There was something in the water at Nike in 1987. Nineteen Eighty Seven is the greatest 12 month stretch in footwear, ever. You can take that to court. Within a single year, Nike managed an array of seemingly impossible achievements. Some highlights were: introducing a new category of footwear into the entire market with Cross Training, releasing the Air Jordan 2 - the pinnacle of performance & luxury at it’s time, and they just so happened to create a fundamental part of their identity: Air Max.

Tinker Hatfield (Godfather of Sole, “The Architect”, the “T” in “HTM”, shoe design’s G.O.A.T) was inspired by the exposed skeletal structure of Renzo Piano’s Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Elements that are usually hidden away in architecture: plumbing, electrical work, staircases, were colour coded & placed on the outside of the building. Hatfield fell in love with the idea of revealing the magic inner workings of something, & decided to show off the air bubble. It wasn’t enough to have a Air inside the shoe: we have to see it. A choice that made Air what we know today.

The Godfather packed up his sketchpad, returned to Oregon with his big new idea, and - the story famously goes - pretty much everybody at Nike hated it. Hatfield found an ally in the Director of Cushioning Innovation, David Forland, and they got to work. The result wasn’t just visible Air, but that the windowed bubble actually added to the shoe’s function.  All midsole elements could expand & change its response to the runner in new ways - it shifted the relationship between crash and bounce, in turn changing the expectations of how much technology customers got to see.

Visible Air did more than just take the world by storm. It sparked a new mass of enthusiasts & collectors - some who are only interested in Air Max. It caught the eyes & minds of an entire generation of kids, enamoured with the bubbles. In our home state of South Australia, Air Max is beloved. An unspoken culture of Air is spread throughout South Australia. Certain Air Max models we consider South Australian staples, and have cult followings in various regions/areas of our home state.

That tiny window in the sole was a huge gamble for Nike, one that almost cost Hatfield (Godfather of Sole) his job. 30 years on, we now have shoes whose entire soles are a bubble. Innovation is a process of exploration, huge ideas and risk, fused with incremental change. Air Max has gone on to sell millions and inspire obsessions for thousands of collectors, but it started with an idea and a couple pen lines on paper in front of a building in Paris.

• Nike Air Max 1 '86 OG "Cosmic Clay"
• Men's US sizing
• DQ3989-103
  
• USG reserves the right to cancel any order deemed necessary
• This product is only available to customers within Australia