Nike‘s top executives are lifting the veil on the brand’s HTM designs, a collaborative effort between Nike president and CEO Mark Parker, vice president of creative concepts Tinker Hatfield and fragment design founder Hiroshi Fujiwara. Fragment has worked on designs with Nike over the years.
The HTM collaboration, named for the first letters of Parker, Hatfield and Fujiwara’s names, debuted in 2002 and has introduced and highlighted Nike’s latest technologies, such as Flyknit. Now each has created an Air Max model that communicates its contributions to the HTM line.
Parker’s Air Max Ultra M takes cues from 1980s and ’90s, particularly Nike’s V-Series running shoes, which Parker helped design, and the Air Max BW.
“If you look at the V-Series, it’s a classic shoe of that design era,” said Parker. “You have the tip, eye stay, counter, back tab, vamp, Swoosh, midsole and outsole. Everything revolved around that formula. So there are a few hints of that in this Air Max. It’s an ode to the classic cut and sew design language of the 1980s, executed in a modern way.”
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Hatfield’s Air Max 90 Ultra Superfly T is a marriage of the classic Air Max 90 and the Mercurial Superfly cleat.
“I’ve always liked wearing the Mercurial Superfly,” said Hatfield. “I like how the collar feels. By adding that collar to the Air Max 90, we are changing its performance, which has always been an interest of mine as a designer.”
Hatfield also explained that he wanted to use simple colors, a departure for the designer.
“I’ve been much more interested in secondary colors, or weird blends, throughout my career,” he said. “But with this shoe, I went right back to the well with primary colors.”
Finally, we get a look at Fujiwara’s Air Max LD-Zero H, which like Parker’s design also draws from the archives. Fujiwara said he wanted to create a design that appeals to those who love Nike’s classic styles.
Fujiwara said that while he was digging in the Nike archives, he came across the Nike Boston, which was a predecessor to the LD-1000. He decided to combine the Boston upper with an Air Max 2014 platform.
“I love searching through the Nike archives,” he said. “I thought it would be really interesting to combine that silhouette with the latest technologies available today.”
The Air Max LD-Zero H became available Saturday, the Air Max 90 Superfly T is available today and the Air Max Ultra M on Thursday. All can be found on Nike.com and will be available in select retailers on Air Max Day (March 26).
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