Nike Vomero 18 Orange Chalk

Two uses. First, running: easy and long runs on road and path, with technical socks and shorts or tights, laced firmly across the midfoot and left slightly looser over the instep on longer efforts. Second, off duty: black or grey joggers with a tapered ankle, a cream hoodie, a dark shell jacket, letting the orange be the accent. Good for commuting, standing all day and travel. Daily trainers run true with a generous toe box, so buy your usual size with a thumb width of room. Remove the insole to air after runs, hand wash the upper with mild soap, never machine wash a tall foam midsole, and rotate pairs so the foam recovers between sessions.

Nike's authority in running was established on the track. Steve Prefontaine, Bowerman's pupil at Oregon, became the brand's first track endorser and its symbol of running as attitude rather than sport, and sponsored athletes including Sebastian Coe, Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Allyson Felix carried it forward. The daily trainer is the part of that legacy that reaches everyone, the shoe bought by people running four kilometres before work rather than racing. The current appetite for chunky technical runners as fashion is simply the newest turn of a wheel that has been spinning since the Waffle Trainer walked off the track and into everyday wardrobes.

Style code HM6803 700 places it in Nike's orange range, matching the Orange Chalk name. A Vomero is a maximally cushioned daily trainer, meaning a tall foam midsole, a padded heel collar and a breathable engineered upper, built to absorb repeated impact over long distances rather than to return energy at racing speeds. Nike's cushioning heritage runs through it: Nike Air, the sealed pressurised unit that made the brand, and the softer foams developed alongside it, including the Lunarlite family that pursued weight reduction. Flywire is the principle behind holding a foot with cables rather than heavy overlays. A tall stack shoe should feel stable underfoot, not tippy, so check that on a firm floor.