Sneaker Freaker

ONE TIME ONLY
Maybe we’ll all have to wait ten years for the true wonder of this modern classic to be revealed, but let me get back on message. The reason the 360 is the inner cog that turns the hybrid story is that it leads directly to the door of the ‘One Time Only’ pack in late 2006. This was an exercise in applying the 360 sole to a brace of iconic Air Max uppers, thus launching the modern cross-breed into collector’s closets.

Cynical I may be, but it seemed more of an exercise designed to lubricate rusted-onAirMax kids stuck in an early-nineties time-warp into demo-ing the brand new kid on the block. Such suspicions cast a small shadow over what for me was a really solid deck of shoes, one that seemed broad enough for even hardheads to find at least one deemed worthy of coveting.

The monotone series of Footscape uppers mixed with the 360 sole was ‘magichappens’ in the best sense of the word, creating an awesome new entity that added a menacing stance to it’s wearable but futuristic vision. I can concede that the AM90 x 360 was a slight diminishment of the original – the curvier 360 instep reducting the charisma of the chunky airbagged heel – but it was still a borderline pass, and in any case, ‘One Time Only’ still had the AM 97 x 360 and AM95 x 360 models up its sleeve. Frankly, these two new composite silhouettes look far slicker than the original, no matter how high they are both placed in the OG hall of fame.