“A running shoe. But instead of laces, you inflate it. Oh, and let’s make it fluorescent green. And red.”
So went conversations (probably) in Reebok boardrooms circa 1994. Ask a sneaker designer “why not?” enough times and you end up with something like the Instapump Fury. Birthed by Steven Smith, it opted for air over laces, borrowed its tech from medical equipment, and looks like a techy trainer discovered happy hardcore. These days, it’s a classic. Because why not?
With a name as rubbery and jacked-up as its silhouette, the Instapump Fury was not an instant hit. No, in the early ‘90s Reebok was content with going in a more weird-girl direction, and this was a slow burner. It certainly wasn’t resonating with the morning-jog-and-yoghurt-pot crowd – in fact, for a shoe that was originally conceived as a performance runner, it wasn’t resonating with the performance-minded at all.
But the avant-garde design caught on elsewhere. Fashion designers, experimental musicians, film stars, those at the cutting edge… these were – and still are – the friends of the Instapump Fury. Throughout the ‘90s a pair of Furies complimented the primary colours of Björk’s most playful era; at some point Jackie Chan jumped on the bandwagon too.
The latter’s approval started a movement in earnest – the Instapump Fury blew up in Asia. In Tokyo the shoe became a collector’s item, a symbol of IYKYK status, and it wasn’t long before it was a cult classic worldwide. There’ve been collabs with Chanel, Concepts, Bape, Vetements, Sandro, Boris Bidjan, Saberi, End Clothing – the list goes on. There was a Jackie Chan edition. There was even a Kung-Fu Panda edition. Maison Margiela made a heeled tabi version, rocked by Björk once more on the cover of her Sonic Symbolism podcast. Full circle.
At 30 years old, the Instapump Fury feels more relevant than ever. If 2024 has taught us one thing, it’s that ugly green sells. And no, I’m not suggesting that the sneaker boffins of Reebok’s whacky early ‘90s phase predicated Charli xcx’s sixth studio album, brat – but it does take a certain amount of balls to keep pushing something so putrid, so sickly, so downright weird, for three decades. Well done, Reebok, well done. Now blow out those damn candles.
Shop the Reebok Instapump Fury here.