Fourteen of Nike’s top female designers have teamed up to re-create two of the brand’s most pivotal sneakers: the Air Force 1 and Air Jordan 1.
Known as “The 1 Reimagined,” this project tapped a group of the brand’s employees ranging from categories such as colorists and material specialists to men’s- and women’s-specific designers to deliver five unique visions of the iconic sneaker silhouettes.
The group, chosen by Andy Caine, footwear director at Nike, was led by Nike senior footwear creative director Georgina James and included color and material designers Marie Crow, Magnhild Disington, Jacqueline Schoeffel and Chiyo Takahashi, along with footwear designers Shamees Aden, Reba Brammer, Melusine Dieudonne, Jin Hong, Angela Martin, Kara Nykreim, Marie Odinot, Louisa Page and Jesi Small.
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According to Nike, their challenge was simple: “make some cool s**t” — and that they did. The group settled on five themes (explorer, jester, lover, rebel and sage), and the designers were then split into teams. Dieudonne, Disington, Martin, Nykreim, Odinot, Page and Schoeffel focused on the Air Force 1, while Aden, Brammer, Crow, Hong, Small and Takahashi worked on the Air Jordan 1.
“The biggest challenge actually was trying to get the 10 shoes to have their own personality but still connect,” James said.
The brainstorming process was carried out over a week at Nike’s Beaverton, Ore., headquarters, and the design process happened over the course of another four days in London. The result included several firsts for the Air Force 1, including the sneaker’s tallest midsole stack height at 12 millimeters on the “Lover” and “Sage” styles, the first Air Force 1 mule construction on the “Lover” look, and the first back-to-front construction with the “Rebel” Air Force 1’s corset-style lacing.
All 10 looks pictured here will launch Feb. 7 from nike.com and the Nike SNKRS app with prices ranging from $120 to $160.
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