Nike Air Max 90 review

Let the legendary spirit of the Air Max 90 invade your wardrobe if:

• You're looking for a pair of comfortable sneakers to wear all day long.
• You want something stylish, trendy, and breathable to enjoy during the summer.
• You are obsessed with Air Max models but you don't want to spend all your savings on one.

If you have wide feet, we believe this Nike pair might not be your cup of tea. Even though there's enough vertical space, sneakerheads with big toes might feel it's a little bit too cramped. The Air Max DN is a model from the same family that offers a slightly wider fit, and it comes in wonderful colorways too!

Then, if you're looking for a new pair of Air Max to wear when temperatures go down, here you have the models we believe are ready for fall and winter according to our lab and wear tests. Among those, the Air Max 1 features warm interiors and its design and style are both very similar to the AM 90's.

With the chunky Air Unit this Nike pair has at the heel, we had already guessed it would be taller than average. At least that's how it felt when we put it on, and our caliper agreed! It returned 36.4 mm when we measured this AM's heel stack, which doesn't only translate into some extra inches to your height, but also into great comfort!

The forefoot is not as tall, but it still surpasses the average. At 22.2 mm, our toes also felt protected from harsh urban surfaces and any obstacles we stepped on during our wear tests walking around town.

As you can clearly see in the picture below, this shoe's heel is way higher than its toe area counterpart. After doing the math, we calculated a steep drop of 14.2 mm. A higher-than-average drop is typical of the Air Max models, as its designs feature chunky Air Units. But don't worry, this doesn't mean your feet will feel weird or anything like that when you were them!

During our wear tests, the AM 90 felt like a couple of clouds. And not only because of its delightful Air technology, but also because of its foam. Once we took it to our lab we could verify it, as we cut it in half and pressed our durometer directly against the midsole.

It returned 16.5 HA, which is way lower than average. That's why the AM 90 felt so plush underfoot. Honestly, walking around town wearing this shoe was just a pleasure!

When we checked the thickness of its insole, our caliper returned 4.7 mm. It's an average score, but taking into account this Nike pair features Air cushioning and a soft midsole, we didn't really need anything else regarding comfort!

There are many good reasons why this classic Nike sneaker remains a staple in thousands of wardrobes but the fact that it offers a predictable fit makes it even more appealing.

Having retrieved the gel mold of its toebox, we measured the widest part at 90.7 mm. It is insignificantly narrower than average and falls into the medium-width range of casual sneakers.

But because the Air Max 90 is not available in alternative widths, folks with wider feet may want to opt for the Nike Air Max DN or the Nike V2K Run for a more spacious fit.

Contributing to the comfort of this Nike kick is a slightly rounded, non-aggressively tapered toebox. Our caliper recorded an above-average width of 70.4 mm in the big toe area of the mold.

The vertical space of the Nike Air Max 90 is adequate as well. We measured its toebox height at 27.1 mm which is on par with the average.

This former runner from the 90s made sure our ankles didn't feel unstable. Its padded structure hugged our feet comfortably, and even though its materials don't offer a crazy lockdown feel, we were satisfied with how safe our joints felt.

The big midsole, the Air technology, and the massive rubber walls would not let our fingers get away with their twisted idea. There was no way we could make this shoe move, so it earned a well-deserved 5/5 on our torsional rigidity test.

The heel counter is not that stiff, which is something we really appreciated. Why? Well, because this meant we didn't have to deal with blisters or uncomfortable rubbing. After testing it in our lab, we decided to give it a 3/5.

As expected from Nike, the AM 90 doesn't have the widest midsole out there. In fact, its width in the forefoot is only 102.6 mm, which is way lower than average. Even though our standard-sized feet were okay with this, we can see wide-foot sneakerheads saying the shoe lacks stability.

The heel follows pretty much the same logic, as our caliper returned only 81.3 mm. The experience is nearly the same: people with narrow or standard feet like us will be fine, yet people with wider feet might not be completely happy with the heel.

As we've mentioned before, walking around town in this shoe was just wonderful. And not only because of its cloud-like cushioning and comfort levels, but also thanks to its flexibility. Even though it is torsionally rigid, we found it really flexible longitudinally!

Our force gauge returned 19.1N when we pushed the AM 90 all the way up to 90 degrees. This score is lower than average, which means this Nike pair bent effortlessly alongside our feet during our wear tests.

This Air Max looks kind of chunky, and... our scale agreed, as it marked 13.40 oz/380g when we took it to the lab.

It didn't feel too heavy on our feet, so we could still run errands and work long shifts. Even though there are lighter Air Max models, the 90 won't take a toll on your legs even if you use it for hours. Trust us, we've verified it ourselves thanks to our wear tests!

When we took the AM 90 to our lab and put a cut-out part of its upper right in front of our light, we didn't see any big gaps that would let the air (and our LED) shine through. But the mesh does have small openings, look!

To see if the upper's material was ready to let our feet breathe, we turned our smoke machine on and got the party started. In comparison to the poor Reebok Phase Court, which completely choked up (and got a disappointing 1/5 on this test), our Air Max showed it could handle even the hottest of summers. Consequently, we decided to give it a perfect 5/5 on our breathability test.

Thanks to our microscope, we could see that the upper indeed has small holes in between its knots to let the air flow through. This is why it is so important to conduct multiple tests, as this is just barely visible to the naked eye.

This shoe's mesh is super breathable, especially on the toe area. That's why our feet felt so happy even if we walked for hours or whenever we had to run to catch the bus. Sweaty toes are out fo the question!

Among the Air Max models, the 90 is not on the expensive end. So yeah, we didn't really expect it to have premium materials.

In order to verify it, we grabbed our torch and awl. We started with the suede top layer, which showed us a small flame and then melted under it. Sadly, this indicates it's fake!

The Swoosh showed us even a bigger flame, and the material melted just like a marshmallow on a firepit. Once again, this means it's fake.

And the leather layer right next to the Swoosh was just as unfortunate. It caught fire in no time, showing us that it's not authentic either.

We don't usually expect much from highly breathable uppers regarding durability. Normally, these materials focus on letting the air come in and out, which means there are big gaps or thin layers that our Dremel can destroy in an instant.

But this case was totally different. As you can see, the tool couldn't break this AM's mesh! It fought back like a champ, so we decided to give it a solid 3/5 on our toebox durability test.

On the other hand, the heel padding suffered a little bit more. When we saw the black threads flying around our lab... we knew weren't off to a good start!

The damage was significant, so we decided to give the 90 just a 2/5 on our heel padding durability test. Therefore, make sure you untie this shoe's laces properly before you put it on. Don't try to force your feet's way in!

When we pressed our durometer against this Nike's outsole, it returned 90.0 HC. This means that the rubber used focuses on being durable, but the result is so close to the average that you can also expect great durability.

We turned on our Dremel one last time at 10K RPM and with 2N of force. Then we pressed it against this shoe's outsole, and it attacked it non-stop for 18 seconds.

Once the time was up, we grabbed our tread gauge and checked the depth of the dent. It returned only 0.7 mm, which is lower than average. This translates into great durability, so we expect this pair's outsole to last a long time!

The rubber used for the outsole is quite durable, so we do think Nike could have gone for a thinner piece here in order to save some weight. At 5.5 mm, the AM 90's outsole is even slightly thicker than average.

Overall, we were pretty happy with this shoe's traction. It has a full-length rubber compound protecting it from harsh urban surfaces, and it features the brand's iconic waffle pattern all over the forefoot.

During our wear tests, we enjoyed a solid and constant grip. This AM bit the floor easily, and even though it was nothing spectacular, it's exactly what we needed from it. So no complaints here! It does its job properly, that's it.

The AM 90 is pretty affordable compared to some of its siblings and cousins, which is something that sneakerheads on a budget will definitely appreciate. We believe its price is fair, as we didn't really find any major drawbacks that would make us think otherwise. Its stylish and comfy self is within reach ever for the most thrifty buyers!

We didn't expect this shoe to have a single reflective detail, and we verified in our lab that we were totally right.

Throughout this entire review, we've been repeating how comfortable the AM 90 feels on foot. And you know, even if you still don't believe our words, you can always trust our caliper readings.

The incredible 17.1 mm it marked when we measured this shoe's tongue padding are no joke. This massive chunk of foam just made our instep feel so happy, comfortable, and protected from any potential lace bite.

We really liked the fact that this Air Max's design has padding just on some key areas. It keeps toe area free to favor airflow, yet the heel zone is also pretty padded to improve comfort. What a pillowy experience!

Instead of a finger loop, the brand decided to go for its logo and the name of this shoe's collection on the heel. We believe this is a really cool touch to an already super stylish design, as the color contrast looks superb.

Apart from the brand's cool signature, this Nike's insole doesn't have anything special. But... it's removable! So you can always change it if you need or want to.