How a nearly discontinued shoe became a global icon.

Ready for Takeoff
Designed by Bruce Kilgore—the Nike veteran responsible for the Sock Racer, Air Jordan 2 and Shox—the Air Force 1 was a work-in-progress when Kilgore took over the project from another designer. It was Kilgore’s first shot at designing a basketball shoe and early versions were manufactured stateside, in New Hampshire. First attempts at molding the Air Force 1’s sole didn’t go smoothly and it was a factory in Spain that saved the day. <a href="https://news.nike.com/news/designer-bruce-kilgore-dishes-on-nike-air-force-1">According to Kilgore</a>, “[A colleague] introduced us to the mold makers in Spain and then, through us, they were taught how to make multicolored midsoles and cup soles.”

Air Force 1 Mid '07 'White'

By 1982, the first Nike Air Force 1 was available for purchase, arriving as a mid-top with an ankle strap and as a low-top a year later. Beyond being the first basketball shoe to feature Air cushioning, the Air Force 1 was notable for details like an outsole tread with a signature ring design, signifying an intended pivot-point for basketball players. The perforated toe box was another of the shoe’s most recognizable details as was the cup-sole design, a dramatic departure from vulcanized-rubber shoes like the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star.

Air Force 1 Low 'Fo' Fi' Fo''

The Air Force 1’s arrival was celebrated with a marketing campaign that featured six of the era’s most well-known NBA players: Michael Cooper, Bobby Jones, Calvin Natt, Mychal Thompsen, Jammal Wilkes and Moses Malone, each of whom wore player-exclusive colorways coinciding with their respective team colors. Malone famously wore his AF1s during his 1983 championship run with the Philadelphia 76ers.

An Abrupt Landing 
 
After only two years on the market, word began to circulate that Nike wanted to discontinue the shoe. A trio of retailers in Baltimore—Charley Rudo, Cinderella Shoes and Downtown Locker Room—caught wind of these murmurings and reached out to Nike, proposing a special range of colorways for their shops. As legend has it, all 3,000 re-stocked pairs sold out almost instantly.
This led to the “Color of the Month” initiative, a program whereby Nike distributed limited-edition AF1 colorways to sportswear shops in Baltimore and elsewhere on the East Coast. Local sneakerheads began traveling up and down I-95, hunting and collecting each new exclusive colorway, from New York to Philadelphia. Many rightfully consider this story to be the genesis of sneaker collecting, while the Air Force 1 is widely accepted as the first shoe to be discontinued and then reintroduced as a retro.

Air Force 1 '07 'White'

Hip-Hop Takes Notice 
 
By the late-’80s, the Air Force 1 was on its way to becoming a cultural tour de force. The silhouette moved from the courts to the streets, favored by drug dealers as the crack epidemic tore apart East Coast inner cities from 1984 to 1993. Dipset’s Jim Jones put it like this: “Air Force 1s was [sic] the first drug-dealer dream.”
In turn, the shoe quickly became a pillar of the era’s hip-hop dress code. The white-on-white colorway, in particular, became a hip-hop darling, gracing album covers, magazine editorials, music videos and live performances. The era of the crisp white Air Force 1 continued into the new millennium, reaching a new generation of hip-hop fans with the arrival of Nelly’s 2002 homage, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfzsMQGqrt0">“Air Force Ones,”</a> whose accompanying music video featured the shoe’s likeness so much that it was eventually banned from MTV after network executives became concerned with the video’s excessive product placement.

Roc-A-Fella x Air Force 1 'AF100' 2017

Nike understood the shoe’s cultural importance and began gifting ultra-special, record-label editions to proponents of the Air Force 1, issuing special colorways to Fat Joe, Young Jeezy and others, the most recognizable of which is the white-on-white Roc-a-Fella Air Force 1. Hip-hop titans like JAY-Z went one step further, espousing a “rock one, stock one” mentality, referring to the purchase of Air Force 1s in duplicate.
So in another 10 or 20 years, they won’t even know that JAY-Z wore them.

Mr. Cartoon x Air Force 1 Low '03 'Clown'

Collaborations Abound 
 
At the same time the Air Force 1 became the de facto sneaker of hip-hop royalty, Nike began pushing limited, hard-to-find Air Force 1s. Some of these arrived as Asia and Europe-exclusive releases, such as the 2001 'Linen' or the 2005 'Ueno,' both Japan exclusives. Special-edition Air Forces also came forth alongside American artists, including Stash and Mister Cartoon. Even the first HTM project—a three-way collaboration between Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tinker Hatfield and Mark Parker—was a luxe Air Force 1 makeup released in 2002.

Riccardo Tisci x Air Force 1 Mid SP 'White Brown'

In 2014, the silhouette was elevated once more when Nike tapped Riccardo Tisci, then perhaps the world’s most celebrated fashion designer, to create a pack of four Air Force 1s. At the time, Nike had never enlisted a fashion designer to create their own signature shoe. This new way of creative collaboration, plus the buzz around Tisci, a notable Air Force 1 fan himself, stands out in the history of Air Force 1s as a watershed moment, proving to Nike that collaborating with fashion designers directly could produce amazing, covetable results.

Off-White x Air Force 1 Low '07 'MCA'

From <a href="https://www.goat.com/brand/supreme">Supreme</a> and <a href="https://www.goat.com/brand/stussy">Stüssy</a> to Travis Scott and Virgil Abloh, industry and creative heavyweights have followed suit, presenting their own take on the ’80s icon. Some of the decade’s most refreshing takes have come from even smaller figures, such as <a href="https://www.goat.com/brand/cactus-plant-flea-market">Cactus Plant Flea Market</a>, A-COLD-WALL* and ACRONYM.

Travis Scott x Air Force 1 Low 'Cactus Jack'

What it all points to is a shoe whose cultural relevance is not waning or fading. Instead, it’s evolving. As New York City sneaker connoisseur Bobbito Garcia noted to The New York Times in 2007: “There are new generations coming into it that have no idea that it was a basketball shoe when it came out. No idea. So in another 10 or 20 years, they won’t even know that Jay Z wore them. They won’t have any idea. They’ll just keep wearing them because it’s a cool shoe.”

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