Kicks For Da Kulture

BY JOSE ROZAY

Welcome back Happy Munkey Fam, I present the March edition of Kickz 4 The Kulture. We all have holidays that we love and celebrate on a yearly basis, well sneakerheads have certain days they consider holidays as well. One of the most coveted and celebrated sneaker days ever is Air Max Day, held every year by Nike on March 26. This March air Max day celebrates its 34th year since the first Air Max released in 1987. This day is not only to honor the creativity and greatness of the Air Max technology but to give thanks to the creator of Air Maxes himself, the great, Tinker Hatfield. Sneakerheads around the world as a sign of appreciation wear their favorite pair of Nike Air Maxes on this day. To commemorate Air Max day this year I have listed my three best Air Maxes ever released.

Nike Air Max 1 “White/Red” Released March 26, 1987

Easily looked at as the most iconic pair of Nike Air Max to ever release. The Nike Air Max 1 was simply the beginning of an everlasting new Air technology for sneakers. The designer of the shoe, Tinker Hatfield was the first to ever design a Nike sneaker revealing the cushioned sole of the sneaker. Tinker mentioned that when he first revealed sketches to the sneakers people at Nike discussed that he was pushing things too far and was even almost fired. So in reality, no one could have guessed the impact Air Max was going to have on the world. The Nike Air Max 1 started it all and I’m personally always hoping for a retro release because you could never get enough of these, no matter what. These bad boys started a culture.

Nike Air Max 90 “Infrared” Released March 26, 1990

The classic Nike Air Max 90 silhouette prepared the sneaker world for the 90s. Nike Air Max 90 was a sneaker that gained value and hype over time. The sneaker had a whole new design from that of the Air Max 1 and was packed with more cushion for max comfort support. Also what made these baby’s special was the magic in the white, grey, black and infrared color-way. The first pair of Air Max 90’s released featured the color “Hyvent Orange” on it, which was like a loud orange. As Nike rereleased the infrared color-way several more times in upcoming years due to popular demand, in each rerelease the hyvent orange color section of the sneaker was altered to look a lot redder and feature a more potent red color we all know now as “infrared”. Now a days, infrareds drop every other year and are sold out instantly. When I purchased my first pair of Infrared 90’s I wore them for a whole summer straight and I’m not the type to wear the same sneaker twice. Infrareds are and will always be for the culture.

Nike Air Max 95 “Neon” Released March 26, 1995

The neon green Air Max 95’s are undoubtedly the most well known Air Max silhouette of them all. When the neons released In 1995 by Nike it changed performance running in every way. The new silhouette Nike introduced to the world featured different styles of textures. Rich layers of suedes and mesh covered the upper part of the sneaker. In addition to the good new texture, Nike had a surprise for the midsole and lower part of the sneaker, Nike went ahead and made the first ever sneaker to have a forefoot visible air sole. This was a legendary sneaker design that wouldn’t be complete without the neon green tones added on specific parts of the sneaker. The neon green was the secret sauce that the sneaker needed to become iconic. Just so you can understand how loved this sneaker is, 26 years later the neon green Air Max 95’s have been re-released over

Happymunkey Fam, I have to thank Nike and the great designer Tinker Hatfield for creating a new way to wear a performance sneaker. Through countless silhouettes and a whole new air sole system, Tinker Hatfield and the Nike company had created “the Air Max life,” a culture that we celebrate every 26th of March and now call Air Max Day. Tinker Hatfield, as many don’t know, went on to make most of the greatest Jordan’s sneakers that we know of today. I can easily say I love sneakers because of Tinker Hatfields talent for designing, legendary part of it all is that Nike originally hired Tinker as a corporate architect to design buildings at the Oregon campus and the rest was history. I hope you enjoyed the March edition of Kickz 4 the Kulture and I hope to see you all rocking your favorite air maxes this month. As always stay Happy.