Guest reviewer: Austin Bonds
As someone who loves to run and also study product advertising campaigns, I’m always intrigued at seeing how a company introduces a shoe, be it a new model or an update to an existing one. One such update as of late is the Nike Air Zoom Vomero. As it turns out, I didn’t see much fanfare surrounding the Vomero 10, the latest version of the Vomero. In fact, the only shoe promotion I can recollect regarding this shoe was an ad I noticed in Runner’s World about a month ago. In the picture, a shoe (the Vomero 10) is flying through a bed pillow with a trail of feathers behind. This inscription is at the bottom of the ad: “What feet dream about.” The pillow undoubtedly hints at the focus of the Vomero 10: softness. Versions 1-9 of the Vomero have proven themselves to offer a cushioned ride, and the 10 is by no means an exception. Here are a handful of observations about this new version.
Comparing the Vomero 9 to the Vomero 10 brings to mind the “apples to oranges” comparison. In other words, though the Vomero 10 is soft like version 9 and the versions before it, this update has undergone some significant changes. Let’s start with the upper. Nike has incorporated more Flymesh to reduce the stitching on top, but has retained Flywire to secure the midfoot well. The Vomero 10 also has a softer forefoot and a firmer heel – which translates into the soft ride liked by runners. Maybe they dream about soft shoes. This soft ride may also be due to the inclusion of Lunarlon foam in the midsole; the Vomero 9, in contrast, employed Cushlon. I’ll also add that the color options are much improved for the Vomero 10. A friend told me that she had people say the Vomero 9 looked like an orthopedic shoe on multiple occasions. I thought the color options for version 9 were fairly boring, but I’m not sure why it would elicit comparisons to an orthopedic shoe. Runners are picky about their shoe colors.
No runner likes a price increase, but the Vomero 10 has gone up $10 to an MSRP of $140. This increase may have little effect on the Vomero 10 sales, but money is always a consideration in the buying process. I also noticed that there’s less carbon rubber on the forefoot section of the outsole. The Vomero 9 didn’t have much carbon rubber either, but it did have a touch more in the forefoot than version 10 to provide some additional traction for days with soggy conditions.
Now in its tenth year, the Vomero obviously has a fan base. If it didn’t, Nike would have scrapped production long ago. The upper and midsole have been retooled, but the cushioned feeling underfoot remains the same. In short, this is what feet dream about – a cushioned ride. Why would they not?
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