The shoes that saw the most success during their original releases-the Air Max 1, 90, 95, and 97-have received myriad remakes from outside designers and Nike’s own creative team, and new technologies like VaporMax and Flyknit extend the shoe’s penchant for originality into the future. Designers Patta, Foot Patrol, and Supreme are frequent Air Max collaborators, and the shoes appear on the Instagram’d feet of the world’s Hadids and Jenners.
The Nike Air Max 1 debuted the same year as Public Enemy’s first album, and a recent collaboration with U.K. They’re some of the hottest and most sought-after sneakers around.
Pop Culture InspirationĪir Maxes are no longer the go-to running shoe, but the shoe’s performance obsolescence is overshadowed by its massive presence in the worlds of music, fashion, and celebrity. The Air Max 1 was born a chunky sneaker with a window to Nike’s bigger-than-ever air cushion, and although the company has increased the size of the air pocket over the years, the new Nike Air Max shoes use the same basic design and materials as the originals. According to a 2006 documentary, he widened the air pocket of an existing shoe, the Tailwind, and removed some encapsulating heel foam to reveal the air cushion-an inside-out shoe. The Nike Air Max’s original designer, Tinker Hatfield, drew his inspiration from the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, which he saw as an inside-out building without exterior walls, its innards are on full display.