Nike Air Presto ‘Lightning’: OG vs Retro vs React

The is an important silhouette in sneaker lore. has been heard countless times: it’s the t-shirt for your feet. Designed by Tinker Hatfield’s brother, Tobie, it did away with conventional numerical shoe sizing. Instead, it ranged from XXXS to XXXL, the equivalent of size 5 to 15 US. Strangely enough, Nike used to display a Presto size chart online that went to the extremes of 5XS to 5XL, despite those fringe sizes never officially existing!

Launched in 2000, the Air Presto is arguably an early example of sneakers receiving nicknames or themes. Instead of being given these monikers by consumers, it was Nike themselves who gave the Presto’s 13 launch colourways irreverent names like ‘Shady Milkman’ and ‘Unholy Cumulus’.

Here, we focus on the ‘Trouble At Home’ version, aka the ‘Lightning’. It’s considered one of the Presto’s more collectible colourways, and was in 2015 along with a couple of other OG Air Prestos. Four years later, Nike introduced React cushioning to the line, effectively reviving the Presto name.

All in all, regardless of any bias towards the OG Air Presto ‘Lightning’, it’s still worth tracking down the 2015 retro and/or the React Presto versions, simply for the fact they’re great shoes. It’s promising to see Nike do their back catalogue justice. Next up, the