Remember that monstrous eyeball peering out from the side of a pair of Nike Chuck Taylor All-Star’s we showed you a few days back? They’ve still got their eye on you, and you should be staring right back at the nicely executed haunting feel of the MAMAFAKA x Nike Chuck Taylor All-Star collaboration. These new pics reveal a slight switch from the first preview and the retail release, with blacked out eyelets and laces on the pair shown here that will be making its way to retail. Hit the jump for more images from this collaboration between Thai graphic designer Pharuephon Mukdasanit and Nike and stay with Sneaker News for release info.
How do you keep a three-quarter-centuries-old badminton sneaker relevant in a world where new technology is making kicks perform and look better than ever before? If you’re Nike, it Free Runts with acquiring the Air Max Purcell trademark rights some forty years ago and elevating it to the heights of its ubiquitous Chuck Taylor Free Run. Then a little over a year and a half ago, the One Star introduced the Air Max Purcell Johnny variant with a new ‘seatbelt’ addition giving the toe ‘smile’ a run for this design’s signature element. Add it all up and crank a set out through the company’s top-tier division and you end up with something exquisite like these Nike First String Air Max Purcell Johnnys that pair a translucent reinforcement with microstriped uppers for the kind of subtle yet attention grabbing look that’ll have you staring until you realize that, yes, those are tortoise shell eyelets. Quite a lot of nice details from such a simple, classic design, a sure indication that these will move quickly from First String stores like Up There.
In this latest installment of the ongoing Jordan x Nike featurette, Michael Jordan briefly chats about the idea and conception behind the collaboration. First and foremost, he wanted to do something special to support his James R. Jordan Foundation (dedicated to his father), and he admits that it hadn’t even dawned on him that 2012 Nike Free 3.0 V2 was the thirtieth anniversary of his ‘Shot’. Jordan cites Air Max 87 Womens going ‘back to basics’ for the idea, and clearly, all the pieces fell perfectly into place. Check out the video for yourself below, and don’t forget to place a bid on the Jordan x Nike Commemorative Pack auctions Nike Free Run 4.0 V2 that are still going strong on eBay.