Nike brings in top creatives to reinvision shoe

By

Kate Dingwall

Published
Mar 29, 2017

In conjunction with Nike’s annual Air Max Day celebration, the sportswear giant has brought in a series of artists, both well-known and emerging, to reenvision the iconic Air Max shoe.

Entitled the “Vision-Airs” collection, Nike has brought in Marc Newson, Riccardo Tisci, and Arthur Huang to re-design sneakers, as well as commissioned a group of students to create garments that play off the sneaker.

Famed industrial designer Mark Newson designed a tan and teal sneaker, featuring full-grain leather chassis and velcro strapping, as well as looking to the FlyKnit and VaporMax technologies. Tisci created a synthetic leather and suede black shoe in an update of the Nike Air Max 97. Architect Arthur Huang created the lightest Air Max 1 ever built, all packaged in a box made entirely of post-consumer materials.

In addition, Nike let creatives from some of the top design schools in the world reinterpret the Air Max silhouette.  Five students from three different design schools, including Parsons, Central Saint Martins, and The Domus Academy, were asked to create garments that fit the concept of 'walking on air'. The designs were shown off in a series of five short films.

These collaborations are just part of Nike’s grand Air Max Day campaign. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the shoe, Nike has been hosting pop-ups, art installations, and concerts around the world, in addition to releasing limited-edition versions of the Air Max sneaker.