Sneaker Freaker Celebrate the Iconic Nike Air Max Plus with New Book: STAY TUNED
Written, produced and designed by , STAY TUNED is a rollicking 300-page romp through the unique history of the , also known as the TN. Interviews with designer Sean McDowell add historical heft, while collector features and artist profiles from TN-obsessed creatives illustrate the model’s cultural clout.
Originally released in 1998, the Plus has never been out of production and has always been available in accessible quantities at – a rarity in an era where ‘limited edition’ is often engineered to create sneakerhead FOMO. Foot Locker have also carefully nurtured the female audience, with some of the greatest colourways of all time produced as women’s exclusives. Beloved by graffiti writers and street urchins, the TN was once regarded as the bad boy of the Air Max fam, but has recently matured into a model citizen embraced by a new generation who appreciate the iconic footwear design.
The TN has also found space for hyper-local narratives. The French scene has long been a stronghold for ‘La Requin’, and in the UK, the vibrant ‘Brixton’ TN acknowledges the franchise’s South London and Jamaican connections. Down Under, the locally designed ‘Lava’, ‘Hyper Jade’, ‘Casper’, ‘Kombat’ and ‘Pink Sunset’ editions are just a few of the all-day bangers on the Aussie SMU highlights reel. The TN’s kinship with its Western Sydney fanbase is another local legend, with sales in this region alone setting records at Foot Locker.
No doubt about it, the Air Max Plus has come of age. The shoe’s enduring success is so unlikely, so brilliantly bonkers, so remarkably rich in sub-cultural clout and happenstance, you’d need an entire book to tell the tale properly. The Air Max Plus is 25 years young. Long live the TN!
STAY TUNED is will be available from Foot Locker, with three different covers celebrating iconic TN releases. The covers will be region-exclusive, with the ‘Tide’ cover gracing Australia and New Zealand, the ‘25th Anniversary’ hitting Europe and the UK, and the ‘Triple Black’ running wild across the US and Asia. Release details will be shared soon.