Nike Daybreak 'Cosmic Bonsai'
Colorway: Obsidian/Dynamic Yellow/Cosmic Bonsai · Style code: CT3441-400 · Price: $208 · Availability: Available now
The Daybreak belongs to the run of Nike road shoes that made the company's name at the end of the 1970s. It arrived in 1979 next to the Tailwind and the LDV, built on a thick EVA midsole and the waffle outsole Bill Bowerman's experiments had produced, and it was better equipped than most of what runners could otherwise buy at the time.
What has kept it in production is the shape rather than the technology. The low, wedge-shaped profile and nylon-and-suede upper became a template for how a retro runner looks, and Nike returned to it around the model's fortieth anniversary with a run of premium reissues.
Cosmic Bonsai is one of those. The upper runs four colours over a navy base, with soft suede at the toe and heel and dynamic yellow on the Swoosh, and the waffle tread underneath carries over from the original tooling. At $100 it sat at the accessible end of the heritage running range rather than among the limited releases.