Unboxing The Air Max Zero
When the clock strikes midnight tonight, Air Max Day 2015 will officially be upon us. If you have been living under a rock, we have been counting down the days, raiding through the stocks, turning every box upside down and unearthing some of the greatest bubbled-burners the Air Max family had to offer. But for what you may ask? – for the arrival of this. The one before the 1, the last piece to the Air Max puzzle! This is the Air Max Zero… but we will let Tinker tell you more about it!
TINKER: There was no brief or research, just a single revelation. I thought why couldn’t we design an exciting new running shoe that reveals to the world what Nike Air really is.
TINKER: I remember thinking about how we were building these bigger and bigger Air-Sole units, and thinking that people needed to see them and understand them. They needed to be exposed to this new technology, and not only just to the technology, but also to an entire package that presents it the right way— one that could be worn on a run.
TINKER: “… It wasn’t just about the Air-Sole unit. It was about the entire design. We were creating a different kind of shoe that just feels different, feels better and has a unique visual character. When you put it all together, that’s when people get excited and you may have a better shot at changing the landscape.”
TINKER: “…In many ways, it was a shoe ahead of its time—not just in regards to its appearance, but also in terms of the construction it required.”
TINKER: “Very practically, the technology and materials available to us at the time wasn’t advanced enough to execute the original vision.”
TINKER: “…Maybe we could also take our technology and expose it and create a shoe that’s like no other!”
TINKER: “…I spent some time sketching the upper, which was meant to be a good-fitting upper with a traditional saddle. This is the centerpiece that rises up in the midfoot and has the Swoosh on it.
TINKER: “The saddle is a way to make a good-fitting shoe, because you can take that one piece and form it to the shape of a foot. So the shoe employed what you would call best practices today.”
Air Max Zero. The one before the 1.