Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh was a luxury streetwear label founded in 2013 by Virgil Abloh. Based in Milan, Italy, the brand combined luxury fashion construction with streetwear sensibility and conceptual design — including Abloh's signature use of quotation marks, zip ties, and industrial design references. LVMH acquired a majority stake in Off-White in 2021. Abloh passed away from cardiac angiosarcoma on November 28, 2021, at age 41.
The Ten (2017)
Off-White × Nike "The Ten" (September 2017) is one of the most influential sneaker collaborations ever made. Abloh reimagined ten Nike silhouettes with deconstructed treatments, visible stitching, external Swoosh applications, and his signature printed-text language. The ten silhouettes:
1. Air Jordan 1 "Chicago"
2. Air Force 1 Low "Black"
3. Air Max 90 "White"
4. Air VaporMax "White"
5. Air Presto "White"
6. Blazer Mid "White"
7. Air Max 97 "White"
8. Air Jordan 1 "UNC" (restock)
9. Hyperdunk 2017 FK "White"
10. Zoom Fly Mercurial Flyknit "Black"
Each silhouette released with extremely limited quantities and resold for 5-20x retail. The Air Jordan 1 "Chicago" remains the most valuable — deadstock pairs regularly sell for $7,000-$12,000.
Continued Nike collaboration
After The Ten, Abloh continued with Nike through 2021 (and posthumously through 2024), producing:
- Off-White × Air Jordan 1 "UNC to Chicago" (2018)
- Off-White × Air Jordan 5 "Sail" and "Muslin" (2020)
- Off-White × Air Force 1 "MCA," "Canary Yellow," "Black," "Brooklyn" (2019-2020)
- Off-White × Nike Dunk Low "50 pack" (2022)
- Off-White × Louis Vuitton × Air Force 1 (2021) — Abloh's final public project
- Off-White × Air Jordan 2 "Low White Red" and "Low Black" (2022)
- Off-White × Air Jordan 4 "Sail" (2020)
- Posthumous releases including Air Jordan 3, Air Jordan 2 PS, Terra Forma, Air Force 1 Mid PS
Post-Abloh Off-White
Since Virgil Abloh's passing, Off-White has continued operating under new creative leadership. The brand's sneaker collaborations with Nike have continued in smaller capsule formats with inventory that Abloh had conceived before his passing. Off-White remains majority-owned by LVMH.
Key design signatures
- Quotation marks around words: "SHOELACES," "AIR," "NIKE"
- Zip ties as shoe tags
- Exposed/deconstructed stitching
- Industrial design references (yellow/black caution tape)
- Reinterpretation of classic silhouettes with modern deconstruction