Nike Air Force 1

About

The Nike Air Force 1 was designed by Bruce Kilgore and debuted on December 31, 1982 as the first basketball shoe to incorporate Nike's proprietary Air cushioning technology. Named after Air Force One, the U.S. President's aircraft, it launched as a high-top and was worn on-court by six NBA players — Moses Malone, Michael Cooper, Bobby Jones, Mychal Thompson, Calvin Natt, and Jamaal Wilkes — collectively known as the Original Six. The low-top silhouette followed in 1983, offering a wider palette of colorways that drove lifestyle adoption beyond the basketball court. Nike briefly discontinued the model in 1984 but reinstated it in 1986 following intense community demand, especially from Harlem, New York, where the shoe earned the enduring street nickname Uptowns. The all-white triple-white colorway became its defining commercial form. By 2007, over 1,700 color variations had been produced, generating an estimated 800 million dollars annually. It remains one of Nike's single best-selling models, moving approximately 10 million pairs per year worldwide.