Every year, 26th March marks Air Max Day, a worldwide celebration of the iconic Nike Air Max.
On March 26, 1987, Nike released the original Air Max 1, a silhouette that’s regarded as one of the brand’s most iconic sneakers. Created by legendary sneaker designer Tinker Hatfield, the Air Max 1 was the first shoe the Swoosh released that showcased the brand’s Air technology with a visible window into the sole.
Nike has since celebrated Air Max Day, with special releases, unique events, as well as using that day to debut new Air Max models – like the Air Max 1 atmos, Sean Wotherspoon Air Max 1/97 amongst others.
To continue the global celebration of #AirMax Day2021, we linked up with a few sneaker enthusiasts, and collectors to talk about all things AIR: what does Air Max Day mean to them and to reveal their favourite Air Max sneakers.
Cast:
- gudgalriri__
- ericthestickerguy
- fluffybrown
- confitsss
- liamxswartz
- brendanwidan
- sneaker_aggies
- chr1sjack
Shot and Produced by: ThaboThabiso for YoMzansi
Assistant: gladmthembu
gudgalriri__
Fav Air Max sneaker: Air Max Plus 3 – Hyper Blue
Air Max 97 Silver Bullet
Release Date: 2019
“Air Max Day is very special to me because I know Nike always does crazy releases, and even though there’s not this year, we still keepin’ it going and doing something about it.”
“My favourite Air Max I actually don’t own, it’s the Air Max 97 “Silver Bullet”, it’s special to me because it is the year I was born in. But what I came through with is the Air Max Plus 3 TN Hyper Blue. What I love most about this one is the way it fades-in colour.”
ericthestickerguy
Fav Air Max sneaker: Chien Ming Wang x Air Max 1 TW QS – Baseball
Release Date: 2009
“If you from Cape Town, every day is Air Max Day. But the 26th of March definitely is important to any sneaker aficionado that collects air max. Every day to me is the day filled with AIR.”
“My favourite Air Max silhouette of all time is Nike Air Max 1 and these are my ultimate grails which I managed to get a few years ago, they are the Nike Air Max 1 Chien Ming Wang.”
confitsss
Fav Air Max sneaker: Nike Air Max 1 – Limeade
Nike Air Max 1 – Urawa
Parra x Nike Air Max 1 – Albert Heijn
Sean Wotherspoon x Nike Air Max 1/97 – VF
Release Date: 2017
“Air Max Day is celebrated on the 26hth of march, and it’s a day that celebrates everything that’s AIR. To me Air Max has always been quite a big thing – I always try to incorporate somehow an Air Max into my collection, whether it be an Air Max 1, Air Max 95, or 97s, 98s.”
“With me, I have the Limeades. I got these four days before release and I actually rocked up to the drop with these on, and surprisingly I won another pair at the raffle, that’s why they special to me.”
brendanwidan
Fav Air Max sneaker: Parra x Nike Air Max 1 – White/Multi
Release Date: 2018
“For all sneaker enthusiasts around the world, 26th of march is a big day …Air Max Day.”
“One of my favourites Air Max’s is the Air Max 1 Parra, designed by Piet Parra. I like the unique colourways that he used across the whole sneaker, given a little personal touch with the pink laces.”
liamxswartz
Fav Air Max sneaker: Nike Air Max 90 – Cuban Link
Release Date: 2020
“Air Max Day is rather special now, coz I recently purchased my first Air Max and ultimately I just fell in love with the silhouette.”
“These are my favourite Air Max…these are the Air Max 90 Cuban Link. Now for me, this is honestly one of the most special Air Max 90s just because they are actually a female release. It was a very hard pair to track down (in size 8) but yeah I’m super glad to own it.”
fluffybrown
Fav Air Max sneaker: Nike Air Max 1 – Master
Release Date: 2017
“Air Max Day is just the celebration of all things Air Max. We in 34 years of air max now I think…, so I look forward to the 26th of March and March in general because we get some really dope releases – so I’m looking forward to the upcoming Air Max Day releases.”
“My favourite Air Max I would have to say is the Air Max 1 Master, which was released in 2017. I wasn’t in Cape Town when these released and I was very lucky to get these for basically retail from another sneaker collector. And my most favourite part of this actual shoe is the perforated leather on the toe box and pink laces.”
sneaker_aggies
Fav Air Max sneaker: Air Max 1 QS Safari Pack – Grand Purple
Release Date: 2009
“Air Max Day to me means a year you’ve been saving up to try and get your favourite pair of Air Max and it’s one of those days that you just celebrate wearing this beautiful shoe.”
“My favourite Air Max is probably the Air Max 1 silhouette. This is the Air Max 1 Grand Purple Safari. This shoe is probably about 13 years old as you can see they have been resoled already, but this is where it all started for me. It’s one of those shoes that will always be timeless in any collection.”
chr1sjack
Fav Air Max sneaker: Denham x Nike Air Max 1 – Blue Void
Release Date: 2020
“Air Max Day to me is incredibly a special day as I’m actually born on Air Max Day, the 26th of March. So every single year when we have Air Max Day it’s always an extra special one for me where I get to celebrate Air Max for what it is as well as have a little fun for my birthday.”
“Probably one of my favourite shoes right now for Air Max Day 2021, although released in 2020, is the Denham Air Max 1. This is one of the more luxurious shoes I’ve ever laid hands on. This one was quite difficult to get my hands on as we only had around 12 pairs in South Africa, which released exclusively to the Denham store (JHB) – I wasn’t able to get there unfortunately for the raffle. So this one I had to source from the States.”
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