Here’s a little somethin’ you don’t see every day, a 2018 verrrry early prototype of the now famous Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT%.

This shoe consists of a Pegasus Turbo upper (which released in mid-2018), and full ZoomX midsole with similar air pods like we see in the production version of the shoe, as well as a single carbon fiber plate. To finish the shoe off is a rubber outsole that hasn’t been seen on any other prototypes and apparently was scrapped early on.

During the late stages of the shoe’s testing, there were an unreal amount of rumors about the shoe’s build (yes, and race legality *eye rolling*), but the most prominent was the idea the the shoe would actually consist of 3 carbon plates, 2 small plates and 1 main plate. As well as, 4 air pods vs the 2. But, as there were multiple patents filed by Nike and the fact that one of their earliest prototypes only has 1 plate, it’s pretty safe to believe that the idea of the controversial shoe setup may have been nothing more than a cool concept and not something that was truly being considered.

The Goods