape.

Once the chamber splits or punctures, the issue isn't really the size of the hole.

The pressure has been lost.

You can put adhesive over the damaged area, but that doesn't recreate the way the unit was originally manufactured or restore its original pressure.

The repair also has to survive body weight, flexing and repeated compression every time the shoe is worn.

For us, that isn't something we consider a reliable repair.

Can you refill it?

Not really.

There is no valve because the Air unit was never designed to be serviced or repressurised.

We've also seen people fill collapsed units with silicone, resin or foam. It may fill the space and stop the bubble collapsing, but it doesn't restore the original cushioning system.

At that point you've made something different.

The donor option

If the upper is worth saving, there is another way.

To retain the original silhouette, we can look for a donor shoe of the same model, size and last shape with a sole that is still in good condition.

The problem is you're essentially dismantling two shoes to make one.

Both soles have to be removed, which means roughly twice the labour and twice the opportunity for something to go wrong. One shoe is also sacrificed regardless.

Then there is the condition of the donor. If it's the same age as the original shoe, we need to be confident we're not replacing one ageing sole with another one heading towards the same problem.

For something rare or sentimental it can make sense.

But it's a reconstruction rather than a simple repair.

Or we let the shoe change

This is something I've touched on before in the Journal.

Brands generally don't make spare soles and components available to independent repairers. We can have the machinery and knowledge to rebuild a shoe, but without the original component there is only so far conventional restoration can go.

This is where Vibram becomes interesting.

Rather than trying to reproduce a factory component we can't buy, we can remove the failed construction and work with a completely different sole.

Of course, the silhouette changes.

The stance might change. The shoe might sit higher or become more rugged. It won't necessarily look exactly as it did when it left the factory.

I think this is something we need to become more comfortable with.

We're very attached to the idea that good repair should return something to exactly what it was. With modern footwear that isn't always possible.

Sometimes preserving a shoe means accepting that it will look different afterwards.

For me, that's more interesting than throwing away an otherwise good upper because one component can't be replaced.

Knowing when not to repair

There are also times when the right answer is simply no.

Part of working on old footwear is knowing how to repair something. The other part is knowing when the repair doesn't make sense.

We don't recommend patching failed Nike Air units because we don't think it reliably restores the original system.

If the rest of the shoe is worth saving, we can instead look at a donor sole or whether a different sole construction could give the pair another life.

If you have a pair with a failed Air unit, we’re currently developing a new Diagnostics service to help assess what has failed and what options may be available.

We’re also building a Vibram Sole Library for people open to changing the original silhouette rather than trying to recreate a factory sole that is no longer available.