Air Max Day 2022 may have fallen a few months ago, but that hasn’t stopped Nike from celebrating the legendary Tinker Hatfield-designed silhouette as it has just revealed its collaboration with MACHINA, an advanced smart techwear brand launched in 2011.
For the 35th anniversary of the Air Max 1, MACHINA crafted a 3D-printed exoskeleton piece for the AM1 “Wabi-Sabi.” Using a sustainable method that mixed micromotors from old computers and toys and PLA, a plastic substitute made from fermented plant starch, MACHINA’s piece harkens back to Hatfield’s original design ethos of introducing Nike AIR technology.
As a result, the piece sits on top and is intertwined with the shoe alongside motors to let the wearer feel the airflow around the shoe, and their feet, as they walk. Small turbines are incorporated to create new meaning around AIR tech, sitting in tubes that extend from the vamp and toe box.
The conceptual design continues, as a 3D-printed Swoosh emblem sits atop the standard piece and is bolted to the turbine system with another plastic component on the mid-panel.
Take a look at the concept above, and find out more information about MACHINA’s process below.
