The Past, Present and Future of the Nike Blazer

Nike’s very first product catalog in the early ’70s described the Blazer as follows: “BLAZER - Nike’s traditional bulb toe shoe, the BLAZER is built for action and durability. Highest quality grain leather uppers in combination with full polyfoam tongue, padded ankle collar and sponge arch support for the tops in comfort. Soft, moisture absorbing terry cloth innersole; popular shell outer sole.” The name of the shoe, meanwhile, was inspired by the Portland Trail Blazers, Nike’s hometown Oregon squad.

Initial versions of the Blazer produced between 1972 and 1974 were made in Japan and Taiwan. A suggestion of the ways Nike chased competitor adidas, very early prototypes of the Blazer even sported a Superstar-esque shell toe. Beyond borrowing design elements from the Three Stripes, Nike followed the lead of Converse and adidas, producing the Blazer in both high-top and low-top cuts, letting athletes choose their preferred style. But what truly set the Nike Blazer apart from the competition was its spectrum of colorways, arriving in a handful of iterations so teams across the NBA could match their sneakers with their jerseys. 

In addition to the height and range of colors produced by Nike, one other way the brand stood out from the rest was the unabashed size and placement of the silhouette’s Swoosh logo. The idea was simple: to make the Blazer’s oversized branding easier to spot from the stands or on TV than its competitors. Indeed, when looking back at the era’s NBA footage, the Swoosh is impossible to miss.

The Blazer Comes of Age

The legacy of the Blazer is closely tied with George “The Iceman” Gervin, considered one of the greatest players in NBA history. Although the Blazer had already been around for several years, the 6’7” San Antonio Spur became synonymous with the silhouette beginning in 1977 when Gervin became the first NBA player to endorse the shoe. 

Asked about the switch from the Three Stripes to the Swoosh, Gervin answered candidly: “Nike was very innovative. Nike was thinking out of the box back in the ’70s. When I first joined the NBA I used to wear adidas, and then Nike came on board and Nike approached me and wanted to give me much more money and they had a better quality shoe, I thought. So, I went with Nike through the rest of my career.”

Nike’s marketing prowess continued to make its presence known, gifting select players their own custom sneakers, including Gervin’s Blazer high-tops, which featured “ICEMAN” inscribed on the heel, and the Trail Blazers’ Larry Steele, who wore red low-top Bruins adorned with “STEELE” letters

After Ball, On the Board

By the early ’90s, it was clear the Blazer’s time in the basketball spotlight was over. The advent and commercialization of Nike Air, alongside the popularity of shoes like the Air Force 1 and Air Jordan line, meant the Blazer was quickly becoming ancient history. Left in the dust and destined to become a footnote in the annals of basketball sneaker history, the Blazer was rediscovered by another group altogether: skateboarders.

The Nike Blazer had a few key details that made it perfect for skating. The shoe’s traction grid made it grippy, and the mudguard helped the toe box hold its own against the rigors of grip tape. In 2002, the Nike SB Dunk was released, fronted by Paul Rodriguez, and, in 2005, Nike tapped The Search for Animal Chin and Bones Brigade OG Lance Mountain to redesign the Blazer, officially turning the silhouette into the skate shoe it was always destined to become.

Speaking with Nike, Mountain recalls the relationship between the Blazer and skating, revealing the community’s fascination with the silhouette stretched back decades: “In ’78, the Blazer started showing up a lot. A lot of top pro guys at that time were wearing the Blazer.” In the same way George Gervin became synonymous with the Blazer on the hardwood, Lance Mountain became the face of the Blazer in the world of skateboarding.

From Street Skating to the Streets

Its place firmly established in skate culture, the Blazer’s path toward becoming an icon in its own right was realized in the early 2000s when renowned graffiti artist Futura 2000 lent his signature abstract touch to the shoe. Reportedly produced in a run of 1,000 pairs, Futura’s Nike Blazer was part of an early artist-edition project organized by Nike, which also included designs from Halle Berry and Stash.

2006’s Supreme x Nike Blazer marked another turning point for the shoe. Created for NBA players and adopted by skaters, Supreme introduced the silhouette to a savvy street style crowd, reworking the Blazer with a snakeskin Swoosh, a quilted upper, and a Gucci-esque red and green pull-tab on the heel.

Later noteworthy collaborations include Slam Jam’s 2018 iteration, featuring “CLASS 1977” on the heel (in the very same place as Gervin’s “ICEMAN” customs), and a reverse Swoosh on the medial side, a detail Travis Scott would replicate on his go at the Air Jordan 1. Perennially popular in the East, fragment design’s Hiroshi Fujiwara reworked the low-top Blazer a handful of times, while Chitose Abe’s sacai doubled down on the classic silhouette, producing a series of Blazers with dual Swooshes and dual laces.

Virgil Abloh’s Off-White took a turn at the Blazer, too, serving up four different colorways, including one special version for tennis superstar Serena Williams. Stüssy—the first clothing company Nike ever collaborated with back in 2001—linked up with Lance Mountain and Nike in 2018 to create one high-top and one low-top blazer, including 48 super-special pairs which were hand-painted by Mountain himself.

Reflecting on the silhouette’s storied past, today Nike offers a comprehensive Blazer program, including the faithful Blazer ’77. And while it may no longer represent the pinnacle of sporting innovation, the Blazer has earned its place in the chronicles of sportswear—and streetwear—history. Decades into its existence, the future of the Blazer looks bright.

Nike Blazer FAQs

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