Five Forgotten Air Max Day Sneakers
and Air Max Month have been celebrated by and sneakerheads for a decade now. Memorable sneakers such as the Sean Wotherspoon x Nike Air Max 1/97 and the return of the atmos x Nike Air Max 1 ‘Elephant’ will always be synonymous with Air Max Day. To get a headstart on the celebrations, we’ve taken a look at past Air Max Day drops and highlighted a few sneakers that have been forgotten over the years.
Nike Air Max Zero
We can thank enough for being the pioneer for Air Max Day. Using the Centre Pompidou in Paris as inspiration, Hatfield sketched up a sneaker showcasing Nike’s Air technology with a visible airbag, and the rest is history. The initial sneaker sketch that Tinker drew up actually never made it past his sketchbook though – that is until 2015.
The sketch became the , and it dropped on Air Max Day in 2015. It was brought to life using modern materials such as Fuse to overlay the mesh upper, with a visible Air unit of course placed in the heel.
Nike Vapormax iD 'Air Max Day'
Nike have used Air Max Day to showcase and launch new Air Max sneakers, and it’s no different this year with the Air Max DN on the way. But let’s rewind to 2017, when the Swoosh debuted a sneaker that was the future and evolution of Air Max – the .
The sneaker features monstrous Air units throughout that look like you’re walking on air, with a Flyknit upper that combines Nike’s innovative tech at the time. The Swoosh launched the Vapormax in limited numbers on NikeiD on Air Max Day in two colourways: an Air Max 1-inspired White/Red and a Black/Multicolour. Customisation was encouraged, with different Nike logos and Air Max branding stamped on the heel, and 3.26 was tagged on the tongue to celebrate the holiday.
Nike ‘HTM Air Max Day Pack’
These three little letters mean so much when it comes to sneakers. , the Nike sublabel between Fragment Design’s Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tinker Hatfield, and former Nike CEO Mark Parker, was a collective creative expression on Nike projects with no deadlines or budget restrictions. HTM sneakers were extremely limited, up until 2016.
The three dropped a collection for Air Max Day, each taking on a different silhouette. Hiroshi Fujiwara brought a full-length Air Max unit to the LD-1000, Tinker Hatfield fused the Air Max 90 with a Dynamic Collar used on Nike Football boots, and Mark Parker brought a modernised touch to the Air Max Ultra M.
Nike Air Max ‘City Special Pack’
Nike went regional in 2021 for Air Max Day, giving select US cities their own colourway on an array of Air Max sneakers.
Chicago and LA got their own tonal colourways on the Air Max 90 and Air Max 97 respectively, but NYC and Atlanta were the standouts of the bunch. Taking on the signature paint job of the city's taxis, the NYC Air Max 95 is hard to miss. Tonal yellow with black hits make up the upper with a NYC tag placed underneath the Swoosh on the heel. The ATL Air Max TN also makes a statement, using a slight bubble gum pink gradient, with a gold ATL lace dubrae adding the finishing touch.