The little-known legend of Nike AIR MAX and the unique new member of the Air Max family have opened a new era-and "successors" emerge one after another. Air Max Plus shoes have been sold in some parts of the world for nearly 20 years, without any signs of "decline", and hundreds of rich colors and structures have been bred—leather, innovative Ultra soles, and even lazy shoes without shoelaces. It can be said that its own reputation and prestige are comparable to unofficial "brand remodeling", because in some areas, it has a more widely known nickname: "Tn", which stands for tuned. Although it is world-famous and popular, the real origin of this legendary sneaker is rarely explored. Designed by Sean McDowell, an industry veteran, this shoe has produced incredible aesthetic influence and applied three manufacturing processes that have never been used before. Next, mcdowell will share the story behind his creation of this classic running shoe.
Air Max Plus sets an aesthetic benchmark. In fact, mcdowell began to conceive Air Max Plus before he joined Nike, although it started unconsciously. "I walked on the beach in Florida, thinking and sketching casually-that was one of my most creative and imaginative times," he recalled a vacation with friends. "One night, near dusk, the blue sky began to fade into dark blue, and palm trees swayed in the wind." The unique local beauty ignited the spark of his imagination. "I sketched out my idea, and I thought,' You can make a backboard, just like you can hold your feet with palm trees,'" he said. In this way, he wrote down the idea for later practice. 1997, mcdowell immediately started the challenge of creating new running shoes (thus completing the initial foot lock project). These shoes adopted a brand-new Max Air innovation: two opposite hemispheres played a buffering role-its main name was Sky Air, and more than 15 shoe samples were shown to retailers-but none of them were approved.
Mcdowell's first draft. "As soon as I heard the word' sky', I fell in love with it,' Oh, my God, I have seen such a wonderful sky in Florida'," mcdowell said-so he started designing again. "I created the color of the sunset, I created the blue, I created the purple. I tried many different colors and sky styles. Some palm trees are slightly exaggerated, especially geometric, while others are wavy. " Another Air Max Plus shoe was inspired by whales. Mcdowell said: "The calf circumference is designed according to the improvement of whale tail." "The image of the fish tail sticking out of the water is too classic." Mcdowell lacks experience in the company, but designing a unique "Swoosh" logo on Air Max Plus is just a "golden key" for him. He has never painted the Swoosh logo before. He has no template. "No one gave me any guidance because I just arrived in the company for a few days," he said. "This shape is a bit unusual. I put the Swoosh logo inside, and all the technical principles given in the brand guide at that time said' go outside'. " What the wearer sees is also important: "I want to highlight the top-down perspective a little bit," mcdowell said. "Palm trees are good from the middle and horizontal point of view, but from the top, there is a straight line connecting palm trees, which makes people feel a little weird, so I thought,' How can I make it more interesting?' "The huge impact of Air Max Plus on fashion makes it easy to forget that it was originally designed for running. Mcdowell's goal is to integrate as many functions as possible, including the curved grooves that run through the forefoot and Nike's excellent design on the outsole. "Now it has become a fashionable shoe," he said, "but it is nearly 340 grams lighter. For shoes made of PU, this is already very light-especially that year. " As a veteran athlete, Sean knows where to challenge tradition and create new functions. "I grew up as a runner and learned how to make cars see you in traffic, so I thought,' It's strange that almost all shoes only have reflective designs on the back, but in fact, the front of shoes also needs reflective designs,'" he said puzzled. So I extend the reflective strip to the front foot, all the way to the upper and tongue. "His attention to detail is also reflected in the unique outsole design." I dropped all the different hemispheres from the rubber, because you really can't see them on the middle side, so you don't know if any new technology has really been applied, "he explained. He attracts the wearer's eyes more to the tuned air through color. He also added palm stripes and Tn signs to the tailgate. "These lines all point to airbags, which is a cool design," he said.
Air Max Plus Today, Air Max Plus is synonymous with Tn Air logo, but this hexagonal logo still surprised mcdowell at that time. After being immersed in art design for a week, I suddenly felt as if everything would be perfectly integrated. "I don't know where I will put it, but they told me that it is really a big deal and I have to make it stand out." The rest between work plays an important role in the designer's decision to give up the traditional color matching. In the design of three shoes headed by Air Max Plus, he told a story of "from night to day" in visual form. "We didn't have a color expert at that time, so the first three pairs of shoes were really great," he said. "The first shoe is black; The second one is almost all black and reddish (they use Jordan XIII's reflective grid), symbolizing the stars in the night sky; There is also a bright orange, showing the image of sunrise. "
Playing the magic wheel proves that the Air Max Plus series is "the first" frequently, and the first one is the amazing gradual process. Mcdowell's designs are very imaginative, but he remembers being optimistic about whether these designs can be transformed into real products. "I drew a gradient, and everyone's reaction was the same,' You can never do it, you can't find that material at all'. But I said,' We can extract it', "he recalled. They have never done this before. Recalling the process that Nike Flame (the sister of classic Omega Flame shoes popular in the early 1980s) worn as a child gradually changed color, the designer thought that this process was possible. Mcdowell said: "They have achieved this goal in the field of clothing, so I think it is very easy to achieve this goal." . They start with the lightest blue and then print a slightly darker blue on it. "The first pair of sample shoes is perfect," he said. As mcdowell painted, the structure of the upper also challenges the tradition, especially the unprecedented application of welding technology. "Fortunately, we made small signs before, so I suggested that the whole shoe be welded with thin TPU," he recalled. But at that time, there were only two weeks left before his meeting with Foot Locker, and there were still many questions about whether he could make it. "I was told,' Fly to Asia, make samples first, and hope the meeting will go smoothly,'" he said. Mcdowell made a long flight to the factory base, but he got bad news. "They said it was too big to weld," he said. "It takes a lot of power to melt the material, otherwise welding cannot be achieved." Mcdowell didn't give up, but suggested making three independent welding bodies first. They gave it a try and it soon worked. "This is a great victory," he said.
Leading the best-selling trend Although the production problem has been solved, whether there is a good sales volume can not be separated from the support of retailers. After mcdowell attended the meeting with mark parker, president and CEO of Nike, a Foot Locker executive put forward an unconventional market research suggestion: put the shoes on the store shelves at the school exit and see what happens. "Five minutes or 10 minutes later, about 10 children flocked to the shoes and asked,' What is this? "How can I get it?" mcdowell recalled that his colleague looked around and said, "I haven't seen it. I wonder how much it costs. I don't know where it came from. At the same time, the children are running around,' I want to buy this.' They seem crazy, and I am ecstatic. "
As a result of Nike Air Max Plus, this shoe is almost popular all over the world once it is released. Although mcdowell predicted this a long time ago, he always remembered one phenomenon, that is, people were crazy about this kind of shoes. "I saw someone tattooing a tuned air pattern on his whole foot. There is an outsole pattern on the soles of the feet, "he said. "There are stripes and Swoosh signs on the side, black extending to the back, and Tn signs on the back. It's crazy. " In the 20 years since Nike Air Max Plus went public, the obsession described by mcdowell has gone through its peak and trough. In new york, these shoes are still very popular-from time to time, they will become mainstream bestsellers. In Paris and London, it is the main model. In Australia or New Zealand, such as Melbourne and Sydney, they always like the unique local color matching. Although the appearance presents a distinct sense of science and technology, for Tn fans, the significance of this shoe is pure and extreme, that is: classic.
Nike Air Max Plus brand-new Nike Air Max sneakers in Hyperblue (blue), Sunset (sunset) and Purple (purple) have been sold through Nike SNKRS APP (Nike designated retail store).