About

Nike Air Force 1

When Bruce Kilgore designed the Air Force 1 in 1982, he was the first to put Air cushioning in a basketball shoe. He borrowed the name from the American president’s plane, and that audacity proved justified: more than forty years later this is considered the best-selling sneaker Nike has ever made, although it has long since stopped appearing on the court.

It nearly didn’t exist at all. Nike pulled the model from stores in 1984, until three retailers from Baltimore kept insisting on new shipments. Their stubbornness produced a comeback in 1986, plus a formula the sneaker world still follows: small runs in ever-changing versions keep a classic alive.

You can recognize the silhouette blindfolded. A perforated toe, panels of sturdy pebble-grain leather with double stitching and the stamped AIR in the midsole at the heel as a signature. Under the ball of the foot is a circle in the tread, the pivot circle, meant to allow smooth turning on the court. Early basketball versions also had a velcro strap around the ankle, and the High is still built that way today.

Within the family you mainly choose a height and a character. The Nike Air Force 1 Low is by far the largest branch, the Nike Air Force 1 Mid has a strap halfway up the shaft and the Nike Air Force 1 Shadow doubles panels, swooshes and logos into a layered women’s variant. The Type takes the model apart, with cut-away edges and an N.354 script on the midsection, and the Sage lifts things onto a platform sole. The complete overview of the line is on the page of the Nike Air Force.

The model owes its second life to the street. In Harlem it was simply called Uptown, rappers preferred it box-fresh and Nelly even scored a hit with it in 2002. Anyone who buys a pair today isn’t buying a basketball shoe but a piece of urban history that happens to be comfortable.

On this page you can see which versions of the Nike Air Force 1 are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, from what price they’re available and in how many shops they’re in stock.