Nike Air 180 Designed By An Eleven Year Old?

G’day Sneaker Freakers,
I discovered your magazine via the net at Volume 4 and was an instant fan. I wouldn’t say I’m as much a sneakerhead as some of your readers because I don’t really buy trainers (as we call them in the UK) as a collector’s item. I tend to wear all mine, mainly because I couldn’t afford to keep a pair boxed and unused. This I learnt was my downfall in recent years since re-releases started to come out that I remember owning a pair of originals from the first time round.
It doesn’t really surprise me that original trainers and memorabilia have become so valuable since the internet has brought like-minded people together but it got me thinking about stuff I had stashed away in my parent’s attic. Here’s a letter sent to Nike as an 11 year old asking to join “CLUBNIKE”. Nothing strange in that as a young Sneaker Freak but on the back of the letter I indulged in my hobby of designing trainers.

Looking back, even as a primary school kid, my biro sketches are pretty piss poor but I had included in my specifications a fully transparent section of the sole exposing the air bubble. My letter is dated the 7th of May 1990 and on my official Nike 180 material the plans are dated the 27th of January 1991. I wouldn’t suggest for a minute Nike’s highly qualified design team would steal an idea from an eleven year old (or would they?) and I’m sure the plans went back a bit further than dated but maybe I can say I thought of them first? I thought you guys might find this interesting?

Cheers
Scott J. McAuley

ps. Did you notice the UK Marketing Director for Nike is called J. Trainor?

This article appeared in Issue 8 of Sneaker Freaker. Buy it