World’s most popular sneakers? How Nike Air Force 1s went from the NBA to rappers’ cult kicks to being a fashion icon favourite as they turn 40
Life begins at 40, they say, and if that is true for the Nike Air Force 1 (AF1) then the shoe is set to dominate even more than it has done over the past four decades.
Since its initial release in 1982, the Air Force 1 has become one of the most recognised shoe designs on the planet, a favourite with everyone from fashion lovers to felons and a bestseller for Nike year after year – it was the top-selling athletic footwear in dollars among all brands in the US in 2020, according to market research company The NPD Group.
There have been reports of Nike limiting customer purchases of the shoes, which have long been the staple of flippers – people who buy shoes to resell later.
Whether it’s the all-white or all-black versions, or the numerous varieties spawned via high-profile collaborations between Nike and designers or other companies, the shoe has been a canvas – there have been more than 2,000 versions released.
The late Virgil Abloh was a huge fan and a long-time collaborator, announcing 21 Louis Vuitton x AF1 collaborations in summer 2021.
“A cultural symbol in its own right, today the Nike Air Force 1 serves as an objet d’art emblematic of self-generated subcultural provenance,” the Louis Vuitton spring/summer 2022 show notes said (Abloh served as Louis Vuitton’s men’s artistic director until his death in November 2021).
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The auction by Sotheby’s in February of 200 pairs of Abloh’s AF1s raised US$25.3 million, with the proceeds going to the Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund.
So how did the AF1 become possibly the biggest shoe on the planet?
First steps
The shoe came out as a high-top in 1982 and it would be a year before the low tops made their debut.
By that point the shoe was a staple of the National Basketball Association in the United States and Nike’s “Air Force 1” promo campaign featured six stars of the day: Michael Cooper, Moses Malone, Calvin Natt, Jamaal Wilkes, Bobby Jones and Mychal Thompson.
Soled out
Despite its success, Nike discontinued the shoe in 1984. A handful of stores in the American city of Baltimore stopped it disappearing from sale entirely. They canvassed Nike to supply them with shoes, and a “Colour of the Month Club” saw the shoe build a cult street following up and down the US east coast. By 1986 the AF1 was back on general release.
Nike designer Bruce Kilgore did not even know the shoe was still around. “I was in Taiwan in 1987 and had gone to see a factory, and they were telling me about the Air Force 1,” he said in an interview with Nike.com to mark the shoe’s 35th anniversary.
“I said, ‘I didn’t realise we were still making it.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, man, we’re always making the Air Force 1.’ I was completely clueless.”
Cult kicks
By its 25th anniversary in 2007, the AF1’s cult status was ensured, thanks in large part to US rappers. Nelly and his St Lunatics may have released the track Air Force Ones, but he was not the first or last to rap about the iconic design; Jay-Z, Shyne, The Lox, G-Unit and The Diplomats have also waxed lyrical about AF1s.
Shoes associated with Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records and Fat Joe’s Terror Squad are among the rap-related limited edition AF1s released, and rappers have done plenty for AF1 sales thanks to the “one and done” philosophy of ditching the shoes before they get creased, as T.I. recently showed on Instagram. The AF1 was also a shoe associated with the UK grime scene’s early days.
Rapper A$AP Rocky claimed in a speech to the Oxford Union debating society at the University of Oxford in the UK that he made AF1 Mids cool in 2015.
“Coming out with the Air Force 1 thing, man, I lie to you not,” Rocky said. “You can ask my manager, it was all premeditated. I said, listen, I’m gonna wear these wack sneakers. It was 2011. I said I’ma wear these wack sneakers just to test the scene.”
Blank canvas
Drake was gifted a pair of customised AF1s by British artist Damien Hirst, who had designed the rapper’s Certified Lover Boy album cover, although Hirst was not the first to use the US$90 shoe as a canvas.
The Air Force 1 has also seen life imitating art, if you can call the HBO show Entourage art. An AF1 design based on a shoe that was created for a storyline in the show in which Turtle spends all day tracking down said rare kicks was sold for US$113,400 at auction in 2021. AF1s are regular auction favourites.
On the court
The Air Force 1 might have started as a shoe for playing basketball but it has lost that use over the years; Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse are among the few players to wear it in the NBA. Still, in 2007, Nike recreated its original promo campaign for the shoe’s 25th anniversary with Steve Nash, Wallace, Paul Price, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul.
In the courts
The shoe is more likely to be seen in the courts – Nike has shown itself to be rather litigious over the design. It took designer John Geiger to court over his GF-01 shoe, just as it did Lotas, Drip Creationz and I Never Heard of You over their customised AF1s. Interestingly, Nike has never sued Bape over its Nigo-designed Bapesta shoes, which owe more than a passing nod to the Air Force 1.
Nike has had its own controversies with recent AF1s, from spelling its name wrong in Greek to being sued by the US Postal Service for copyright infringement.
Solid footing
The AF1 has seen plenty of innovation over the years, from cuts (low, mid- and high-tops) to Nike tech (Foamposite, Hyperfuse, Liquid Metal and Flyknit) to luxury versions that came in anaconda or crocodile leather with a US$2,000 price tag, and a vegan version. The biggest innovation of all was simple: releasing women’s sizes back in 2001.
Fashion favourites
The shoes are often seen on the biggest style icons, including Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Jenner, Bella Hadid, Ciara and Hailey Bieber. Addison Rae, a star on the TikTok short-video platform, also sports them on videos posted to her 80 million followers.
The shoe is among the most Instagrammed and the most wishlisted, too, with resellers making plenty from demand for the often sold-out shoes.
