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Air Max Day: 10 curiosities about the history of Air Max

Also this year, on March 26th, sneakerheads from all over the world celebrate Air Max Day to celebrate the first model born from the genius of Tinker Hatfield in 1987....

Also this year, on March 26th, sneakerheads from all over the world celebrate Air Max Day to celebrate the first model born from the genius of Tinker Hatfield in 1987.

Since then, the history of these shoes has redefined the style of active-footwear, becoming an icon of street-fashion trends and the lifestyle of many generations, with an evolution that is nothing short of crazy. With the design of the first Air Max 1, along with the development of futuristic designs and the expansion of the Air unit to the extreme concept of the Air Vapormax; the history of the most worn "Bubble" in the world contains many curiosities that every enthusiast should know.

Today we celebrate the anniversary of the first release by telling you the most interesting details.



Adv (printed) for the launch of the revolutionary Nike Air Max 1



1. THE ORIGIN OF THE AIR UNIT

Marion Franklin Rudy, father of Nike Air, with two prototypes of the Air unit

Contrary to what many might think, Air technology was not born with the Air Max. In fact, the father of this technology is Marion Franklin Rudy, a NASA aerospace engineer who in '79 developed for Nike the gas system encapsulated in a urethane cushion, in turn inserted into a sole made of foam, capable of making the higher performing and cushioned shoe. Air technology was presented for the first time in the same year with the Air Tailwind and subsequently used in the Air Force and the Air Jordan 1, however it only achieved deserved fame in 1987, with the release of the Air Max 1.



2. MAXIMUM AIR


Two adverts for the launch of the 1987 Nike Air Max 1

Since he began working on the project of "making people run on the air" in 1985, David Forland - designer of the Air Bubble - took up Marion F. Rudy's projects again and created several prototypes before arriving at the solution 87. Initially the inner tube was not suitable to contain the atmosphere at a pressure higher than 15-20 bar, not sufficient to guarantee the cushioning sought by the Beaverton team. The solution comes when Forland manages to eliminate the side seams, making the Air Bubble capable of containing the climate at a higher pressure. It is no coincidence that the name of the first model in which this unit is used takes inspiration from the concept of "Maximum Air".





3. FROM THE POMPIDOU CENTER TO SPORTSWEAR


The Center Pompidou in Paris, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers

The revolutionary innovation brought by the first model of the Air Max family owes its success to Tinker Hatfield's inspiration after visiting the Center Pompidou in Paris, he was fascinated by the open-structure inside-out architecture, imagined and designed by the Italian Renzo Piano.
Back home, the designer, obsessed with the idea of ​​showing the mechanical units hidden within his creations, decided to design a shoe in which he opened a window in the midsole and made the cushion cushioning visible.

Tinker Hatfield photographed with his creation, the Air Max 1, for the launch campaign



4.THE FIRST ADVERTISER THAT SPEAKS THE LANGUAGE OF POP CULTURE

The Air Max 1 is being born, the first model to show off the Air Bubble, a trademark easily recognizable in all Air Max models still today. For the launch, Nike does something no one has ever done before. In the first Air Max advertisement, in addition to including tennis player John McEnroe and basketball GOAT Michael Jordan, it includes a must-have song by the Beatles: "Revolution".

1987 Nike Air TV ad: "Revolution"




5."A SMALL MASTERPIECE IN MOTION"


Nike Air Max 90 in the OG colorway

Years pass and the evolution of Air Max models does not stop.
The Air Bubble unit enlarges, offering greater cushioning, the fluid and harmonious aesthetic of the Air Max 90 is so successful that it is described as: "a shoe that, even when stationary, remains a small masterpiece in movement". Over time the model has been proposed in many colorways but no formal element of the OG design has ever been modified.




6. THE ITALIAN-STYLE UN-CONVENTIONAL THAT CONQUERED THE WORLD


Sergio Lozano immortalized next to his sketches of the Air Max 95

To react to the supremacy of the basketball line and Air Jordan, the Running department of the Beaverton company - Nike's headquarters in Oregon - decides to rely on the fresh ideas of Sergio Lozano, a young footwear designer from Swoosh.

The Italian designer's approach to the creation of the Nike Air Max 95 is inspired by the earth and the human anatomy and is so innovative that it overturns the aesthetics of previous Air Max models, to the point of receiving harsh criticism: the coloring is no longer in the classic Nike colors but in gray scale, albeit with fluorescent details, the midsole is black, when tradition would have it white, and above all the Swoosh becomes a small signature on the rear portion of the upper. Some people cry heresy. But you soon have to change your mind when this decidedly unconventional design begins to receive great appreciation from the public who falls in love with the double Air unit, now also positioned in the front portion of the midsole.


Adv to tell the inspiration of the Air Max 95 to the human anatomy

From Beaverton to Europe and Japan, more than 200 colorways have been made of the Air Max 95. Among the most avid fans we remember the NBA king LeBron James, the director Spike Lee, the rappers Gucci Mane, The Game and 50 Cent, who even dedicated a verse of "Hate It or Love It" to us.


The Game sings the line: "I'll kill you if you try me for my Air Max 95's"


7. THE "SILVER BULLET", A FUTURISTIC DESIGN AT THE FEET OF THE PRESENT


Nike Air Max 97 "Silver Bullet" - First Edition

The Air Max 97, released a couple of years later than the previous ones, are the first to present a complete Air Sole with full length air distribution, from heel to toe. Naturally, this bold model needed an upper that kept up with this level of innovation and the Beaverton design office decided to take inspiration from the high-speed trains of Japan. Thus, the '97 takes the nickname "Silver Bullet", or simply "Silver", in relation to the tapered and dynamic shape of the upper presented in the iconic gray color.


Adv for the re-release of the 2017 Air Max 97




8.”LE AIR MAX ITALIANE”, THE MOST LOVED AIR MAX EVER (IN ITALY)
As soon as they were released, the Silver shoes became so popular in Italy that they were nicknamed the "Italian Air Max". For most of the world they are running shoes, but for the young Italians of the last years of the millennium they are a true symbol of current fashion to be shown off everywhere, together with the coolest outfits.


Detail of the edition created in homage to the Italian love shown for the OG

This cult spreads and in 2017 the '97s return stronger than ever, available in new colorways and even in a limited edition with the Italian flag on the rear tongue. Needless to say, they drove every sneakerhead crazy, disappearing from the shelves in the blink of an eye. Among the celebrities in love with the '97s we remember Drake and Bella Hadid, who know how to perfectly evoke the nostalgic look of the late '90s in their performances, together with Cristiano Ronaldo who collaborated with Nike in the creation of a signature shoe with a dedicated colorway: the bold Air Max 97 CR7 Gold.


Nike Air Max 97 x CR7 (2017) - The ad hoc version for Cristiano Ronaldo




9.A SUNSET IN FLORIDA


Sean McDowell tells the story of the design of the first Air Max Plus in an interview

The design of the Air Max Plus, designed in '98 by Sean McDowell, was inspired by sketches that the designer had made while on vacation in Florida. Here, when he was not yet working for Nike, McDowell had captured the colors of the sunset and the sinuosity of the palm trees, sketching some shoes. Thus, when he was entrusted with the "Sky Air" project with which to combine the Air Sole with the new Tuned Air or "Tn" opposite hemisphere technology, the connection to the Florida sky was immediate. McDowell recovers the sketches from a few years earlier and comes up with a shoe with a crazy aesthetic, equipped with a plastic exoskeleton with sinuous lines that wrap around the foot and which offers for the first time an overlay of combined materials.


The Nike Air Max Plus is one of the Air models to have had the most revisitations, both in colorways and in design, such as the Air Max Plus "Pumpkin" and the Air Max Plus III model, released in 2019.


Nike Air Max Plus "Pumpkin"

A bonus fun-fact about the Air Max Plus. To design one of the iconic elements of the shoe, the tang that decorates the heel, McDowell took inspiration from the tail of a whale, " the most iconic part of the animal ". Ironic to think about how in Italy the shoe was called "Shark". Perhaps due to a translation error from "shank" - that is, a part of the midsole of the Plus - to "Shark".



10. THE EVOLUTIONS OF THE NIKE AIR MAX AFTER THE PLUS


The Evolution of the Air Max and the Air Bubble unit from 1987 to 1998

On the one hand, the evolution of the "classic" line continues with the Air Bubble increasingly visible and predominant in the design of the shoe. The trend is clear: with the 2006 Nike Air Max 360 the Air unit is made visible at 360° but remains inside the midsole; with the Nike Air Max 270 of 2018, and the Nike Air Max 720, celebrating Air Max Day 2019, the Bubble is totally exposed and visible at 360°, both horizontally and vertically. But it is only in 2021 that the Bubble makes the leap in quality and comes out of the sole, also conquering the lateral part of the upper with visible Air to revisit the legendary Nike DNA in a modern key : they are the Nike Air Max Zephir.

Nike Air Max 270



Nike Air Max 720



Nike Air Max Zephyr EOI

At the same time, Nike realizes its dream of "making people walk on air" already in 2017 and, after almost 38 years from the first Air sole and 7 years of experimentation, for the Air Max Day of that year it organizes the release of the prime Air Vapormax. Designed for running by Brett Holts, these sneakers with an experimental design become lifestyle icons. The sole is made entirely of air and the comfort is unprecedented, not to mention the style.


The Air Max story in one step


Nike Air Vapormax 2020 Flyknit
In the following years, the Vapormax changes and evolves with fantastic combinations of other cutting-edge Swoosh technologies, such as the "Flyknit" fabric, used for the Nike Air Vapormax Flyknit 3 and the Nike Air Vapormax 2020 Flyknit. The last step of the Air Vapormax evolution arrives shortly after with the Nike Air Vapormax EVO, which contains characteristic elements of the most successful previous Air Max models and which we talk about in detail in this article.


Nike Air Vapormax EVO


To conclude, we cannot fail to talk about the latest challenge that Nike has decided to face. And guided by the motto "Just Do It", the Swoosh company has developed a research program to create shoes that can be put on quickly and easily, without having to use your hands: the Flyease program.


Nike Air Max 90 Flyease

Functional innovation that in 2020 gave life to the Air Max 90 Flyease, in which the flexible heel allows you to wear the shoe without hands, with a natural and intuitive gesture. Discover the ultimate Flyease scheduled for 2021: the Nike Go Flyease.


A sketch of the last frontier, the Nike GO Flyease - To be released
What can I say, the history of Air Max is truly incredible, full of models, collaborations, fun facts and highlights that we could talk about for hours.

We at ATIPICI have not missed an Air Max Day since the first of 2014, to celebrate with you this evolution of icons and to share our passion for what is, in all respects, an icon not only of sportswear but also a symbol of street fashion, which has always guided us.



NOW THE CHOICE IS YOURS!

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