Why have my Air Units changed? Due to noticeably shrinking air units and increasingly uncomfortable retro’s the past 7 years, we’ve seen this question pop up on every sneaker message board around the internet. While individuals have explained that it was related to the environment, few have pinpointed exactly how the original air units were damaging the environment. Well, in 1992 a German environmental magazine attacked companies that were using the gas sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and although they mainly focused on makers of refrigerators and air conditioners, they also pointed out that Nike’s air pockets contained this potent gas (according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, SF6 is the most potent greenhouse gas that it has evaluated, with a global warming potential of 22,800.”).
What made matters worse for Nike, was that during this time they were catching heat for using sweatshop labor in some of its contract factories. Nike wasted no time trying to figure out how to overcome this issue and would go on to devote 14 years (yes 14 years) of R&D to finally perfect a way to make an air unit without SF6. This new technology uses nitrogen and was used to create the first installment of the Air Max 360 in 2006. To read more about Nike’s journey to help the environment check out the full story on Nike and SF6 at businessweek.com.