Key Details
Style Code: IX8503-100Release Date: yet, and is not expected to land until 2027
- The Nike Air Force 1 '01 "Shoe Dog" honors Phil Knight's metallic silver and pear green car from his pre-Nike entrepreneurial days.
- The pair takes its nickname from Knight's memoir detailing his journey from selling running shoes out of his vehicle to building Nike.
- The shoe debuted at Nike's Paris Fashion Week showroom as an NRG limited release with style code IX8503-100.
Before founding Nike in 1964, Phil Knight used to sell shoes out of his car’s trunk, traveling the country to visit track meets and running stores. Nike will pay homage to that vehicle with a special Air Force 1 “Shoe Dog”, coming soon.
Phil Knight got his start in the world of footwear as a traveling salesman. The Nike founder, formerly a track athlete at the University of Oregon where he was coached by Bill Bowerman, began his career selling Onitsuka Tiger shoes. The Japanese brand, now a subdivision with Asics, had no market presence in the United States, and Phil saw potential to change that. He began traveling around the Pacific Northwest in his Plymouth Valiant to earn money for what would eventually become Nike. That era of Knight’s life was extensively covered in his autobiography, Shoe Dog, an excellent read if you are interested in the history behind the Swoosh’s early days.
Next year, Nike has plans to celebrate that iconic Plymouth Variant with a special colorway of the Air Force 1. Their classic silhouette will come in a new “Shoe Dog” style to celebrate the company’s founder and their very, very early beginnings by mimicking the car’s colors in shoe form. The look begins with a plain white leather base for the upper, adding metallic silver overlays and chrome Swooshes for the Valiant’s metal bumpers, while a Pear green shade nods to the paint job of the main body. Several references to Phil are added around the shoe, including a lace dubrae in the shape of a dog bone with the initials PK, and a patch on the footbed reading ‘Thank you Phil’.
NIKE AIR FORCE 1 “SHOE DOG” RELEASE INFORMATION
Nike’s new ode to their founder, Phil Knight, does not have a public release date yet, and is not expected to land until 2027. Featuring the Air Force 1 and teased at the Swoosh’s Paris Fashion Week showroom, the “Shoe Dog” edition nods to Knight’s car from before Nike was founded, with a metallic silver and pear green color scheme. Pairs will likely be limited as an NRG release, but available through both Nike and select retailers.
Nike Air Force 1 ’01 “Shoe Dog”
Style Code: IX8503-100
Release Date: 2027
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