Chantelle`s Diary

Today, I want to talk about the history of Air Force 1’s. Now, Air Force 1’s are one of the most popular shoes out here and this is a shoe that I feel will always be around and not only that this shoe just goes with everything. I feel these shoes are shoes that you must have in your closet it is just an everyday shoe that is easy to pull off. That is why today I want to give a brief history on these shoes and tell you where and how they came about. I hope you all enjoy it!

As we all know Air Force 1’s have to be one of the best selling shoes of all time and to be exact these are actually Nike’s 2nd best selling shoes, which also in 2005 the shoe sold about 12 million pairs. When it comes to collaborations Air Force’s still get the hype that it always seems to get especially the white-on-white pair. In 1982 these shoes took to the court with Bruce Kilgores a Nike designer he created a shoe that was only a high top. It happened to be the first Nike shoe with cushioning on shoes that you hoop in. The colors were pretty basic it was just white and grey and those colors were actually playing it safe. Eventually, colors that were more bold came about and also an Air Force 1 that was low cut and that became so popular when it hit stores in 1983. The bigger brands did not acknowledge the shoes as much it was more the drug dealers and hustlers who were the ones setting the trends. During the crack epidemic on the East Coast from 1984 to 1993 there was money to be spent meaning, when it came to shoes, cars and jewelry it was a whole new standard. The history of Marketing with these shoes were very little and they were being sold more in store in the inner city markets. The shoe was introduced in 1983 and it was selling for about $80.

The Air Force 1’s was very popular among African Americans and truthfully without the purchase of people in the inner cities these shoes would not be as popular as they are it would be forgotten about. When the shoes were released it is still unknown, some also think the shoe was not out until about the late 1990’s. Whenever the shoes came out it was still a big seller due to the inner city being the ones to be purchasing them. Nike’s team had some people on their team who temporarily decided to deny the supply of the shoes to build more popularity amongst them. In the 1990’s it was getting more popular and expanded beyond inner cities. Air Force 1’s had an impact, when it came to sneakers they were being mentioned but those shoes were being called out by it’s color way. For example, rapper Jay-Z even shouts out the shoes in one of his songs. There was also multiple artists who shouted out the shoes as well. Even though the shoes were huge in the East Coast the way it hit the MidWest was huge and Nelly the rapper was another artist to shout them out. Nelly even dropped a song called “Air Force Ones” which was a huge anthem to be exact. Nike did reward these artists who gave out these shout outs and they did not have to but they did knowing how huge these shoes were becoming. Some shoes had a stitched Roc-A-Fella logo and Nelly also got his own design which was a white-on-white NellyVille version. This sneaker entered street culture and it was very attention grabbing.

No matter the design or what changes the Air Force 1 had it still remained popular and if you had a pair you were pretty cool. The shoe was also becoming a shoe that was easily becoming a custom meaning other people were doing different designs to these shoes. Air Force 1’s rollouts were becoming more insane amongst people purchasing them. The shoe also became a dad shoe and generation after generation it was a huge symbol piece. I believe these shoes will not die down at least not any time soon. The shoes did not have the publicity back then and even now with the publicity it remains popular of course.