Nike Initiator review

After thoroughly testing this shoe, we believe the Initiator is a fantastic option for:

• Anyone looking for a comfortable and lightweight shoe to wear all day long.
• Retro-futuristic aesthetics lovers who can't get enough of former runners.
• Trend-setters who are looking for an affordable option that feels high-quality.

Do not let the design and aesthetics of the Initiator trick you, this is not a running shoe! If that's what you're looking for, please click here and have a look at our catalog.

As you might have already noticed, we didn't really find many negative points for this shoe. It did run small for people, though, and if you have wide feet, you might not want to risk it. So, if you're looking for an affordable pair with a sporty vibe that's more spacious, the ASICS Gel 1130 might be exactly your cup of tea.

There are some parts of a shoe that you can only actually measure if you cut it in half. Yeah, we know, it hurts to see every pair that comes into our lab get split in half. But hey, this is RunRepeat, and that's what we do!

So, once we had unobstructed access to the Initiator's heel stack, our caliper returned 33.1 mm. It's higher than average, which meant some extra comfort and nice cushioning for us. And we appreciated it a lot when we had to run errands the whole morning!

We were so happy to see this shoe's forefoot followed the same "I'm taller than you" vibe.

At 20.4 mm, we felt protected from the ground, enjoying this shoe's cushioning from the beginning to the end of each and every step.

After measuring this shoe's heel and forefoot stack, we calculated a drop of 12.7 mm.

This means that our heel enjoyed some extra cushioning, which is always great news! You know, after all, the heel is the first part of the foot that touches the floor when we're walking; and this amount of cushioning sounds a like great start!

By the way, don't worry about this drop being higher than average. The drop is all about personal taste and preferences! If you want to know more about it, click here!

When we pressed our durometer against this Nike's midsole, it returned 31.4 HA.

This score is slightly higher than average, but we didn't feel this shoe was excessively firm or anything like that. Even though its foam is on the harder side, we found it really comfortable during our wear tests.

A budget shoe featuring a budget insole just makes sense, right?

At 4.1 mm, our caliper stated this insole is thinner than average. But it didn't catch us by surprise or anything, and the shoe felt comfortable underfoot regardless!

The Initiator scored a 2.6 on our 1 to 5 sizing scale. This means that, according to people's votes, it's on the smaller side!

At 99.4 mm, the widest part of this Nike's toebox is slightly wider than average.

We're always happy to see our caliper open up a little bit more than usual, as that means our feet will have some extra space inside the shoe. We can't say wide-feet sneakerheads will find this pair roomy enough, but our standard-sized feet felt great!

We're talking about a pair of Nike sneakers, so we sure expected them to get narrower and narrower towards the tip!

But our caliper showed us we were so wrong about it. At 78.3 mm, the Initiator's toebox at the big toe is wider than average, which felt wonderful! Our toes could move around during our wear tests, which feels really nice, especially if you've been walking all day long.

Look at how easily the mesh stretches to accommodate our feet. We really have nothing bad to say about the Initiator's toebox!

The brand states on its official webpage that the supportive overlays of this shoe help center your foot. And, honestly, we kind of agree... to some extent.

Don't think about anything remotely similar to walking stability shoes though. What we mean is that this pair made use of its running soul and didn't let our ankles overextend themselves.

The midsole and its top lateral wall made this shoe hard to twist. The Initiator fought our fingers and thumbs with all its might, and wow, we definitely lost this battle!

We decided to give it a solid 4/5 on our torsional rigidity test, which is almost the highest score. But don't worry, this doesn't mean it felt uncomfortable or anything like that. What's more, it adds some nice stability that comes hand-in-hand with the non-stretch design of this Nike's upper.

We really appreciated the fact that the brand went for a non-so-stiff heel counter.

As you can see, even though it's pretty padded, it doesn't feature any kind of plastic pieces to make it more rigid. Consequently, our heels felt comfy and happy from the very first moment, which is wonderful news!

A wider platform equals a more stable ride, and the Initiator knows it very well!

Our caliper opened wide to 110.0 mm, which is a higher result than average. Nice job, Nike!

At 85.4 mm, the Initiator's midsole width at the heel is also higher than average.

Once again, this means we're getting some extra stability points. And we love it!

In spite of its high score on our torsional rigidity test, this Nike pair showed us how different torsional and longitudinal flexibility are.

Our force gauge marked 21.7N when we bent this shoe all the way up to 90 degrees. This score is lower than average, which makes the Initiator more flexible than most sneakers! This translated into a smoother ride, and you know what we say: happy feet, happy us!

We want to point out that, during our wear tests, we enjoyed this shoe's comfort from the very first step! But that's not all, it also felt pretty light on foot, as its fire aesthetics are not the only thing that reminds us of its running soul.

When we took it to our lab, our scale returned 11.6 oz/329.0g, which is a whole 16% less heavy than average. Trust us, that really is a lot! And our feet enjoyed every bit of it.

Even when we had to be running around town for the whole day, our feet didn't feel overly tired. The comfortable and lightweight nature of this Nike helped us be on our feet 24/7!

Being comfortable and lightweight is already a winning combination, but you know what they say: Third time's a charm! And breathability is the last feature of this fantastic combo that makes the on-foot experience just delightful.

We started with our light test, but the results were not very impressive. The LED didn't really shine much through the Initiator's mesh, but we wanted to ask our smoke machine about its opinion too!

Wow! Alright, alright, Initiator, we get it. So sorry we even doubted you! As you can see, the smoke came out instantly and easily from the forefoot, and with such a wonderful performance, we could only give it a perfect 5/5 on our breathability test. The poor Reebok Phase Court (on the right) paled in comparison but, honestly... who wouldn't!

Our microscope showed us a solid mesh pattern with minimal gaps. It's incredible that this was enough for the air to come in and out that easily.

Superb design of a budget shoe's upper, Nike!

To verify if the leather overlays of this shoe are authentic, we use our torch to burn the materials up and then scratch them using our awl.

We started at the toebox, and as you can see, we didn't have to deal with a massive flame or chewing gum-like leather. This means the materials are authentic, which is wonderful news!

But the leather in the rearfoot bursted into flames and melted like grilled cheese, which means it's synthetic.

These results are not bad at all and, honestly, we were pretty impressed to see authentic leather in a budget shoe!

After the perfect score the Initiator got on our breathability test, our hands were shaking when we had to grab the Dremel to check its durability.

But wow! We couldn't believe our eyes when we put the tool away and realized this Nike had fought back so bravely that it ended up with a mere scratch. Honestly though, we were so impressed we decided to give the Initiator a solid 4/5 on our toebox durability test.

Such a crazy score on breathability and durability isn't something you see every day! How are we ever gonna believe this is a budget shoe, Nike?!

Sadly, the heel doesn't follow the same example.

At 5K RPM and with 3.2N of force, the tool drilled this area mercilessly and non-stop. It was easy for us to rate the results as they were an absolute disaster. So yeah, a 1/5 that is!

In our lab, we've seen many budget shoes that feature a harder outsole. Why? Well, because the brands try to put durability first, as most people want a pair that lasts and that they can wear all day every day! And as long as we're not talking about a performing pair, most of us can do with a not-incredibly-impressive traction.

In this case, our durometer returned 87.3 HC, which is higher than average. As we expected, this means Nike focused on making this rubber compound durable.

We turned the shoe upside-down and started our last (but not least) Dremel test.

This time at 10K RPM and with the same 3.2N of force, we drilled the Initiator's outsole for 22 seconds. When we measured the damages, our tread gauge returned 1.1 mm, which is pretty much average.

We were really happy about it, as this budget shoe is definitely made to last!

The outsole is another part of the shoe that we can measure thanks to cutting it in half.

As you can see, our caliper returned 5.4 mm, which is an average score. We believe this pairs up well with the durability of the rubber, as there's plenty of material to wear down before you have to say goodbye to this Nike.

The running soul of the Initiator can be seen just by having a quick look at its outsole.

First of all, we were pretty impressed by the wonderful rubber coverage in a, once again, budget shoe! As you can see, the forefoot is completely protected, and there's only a white gap at the rearfoot in order to, most likely, reduce the overall weight of this pair. 

It features the brand's typical waffle sole with different patterns and flex grooves, improving not only multidirectional traction, but also the flexibility levels. We were really happy with this shoe's grip, as it performed great on multiple urban surfaces, biting the floor effortlessly.

We could write a thousand paragraphs about how incredibly awesome the Initiator's value for money is, but we're gonna keep it simple. This Nike pair features a bunch of advantages that not only hardly come together, but also that are pretty much never seen in budget shoes!

We didn't really expect any reflective elements on a budget shoe, so we weren't disappointed when we took it to our lab and realized we were absolutely right!

A double-layered tongue was the final touch for the high comfort levels of the Initiator.

When we measured it, our caliper returned 11.6 mm, which means this shoe's tongue is fairly more padded than average. Even though we can't complain about how nicely it felt on our instep, we believe the brand could've opted for a thinner one to save some weight.

Yeah, we know the Initiator doesn't really need to lose some grams, so it's literally just us nerdy (yet lovingly) nitpicking!

This Nike pair doesn't have a heel tab.

As you can see, it features a retro design with the name of the brand and some decorative little holes. It's not like we felt we really needed a heel tab in this shoe, as its non-gusseted tongue gave our feet plenty of space to come in and out, but it would've been a nice touch.

We are always happy to talk about removable insoles, and the Initiator is ready to have that conversation!

So, if you want or need to use your own orthotics, don't worry, this shoe won't have any issues with it.