Nike最牛的跑鞋到底厉害在哪里？Just How Good Is Nike's Best Running Shoe?

"The 'Nike-style' consumer experience is this: they take every last dollar out of your pocket — and somehow leave you feeling 'lucky' to hand it over, thanking them the whole way."

Part 4

There's an old saying: clothes make the man, a saddle makes the horse, and even the Buddha needs his gilding. For a runner — an athlete — nothing matters more than your body, and after that, your gear.

On April 25, 2019, the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT% — the upgrade to the wildly popular Nike ZoomX Vaporfly 4% — officially dropped in London at $275, roughly ¥1,850. The moment it hit shelves in Greater China, I pulled the trigger on a pair to feel out the fastest running shoe on the planet for myself.

Before this, whether racing or training, I basically ran in ASICS. As a die-hard ASICS loyalist I'd tried plenty of other shoes too, but after lacing up the ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%, one word said it all: stunning. It reminded me of something a friend once told me after running in the ZoomX-equipped Nike Pegasus 35 Turbo: "There are two eras in my life as a runner — before ZoomX, and after."

At $275, it's the most expensive running shoe I know of. But if you absolutely must own the best pair out there, put the money into the brand-new ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%.

This piece has three parts: an intro to the ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT% (NEXT% from here on); the origin story of the Vaporfly 4% and NEXT%; and a look at Nike's running-shoe lineup.

The Fastest Shoe on the Planet — ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%

The NEXT% is a reworked Vaporfly 4%. Before Nike launched this new-generation ZoomX shoe, the media had been calling it the "Vaporfly 5%" — meaning it went one step beyond last year's 4%, pushing runners one step closer to the limits of human performance. Nike later announced the name would be the ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%, carrying the idea that "the road ahead is infinite; the next 1% will always be out in front of you."

That "4%" comes from lab testing: compared to the previous fastest retail racing shoe, the Zoom Streak 6, the Vaporfly 4% cut the energy cost of running by 4%. Four percent sounds tiny, but for a 3-hour marathoner that's a six-minute improvement, and for a 4-hour runner it's close to eight minutes. You can see why people lost their minds over it.

So what exactly did the NEXT% improve?

Vaporweave upper

Nike leaned on feedback from world champions when designing the NEXT%. Shalane Flanagan told Nike that at Boston she'd run into a downpour, and once the shoe soaked up the rain the added weight slowed her down; Kipchoge, after Berlin, said he wanted better traction to handle wet race conditions. So Nike's design team used a new material called Vaporweave for the upper for the first time — a cicada-wing-thin fabric, lighter and more breathable than Flyknit, and, crucially, one that resists soaking up sweat and rain during a race, staying airy and dry for the long haul.

Redesigned lacing eyelets

The NEXT%'s lace eyelets were reworked to relieve pressure across the top of the foot — a subtle-looking tweak that pays off enormously over long distances. Mo Farah was a big fan of this one.

Added foam padding

The Achilles tendon at the back of the lower leg is one of the areas a runner most needs to protect. The NEXT% adds a thin layer of cushioning foam wrapping the foot, guarding the Achilles against friction and irritation over long miles.

Lower heel-to-toe drop, thicker midsole

The heel-to-toe offset drops from the previous 11mm to the NEXT%'s 8mm; a lower drop gives the wearer a more stable ride and stronger energy return. Nike also increased the overall midsole thickness — lab work combined with testing on multiple elite athletes showed this meaningfully boosts energy return.

15% more ZoomX foam, carbon plate retained

The NEXT%'s sole is thicker than the 4%'s, snapping you off the ground faster, springier and more cushioned. It keeps the full-length spoon-shaped carbon-fiber plate and stiffens it up, delivering sustained propulsion over the long haul. The midsole foam grew by 15% with almost no change in weight. More ZoomX means both better cushioning and outstanding energy return.

Compared to the 4%, Nike also reworked the outsole — a deep-lugged tread pattern reminiscent of a car tire, with a wavy design. That, too, came from those champions' feedback: for better grip on wet and puddled roads, and the deeper grooves give the wearer a more stable feel through turns, letting runners move laterally with more agility and control when cutting corners.

Is the NEXT% a PB machine for everyday runners, or a shoe you can't tame? The debate never ends. Honestly, straight up: ZoomX has always drawn criticism for how much it deforms and how short its lifespan is. Nike didn't improve that this time around: because of the full-length carbon plate's propulsion, this shoe isn't suited to anyone without proper training. Like the 4%, the NEXT% is a race-only shoe, better suited to higher-level runners — say, sub-4-hour marathoners. For slower runners, it may not be a great fit at all.

That said, plenty of people probably wouldn't want to burn one out pounding the pavement every day anyway, incredible as the ride feels. For daily training and everyday wear, the Pegasus is plenty — versus the 4%, it's just missing the carbon plate. The Pegasus Turbo currently goes for ¥1,399 on the official site, and cheaper on the secondary market. If you've got a normal foot shape, just buy your usual size.

The NEXT% — the Classic Product of Nike's Breaking2 Project

Running is contested territory for every sportswear brand, and how a brand defines its own running shoe within its lineup is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Running contributes huge sales, and it's also a channel for a brand to broadcast its philosophy. As one of the top-two athletic-gear makers, Nike spans nearly every sport — but in the running niche it never had much of a leadership edge.

Specialist running brands like New Balance, Saucony, Mizuno, and ASICS held a hallowed place in runners' hearts — ASICS was once crowned the king of running shoes — all of them with deep running heritage and excellent technical backing. But a lot of them always kept a "last mile" of distance from the mass market.

Running is the sport with the largest participation base of all, so of course Nike wasn't going to let that enormous market slip away. Enter the audacious Breaking2 project. Nike assembled a top-tier team — world-class biomechanists, designers, materials engineers, nutritionists, and psychologists — and picked three athletes: world-record holder Eliud Kipchoge; Eritrean runner Zersenay Tadese; and Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa. The goal was to push past a human limit: the full 42.195km marathon under two hours. They called it Breaking2. I later did the math — that's essentially running the whole thing at 400m-lap pace without slowing down. Even thinking about it feels unreal.

At the 2016 Berlin Marathon, Kenenisa Bekele wore an early forerunner of the Zoom Vaporfly and ran 2:03:03. On May 6, 2017, at the Monza F1 circuit in Italy, none of the three Breaking2 athletes cracked the two-hour barrier — the best time was still the marathon king Kipchoge's 2:00:25. Agonizingly close to sub-2, one step short. But Nike had already achieved its real goal: the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly 4% made its name in a single stroke. From then on, Nike's running shoes became the darling of pro marathoners and elite amateurs alike. Why the "4%" name? Nike later explained: athletes wearing the Zoom Vaporfly 4% burned 4% less energy while running. And just like that, "4%" won over legions of fans.

The Four Big Lines of Nike's Running Empire

Zoom (ZoomX) line

Zoom is Nike's most widely used cushioning tech, best known from its basketball shoes. ZoomX isn't an air unit like Zoom Air — it's a brand-new foam cushioning tech built from Pebax® plastic. It weighs just a third of traditional foam cushioning while delivering up to 85% energy return, versus 40–60% for a conventional running shoe. Zoom is known for fast, responsive feedback and instant cushioning; embedding a Zoom air unit in the midsole, paired with the surrounding cushioning material, produces a well-tuned ride.

ZoomX, with tech taken to an absolute peak, has ruled the world's major marathons for years running. The marathon king Kipchoge broke the world record at last year's Berlin Marathon (one step short of sub-2) in the ZoomX-equipped Vaporfly Elite. In 2018, 64% of the champions at the world's marquee marathons wore the ZoomX Vaporfly 4%. In fact, at the heavyweight marathons at home and abroad, the elite lead pack was always a sea of matching ZoomX Vaporfly 4%s — a distinctive sight all its own. And at this year's Hakone Ekiden, nearly half (41%) of the runners chose the Vaporfly 4% as their weapon of choice. Worth noting: even at Adidas-sponsored programs, plenty of runners laced up the 4% — proof of just how magnetic it is, and how deep its following runs.

Pegasus line

Pegasus — the winged white horse of Greek myth, the mount every god dreamed of riding. The Pegasus line is Nike's oldest running series, born in 1983 and, across more than thirty generations, having won countless devotees. It's now up to its 36th generation, Nike's best-selling and longest-running shoe line, and the flagship of the Zoom family.

The Pegasus 36 uses an engineered mesh upper, adding more ventilation holes across the forefoot and midfoot versus the previous version — the Pegasus has always run thick, with weak breathability in summer. The 36 keeps the five-eyelet lacing paired with Flywire, moves to a one-piece tongue with no thickened lining, and gives the top of the foot more room to move. The heel is cone-shaped and flared upward, away from the Achilles to reduce wear. A TPU piece inside plus a thermoplastic layer outside push stability to the max. The midsole pairs Cushlon foam with a full-length Zoom Air unit. That combo cushions noticeably — you can really feel the softness and give underfoot — but its downside is low density and insufficient support. The outsole stays full rubber, so the Pegasus line has always been known for durability, with excellent grip and abrasion resistance.

Lunar line

Lunar is a headline cushioning tech from Nike, used especially widely in running shoes. It was inspired by the way astronauts walk in space during moon missions — the R&D team drew from watching astronauts move across the lunar surface, and using a principle akin to a folding, rebounding material, designed the midsole tech. When it launched in 2008, Lunar leaned on that moon-landing theme in its marketing, which is why the line is also known as the "moon-landing" series.

The more common Lunar is a foamed EVA material, 30% lighter than traditional Phylon foam and softer, springier too. A Lunar-equipped shoe delivers excellent cushioning: through varied densities and folds in different zones, it distributes external impact more evenly across the whole footbed, avoiding and reducing the localized shock that harms the body and feet. Lunar is a double-edged sword: the upside is light and soft, making it superb running-shoe material; the downside, just as glaring, is a lack of support, which is why shoes built on Lunarlon usually need dual-density treatment to add stability.

Free line

The Free line is the "barefoot" series we all know. Nike wanted runners to shed the constraints of shoes and socks, to feel the sensation and warmth against the skin, turning the shoe into a "second skin" for the foot. The scale runs 0 for barefoot to 10 for fully shod. The 3.0 is close to barefoot — most flexible, suited to speed work and building foot strength; the 7.0 is close to fully shod, comfortable underfoot, suited to long-distance endurance with cushioned comfort; the 5.0 sits between the two, both flexible and comfortable but master of neither, which is why the 5.0 sells the least. The Nike Free RN's upper blends in spandex, plus Flywire and Flyknit tech, to create an outstanding dynamic fit for the foot. Flyknit's greatest strength is shaving weight off the shoe — the next upper-construction upgrade after Nike introduced Flywire. The shoe body is almost entirely woven from thread fibers, and cutting the upper this way reduces raw-material waste, making it greener too. It fits Nike's "Better World" sustainability ethos, and going stitchless keeps the high-tech feel intact. Flyknit is revolutionary tech: incredibly light underfoot, hugging the foot like a sock while still supporting the foot's load-bearing zones, and improving airflow inside the shoe to fix poor breathability, for a better ride. The Flyknit upper also weaves in elastic yarn, which not only makes the shoe lighter but gives the foot a more comfortable, wrapping fit — keeping runners cool and their feet un-stifled throughout a run.

React line

React is essentially a midsole foam. Compared to mainstream Phylon and Lunarlon, React ditches the old EVA material for a brand-new chemical formula. Nike officially claims it packs four traits into one — soft, springy, light, durable — after three years of development. Those four traits look a little contradictory: take the ride, where a midsole material is usually either soft or stiff-and-springy, so combining soft with springy comes off a touch underwhelming. From the feedback around me, on softness Boost is still softer, but React's rebound really is excellent. Over the next few years it'll be Nike's frontline soldier taking aim at Boost in the running space. Nike only officially brought React to running shoes this year, but it grabbed eyeballs the moment it arrived: that sponge-underfoot springiness drew rave reviews and became last year's most talked-about tech running shoe. Nike went on to roll out the Odyssey React, React Element 87, Moon Racer, and Rise React Flyknit LMTD, among other React-cushioned shoes.

Wrapping Up

Personally, I've got to train hard to do this price tag justice, and I believe this pair will help me set a new PB at my next race. From a company standpoint, I think the NEXT% is a new milestone product for Nike. That it sold out the instant it went on sale in London is proof enough.

Nike has always talked about the importance of the consumer experience, and these last few years it really has made more aggressive moves (versus Adidas fumbling a winning hand), showing the world in a very Nike way what the "Nike-style" consumer experience is: they take every last dollar out of your pocket — and somehow leave you feeling "lucky" to hand it over, thanking them the whole way.

As a runner, getting to live in the age of the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT% counts as a real stroke of luck. Alright — off to train.