Nike Air Force 1 “Performance Times Perfection”
NIKE’s history of creative collaborations with artists such as Junya Watanabe, Futura and Mr. Cartoon has resulted in building some of the brand’s most innovative shoes that have transcended sport and style, pushing the brand even further forward. For Summer 2008, NIKE will have a new creative partner for the Air Force 1: NIKE itself.
This collection is not just a collaboration of NIKE on NIKE, but also of sneaker style on sneaker style. NIKE will be looking ahead by looking inward, referencing its own signature shoes from its family tree. NIKE Design Director Jess Leyva, along with his team, asked, “Which styles have resonated most in the company’s history? They kept coming back to designers, categories, and innovations. The collection is a celebration of not only what has made NIKE so unique, but also a look forward into the future of the company’s innovations.
Vice President of Innovation, Tinker Hatfield lent a hand creating his first Air Force 1 line as part of the Summer 08 collection referencing materials he had previously pioneered using, including safari (Safari), metal mesh (Spiridon), and tennis ball inspired fabric (Talaria), that had never been used before on the AF1.
For the Mowabb and Wildwood styles, the functionality of the ACG (All Conditions Gear) line of outdoor athletic wear was combined with the classic design of the AF1. NIKE’s designers looked at protective materials for performance benefits—such as industrial leathers—that were being applied to the AF1 for the first time, driving NIKE innovation forward.
In the third sneaker on sneaker collab, rounding out the Summer 08 collection, the designers referenced innovations, specifically the lightweight materials, reflectivity, and bold color of the Air Max series: the infra red color of the Air Max 90, the gradation of color in the Air Max 95, and the silver bullet reflectivity of the Air Max 97.
Info/Image: Nike.com
Taking into consideration that Nike celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Air Force 1 last year with a flood of releases, we are even more surprised to see such a strong release coming out this year. We would even say its the strongest AF1 release in years. Not only do the AF1’s of this collection look great, also the people that have been into sneakers for years can relate to them and connect them to some of the very first sneakers that got them into this in the first place.
Also we have seen lots of Nike fusion models in recent years, which is a similar process to what has been done in this collection. The fusion actually only shows how much innovative product Nike has provided in the past. One might argue that that innovation is missing now and therefore the classics are taken as inspiration, but for a market that is filled with people that read up on the latest sneakers daily, such a collection is in our mind a perfect fit, next to innovation.
