But there's no doubt that part of the brand's avoidance of a retro has to do with the dark and tragic events that earned the shoe infamy.īizarrely, the official website of Heaven's Gate is maintained to this day. No Air Max on the bottom or neoprene Huarache material on top meant that it wasn't exactly a hallmark of Nike's innovative efforts at the time. Originally a 1993 release by most accounts, the model didn't feature any of the signature tech of its era.

Part of this probably has to do with the fact that the shoe is a pretty nondescript runner. Unsurprisingly, the shoe has never been back since its original release. Grainy photos from the scene have been examined plenty by footwear enthusiasts online since, who eventually pegged it properly as the Nike Decade. The relatively unknown Nike model was for many years assumed to be a Nike Cortez. The eerie photos from the scene of the crime famously featured each member in the same uniform, with the same black pants and black and white Nikes. The shoes were worn by members of the Heaven's Gate cult during the group's mass suicide that took place from March 24-26, 1997. The Nike Decade in its black and white colorway is one of those shoes, and is tied to a particularly morbid moment in American history.

But, sometimes these moments come from a newsworthy event wherein a pair of shoes builds a lasting connection for anyone preoccupied with footwear. Some of these come from movies: the Nike Cortez will always be associated with Forrest Gump and the Nike Air Command Force is the White Men Can't Jump sneaker. There are certain shoes that end up imprinted in our collective memory because of their presence in a pop culture moment.

Black and white nike shoes