Some shoes are mostly familiar from photos, or from that one pair you once spotted at a sneaker convention. The Nike Air Bakin’ falls into that category. Now it’s returning in the exact colors it debuted in back in 1997: red, black and those bright yellow laces.
I’m quietly pretty happy about it. The Bakin’ has never been a model that comes back every season. There was a retro in 2007, another in 2014, a Supreme collaboration in 2023, and that’s about it. This OG colorway, stylecode IQ5365-600, was last seen in 2014.
What you can see in the photos
A red, ribbed upper with openings between the ribs, revealing black mesh underneath. Those ribs continue in waves deep into the heel, giving the shoe that unmistakable ’90s sense of movement. Underneath, there’s a thick black mudguard and a black midsole with a white Swoosh on the side and a visible Air window in the heel. Nike says it features Max Air in the heel, plus additional Air in the forefoot. The laces are yellow-orange, Varsity Maize, and they’re exactly the detail that lifts the entire shoe.
It’s a tall, chunky, wide model with a substantial cutout around the ankle. Not a shoe that disappears under your trouser leg.
The story behind the heel
You can’t discuss the Bakin’ without talking about the logo on the heel. The 1997 original featured an ornate, flame-like Air script. That lettering resembled the Arabic word for Allah, and after objections from the Muslim community, Nike pulled the shoe from the market. Every retro since has simply featured the Nike Air logo. That’s also why original pairs remain so sought-after to this day: there just aren’t many of them in circulation.
The shoe itself was designed by Eric Avar and made famous on the hardwood by Tim Hardaway during his Miami years. That’s the kind of provenance that still influences its secondhand-market price decades later.
September 5, not September 28
You need to pay attention here, because two dates are circulating. US release sites list the Bakin’ for September 28. That’s not correct for us. The Dutch SNKRS page lists it for Saturday, September 5, at 7:00 AM, priced at € 159.99, under the name Air Bakin High SP “Black and Varsity Red”. The German release calendar gives the same date and time. Europe is therefore getting it more than three weeks before the US, which doesn’t happen often.
As far as we know, it’s not a raffle but a regular SNKRS drop, supplemented by a selection of Nike’s NBHD retailers. That word “selection” is the catch, though: this won’t be a shoe you’ll see sitting everywhere for months.
What I would do
Stay calm. The Bakin’ is returning more broadly this year than just in this colorway, with more colorways scheduled before the end of the year. Missing out on this red pair doesn’t mean you’re done with the model, and if you only want it because everyone else does, you’re better off waiting until the initial frenzy dies down.
I’ll keep quiet about the fit until I’ve had it on my own feet. What I will say is this: with a model like this—tall and finished in such a bold color—the sizes at the edges of the range tend to stick around the longest. If you’re in one of those sizes, you usually have more time than everyone else.
As soon as the first stock arrives, you can compare all the colors of the Nike Air Bakin side by side on our site and compare retailers by size, just like with the rest of Nike.
Grail or bail? I know what I think, but I’m even more curious about your opinion. A shoe that barely returned for 29 years, in the colorway it all started with: will that get you out of bed at 7:00 AM on September 5, or are you passing? Vote below and show us where this one ranks.