History of the Nike Air Max 1
1987 was a great year for sneaker culture. This is because the legendary Nike Air Max 1 was born. This was the first ever Air Max shoe released by Nike.
Obviously, the story of this sneaker cannot be told without first introducing the designer of the shoe ; Tinker Hatfield.
The funny thing is that Hatfield was hired by Nike in 1981 as a corporate architect and it wasn’t until 4 years in that he would design footwear for the company.
That being said, his architectural background contributed massively towards the design of the Air Max 1.
When he had gone on a trip to Paris he had witnessed the Georges Pompidou Center. This structure is still impossible to miss amongst Paris' traditional architecture.
It was this buildings design that had inspired the design of the Air Max 1 for Hatfield. What Hatfield saw in the Pompidou Center was how the building’s designers had put all the internal workings of the building on the outside.
The fact remains that the Nike Air Max 1 is the first ever Nike shoe to feature the visible Air Unit. Hatfield believes that had he not seen the building, he may never have suggested revealing the Air pouch.
Initially, everybody at Nike hated it. In the Netflix documentary series, “Abstract : The Art of Design”, Hatfield even stated that he had co-workers who wanted to take his job.
“It was widely discussed that I had pushed it too far. People were trying to get us fired”
But he had the support of the Director of Cushioning Innovation, David Forland and they got to work.
So finally the Nike Air Max 1 released on the 26th of May 1987 and featured in Nike’s first television ad the same year.
After the release, Nike didn’t even bother retroing the sneaker until 1992. After this retro , Nike began to do various things with this sneaker and started playing with it’s design in small ways. First in 1996 they introduced a jewel swoosh, then the following year the mini swoosh was embroidered on to the toe.
Collaborations
It was in 2002 that Nike finally was willing to open up this shoe to collaborators.
Japanese retail company Atmos was the first to collab with the shoe in 2002 with Atoms' “Safari”. This became an instant classic and it’s still sought after by many.
In the following years there were quite a few collaborations but the most sought after pairs were by Atmos, Dutch retailer Patta and Dutch artist Parra.
In 2005, Parra got the opportunity to create an Air Max 1 with Nike and used the chance to create a sneaker inspired by his hometown Amsterdam. This shoe gets rarer every year. Then in 2010 Patta and Parra team up on a burgundy Air Max 1.
And literally just this month (July 2018) Nike collaborated with Parra once more and dropped an amazing looking pair of Air Max 1’s.
Along the years, the Air Max has developed. -Btw it wasn’t called the Air Max 1 until later models followed.-
The design of this shoe has continued to evolve. Nike changed the foam, they made the window a little more elegant and today this sneaker has gone on to be one of the most iconic sneakers of all time.
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