20 Years Of Nike Basketball Design: Air Swoopes (1996)

With a name that rhymes with “hoops”, it seems like a future in basketball was in the stars. Nike Basketball continues its 20-shoe retrospective of Nike Basketball of the last two decades with the Air Swoopes – the first signature sneaker for a female basketball athlete. The pioneering era of Swoopes came right as the WNBA was born, and the league certainly flourished thanks to Sheryl’s bonafide superstar status and elite level of performance; Nike jumped at the bit and created the Nike Air Swoopes and create a reversal of trends as men sought after the shoe as well. More of the Air Swoopes below, so take a look and check out the entire story archive of Nike Basketball: 1992-2012 if you’ve missed out on any earlier entries.