Walk with Force
The cultural impact of the Nike Air Force 1.
Written by Craig Berry
Designer & Writer
After a while, certain shoes become somewhat separated from their brand and gain a life and identity of their own. Superstars, Chucks, Old Skools and Dunks; you don’t need to know the brand to know these iconic shoes.
Of course, this kind of recognition doesn’t just happen overnight; it takes years, if not decades, for a shoe to be held in such high regard. But it doesn’t just take time. Shoes like these aforementioned have had a significant cultural impact and are known across society for numerous reasons which may not be linked to one another and are down to the consumer’s interests.
For example, someone who likes Adidas Superstars might appreciate the shoe for its role in skateboarding as a long-lasting, durable shoe. Other people might know it from the vast collaboration with Pharrell where the shoe was re-imagined in 50 unique colour-ways. Someone else might know it from Run D.M.C., the 1980s Hip-Hop group who always performed in Superstars and were the first non-sports stars to be given a shoe contract.
Shoes like these traverse multiple facets of society and, in my mind, none more so than the Air Force 1. First released in 1982 (under a different name albeit) by Nike, the shoe (aka AF1s or Air Forces) has hardly changed in design since and has been seen across all walks of society and culture. Still today, new variations and design evolutions are happening while staying faithful to the original silhouette.
As a disclaimer, I know that this is a well-trodden (pun not intended) topic, and I’m not the first person to cover the Nike AF1; you can’t have such an iconic shoe and not expect people to have written about it in detail by now. But, I wanted to give my perspective on it as a genuine wearer of the AF1 and my opinion and thoughts as a designer.
It’s also not a new topic for me necessarily as in early 2020, I wrote a blog post about five design classics; one of which being the AF1, although it was only a small piece of writing and I wanted to take this opportunity to dig deeper and explore further.
The Nike Air Force 1 was originally released in 1982 and designed by—(at the time) Director of Research and Development at Nike—Bruce Kilgore. The design for the AF1 was inspired by hiking-boot cues with ankle support (initially the design was a high-top style) and a thick sole containing Nike Air cushioning support. The intended consumers being basketball players which was a new thing for Nike, a company founded on and for runners. This hiking-boot design allowed for support with flexibility, an ankle strap for increased ankle support and the outsole featured a unique concentric circular pattern, inspired by how the players move and pivot in the paint; these features made the AF1 a true basketball, hooper shoe.
As such, when the AF1 went into production it was launched with an ad featuring six NBA star players: Moses Malone, Michael Cooper, Bobby Jones, Calvin Natt, Mychal Thompson and Jamal Wilkes. The six players lining up in crispy, all-white, futuristic-looking tracksuits, AF1s on foot standing on a runway in front of a jet (surely a reference now to the Presidential Air Force One) and with equally as futuristic, classically 1980s chrome-effect typography. This ad was also recreated in 2007 for the 25th anniversary of the AF1 where 10 NBA players, including Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Steve Nash and Chris Paul, lined up in a similar style repping the white AF1s.
In my opinion, it’s the fact that it was designed for the court (hardwood and concrete) that underpins the success of the AF1. It’s no secret that for a long time basketball and popular culture—especially Hip-Hop—have been intertwined; both are related through a gritty determination to succeed. Basketball got the shoes noticed but Hip-Hop made them cool; released at a time when the genre (and lifestyle) was growing up quickly in inner-city New York; AF1s became popular in Harlem, giving them the popular nickname of Uptowns.
I’ve always seen Hip-Hop music as the origin of modern fashion; at least in streetwear but definitely crossing over into the mainstream. At its heart are creativity and expression by taking something, flipping it and making it your own, be it A Tribe Called Quest sampling Ronnie Foster or street-kids wearing NBA AF1s. In 2019 The Kunsthal in Rotterdam had an exhibition called Street Dreams which explored “how Hip-Hop took over and transformed fashion, covered by myself in a blog post.
The AF1s were originally released in the previously shown minimal white/grey colourway but later in 1983 the low-top version (the design and style that the AF1 is predominantly known for now) as well as in multiple colourways thanks to three store owners in Baltimore (Downtown Locker Room, Cinderella Shoes, and Charley Rudo Sports aka the Three Amigos), who pushed Nike to produce exclusive colourways and designs for them.
Nike was also doing this on the court as it provided special red and white colourways for Moses Malone to match his Philadelphia 76ers uniform (also actually a regulation at the time for a player’s shoes to be 51% white or black, plus a minimal team colour accent; a rule famously broken by Michael Jordan with his Air Jordans numerous times).
Their passion for the AF1 arguably kicked off the concept of limited, special-edition shoes as unique colourways came and sold out instantly with people travelling up and down the East coast of the US to get their pairs especially after they pitched and succeeded with their idea of the Color of the Month AF1. This demand for special edition AF1s foreshadowed the, now huge, sneakerhead culture that exists today.
Fast forward into the 21st century and following Nike’s consistent releasing of special AF1s for any and every event or holiday the AF1 continued to propel beyond sport and into culture through Hip-Hop rappers, producers and artists, becoming a firm favourite for the likes of Jay-Z and Rakim whether through their lyrics or their fits in music videos (often both). Thanks to their basketball regulation friendly colourways and special edition designs; there was an AF1 colourway for every fit but the white-on-white model was the crème de la crème.
“Specially when you’re sittin on 20s they get nauseous, standin’ in the Azure with the white Air Forces.”
Jay-Z – Parking Lot Pimpin’ | The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000)
“For all my ****** with all white air force ones and black guns, stack ones yo, can I live.”
Jay-Z – Can I Live II | Reasonable Doubt (1996)
“You heard, L-O-X came through in a yellow Lex, and hop out with the Air Force One’s with yellow checks.”
Jadakiss (The LOX) – F*** You | We Are the Streets (2000)
“I’m in the buggy mon’, with the Rugby on, Air Force Ones, looking like Lucky Charms.”
Cam’ron (The Diplomats) – What’s Really Good | Diplomatic Immunity (2003)
“I went from old school Chevys to drop top Porsches, you couldn’t walk a mile off in my air forces.”
Young Jeezy – Air Forces | Trap or Die (2003)
Classic 2000s Hip-Hop artist Nelly didn’t only include AF1s in his lines but made an entire song dedicated to them, appropriately titled Air Force Ones, in which he and his St. Lunatics crew explain the only problem with the AF1 is that “they only good for one night cause once you scuff ’em you fuck up your whole night”, this phrase most likely spawning the culture of always having box-fresh, crispy clean AF1s at all times.
Like other specific products and brands; consumers took the AF1 and reappropriated it; giving it this new cultural, Hip-Hop derived image. Eventually, though, Nike embraced and accepted this image and began offering limited-edition collaborations with Hip-Hop artists and record labels such as an all-white, logo emblazoned Roc-A-Fella Records/Jay-Z version and a largely pink model for Fat Joe/Terror Squad both in 2004. This hasn’t stopped though, most recently Travis Scott has had two collaborative AF1 models released; one quite traditional, the other very much not but both embracing the brand and the culture it ensues.
In recent years Nike has also given the AF1 model to several high-fashion brands to work with and create their own iterations of. Interestingly, each time; not taking it too far from the original; to me I see this as a sign of respect for the AF1, but it’s also hard to avoid the look and feel of the AF1 no matter how many parts are changed; it’s the perfect blank canvas.
Virgil Abloh of Off-White created a version (since translated into various colourways) as part of his ‘The Ten’ series which involved de-constructing and re-constructing the shoe only to reveal the design process and intricacies of it and his signature Helvetica font in quotation makrs. Samuel Ross of A-COLD-WALL* created his minimalist, dystopian, monochromatic version with stitch-less construction and a unique lacing system. Errolson Hugh and ACRONYM’s ‘Lunar Force 1’ features a very distinctive zip right down the side of the shoe. And Comme des Garçons (for some reason) decided to create their version with artist Scott Hove, by attaching brightly coloured 3D printed dinosaurs on the toe (why?).
Regardless, each of these collaborations with brands, and many more, have reimagined the AF1 and brought it to new audiences; only strengthening the image of the shoe.
The AF1 traversed from the court to the streets, to the stage and to the runway; along the way being adopted and adapted by anyone and everyone, transcending generations and socio-economic backgrounds. For me, the AF1 stands out as my go-to shoe. I’m in no way a collector, only having started to wear them in the last few years or so but the love hasn’t dwindled over time, I’m always looking out for the latest release to either compliment or replace pairs in my small collection.
My interest stems both from looking to the past and seeing how previous generations wore them, as much of my fashion is inspired in some way by 1990s Hip-Hop, but also on a design basis; it’s such a simple and uncomplicated design but with distinctive features; the concenctric circular outsole, the almost 1 inch thick sole, the raised star pattern on the toe and heel, the air hole pattern on the toe, the metal dubrae on the laces and the big NIKE AIR heel tab. Basically, it feels good when you “walk with force, air of course”*.
*Lyric from Pinty – On Tik | Earth Scum (2021)
Read more blog posts on craig-berry.co.uk or my Medium page.
