It’s a sneaker that needs no introduction, one that launched 40 years ago and still remains quite possibly Nike’s most beloved and best-selling silhouette. It stands the test of time and solidified itself as a streetwear staple before streetwear was even a thing. So it’s safe to say it’s not going anywhere.
We’re talking about the mighty Air Force 1. Designed by Bruce Kilgore (who also designed the Air Jordan 2 with Peter Moore) and released in 1982, the AF-1 was Nike’s first real shot at making a basketball shoe worthy of the court.
It seems hard to believe, but prior to the AF-1, Nike’s main focus was running shoes. With the AF-1, the brand was attempting to create something explicitly made for court performance, and with its new Nike Air technology and Kilgore’s unconventional (at the time) design, the AF-1 was that shoe. Grab a pair of your AF-1s (we know you have at least one), flip them around and take a look at the outsole, that swirling crop-circle-esque traction pattern doesn’t look like much today, but at the time it represented something brand new.
Kilgore ditched the traditional herringbone traction pattern of Nike sneakers for something that worked with the constant pivoting and fast action needed by modern players, coupled with the NIKE AIR technology — a flexible airbag that provided a slight spring in the step — Nike had one of the first sneakers that actively attempted to compliment and enhance a player’s on-court performance. Sure, just about every basketball sneaker does that these days… but it all started here!
In celebration of Nike’s greatest (non-MJ) silhouette, we’re naming all the best colorways to ever hit the Air Force 1. Let’s dive in! And to check out El-P from Run the Jewels getting a pair of custom AF-1s, watch his episode of Uproxx’s Fresh Pair with Just Blaze and Katty Customs, below.
Air Force 1 High — White/Silver, 1983
The low-top AF-1 is the sneaker’s most popular form but early on in the sneaker’s lineage, the high was all that was offered and the sneaker still looks great with that higher profile and ankle strap. One of the strongest early colorways was this white and silver makeup which features a leather upper with a metallic swoosh and a matching outsole. This sneaker dropped after the initial run of AF-1 colorways and the sneaker was briefly discontinued the following year before its relaunch in 1986. Is the White/Silver to blame?
We’re going to guess “no.” If anything, this sneaker probably kept the silhouette in the public consciousness which is why it’s been given several re-releases since its initial drop.
The sneaker was last re-released in 2015 with a women’s size exclusive dropping holiday season of last year. Even though we’re only a year out I think this sneaker is deserving of a full-size run re-release in 2023. Who is going to argue with that?
Find a pair at GOAT.
Air Force 1 — White/White, 1995
It’s hard to believe that the most iconic colorway of the AF-1 didn’t drop until more than a decade into its production. The low top white on white AF-1 is what probably comes to mind when you think about the shoe and many would argue that the silhouette never looked better than this.
We agree that the leather upper in all white with a matching white swoosh is the ultimate form of this sneaker. If sneakerheads everywhere had to choose a single color for this shoe to be released in for the foreseeable future, it would be without a doubt a crisp pair of white-on-white AF-1s. The look of a perfect pair is probably single-handedly keeping the sneaker-cleaning business alive. I’m all for sneakers with wear and tear, but this AF-1 deserves to look as clean and crispy as possible at all times.
The most recent re-release of this perfect colorway dropped in 2018 and updated the design with a full-grain leather upper. They are still on the aftermarket for fairly reasonable prices.
Find a pair at GOAT.
Air Force 1 Mid — Independence Day, 1997
Probably the only mid-top Jordan to make our list, the Independence Day is too much of a fully realized concept not to earn a spot here. The shoe is named after the aircraft that shuttles the President around, so making the sneaker red, white and blue is a no-brainer. It’s maybe the only other shoe aside from a Nike Cortez that looks good in this tired and overplayed color combination.
The Independence Day features a white leather upper with shimmering blue paneling and a small red jeweled swoosh with a matching embroidered swoosh at the mid-ankle strap. There is a sleekness to this speaker that speaks to its late ’90s release date. Now the general public prefers oversized wrap-around Swooshes, but there is something about the way the three-dimensional jeweled swoosh looks on a mid-top AF-1 that just looks right.
The most recent release of this shoe dropped in April of this year. Why didn’t it release on Independence Day? Our guess is it would’ve been a little too on the nose, and considering this is a red, white, and blue AF-1, it’s already dangerously close to being cheesy.
Pick up a pair at GOAT.
Air Force 1 — Cocoa Snake, 2001
With the AF-1 the general consensus is the simpler the better, but then you see a design like the Cocoa Snake and it makes you question that. The Cocoa Snake is a bit more flashy than your typical AF-1 but it’s undeniably fresh.
Featuring a white leather base with snakeskin paneling on the heel and toe wrap with a black swoosh, heel tab, and outsole, the Cocoa Snake plays on the classic colorways of the AF-1 (black and white) but elevates it just a touch with faux snakeskin, resulting in a sneaker that rides the line between casual and luxury footwear. This sneaker is way past its prime to really exist on the aftermarket, but luckily Complex dropped a pair in 2018 as a Complexcon exclusive that is still readily available on aftermarket sites.
Pick up a pair at GOAT.
Air Force 1 — Linen, 2001
The AF-1 White/White may be the most iconic colorway of the sneaker, but the Linen is hands down a fan favorite. Just look at this thing! It features a leather upper in beige and sports a pastel pink swoosh with a pink outsole. It’s far from the first sneaker to be accented in pink tones, but it single-handedly started a sneaker trend of accenting in bright pinks and is almost always a hit, whether it shows up on an SB Dunk or a Jordan. Thank the Linen for popularizing the trend and ending the drab days of dark-colored kicks.
The Linen was originally released as a Japanese exclusive but has since come stateside with a 2016 re-release via Kith as part of Art Basel Miami. I think we’re due for another re-release and I’m willing to bet a lot of sneakerheads would second that!
Pick up a pair at GOAT.
Air Force 1 — Wheat Mocha, 2001
Another Japanese exclusive, the Wheat Mocha featured a workwear-inspired design (long before workwear became popular in the States) and sported an ultra-smooth nubuck upper in tan with chocolate brown accents and a translucent gum midsole. Japan has always had a deep appreciation for streetwear, and the country has been rewarded with easily the best Air Force 1 drops of all time.
The Wheat Mocha is unique in that it looks like something that could fit on the construction site (it’s not steel-toed, so don’t do that) as well as at any sort of fancy function, making it one of the most versatile designs the AF-1 has ever had. Nike has since released a high-top version of the sneaker but it looks best in its original low-top form.
Find a pair at GOAT.
Air Force 1 — Courir, 2002
As we mentioned before, when it comes to the AF-1 simpler just looks better and the Courir proves it. Featuring a black leather upper with a white midsole and swoosh, the AF-1 Courir is a near-perfect design, and what really puts it over the top is that gum outsole adding another point of contrast that perfectly compliments the white and black makeup. Three strong colors is all an AF-1 needs to look great.
The sneaker was originally released as a Europe exclusive and remains one of the hardest pairs to find. It looks like anyone who has a pair wants to hold on to them.
Find a pair at GOAT.
Air Force 1 — HTM 1, 2002
Made by the design collective of Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tinker Hatfield, and Mark Parker (known collectively as HTM) this AF-1 is easily one of the top five colorways that have ever graced this silhouette. The HTM 1 features a stark black softened leather upper with white contrast stitching, HTM branding, and was released with custom hang tags and a special box. The original HTM concept was to combine unexpected colors and materials and I’d say the HTM 1 doesn’t really satisfy that concept. That doesn’t necessarily matter though, because the sneakers look great regardless and were put together by three absolute legends.
As dope as the design is, this sneaker was dropped in an incredibly limited capacity making it one of the rarest AF-1s to ever hit the market. Like the Linen, this is long overdue for a re-release.
Find a pair at GOAT.
Stash x Nike Air Force 1 High, 2003
Made in collaboration with NYC graffiti artist Stash, this AF-1 which dropped in 2003 is one of the finest high-top iterations of the sneaker to date. The fact that it came out nearly a decade ago is ridiculous.
Featuring mesh panels over a cotton and leather upper, Stash’ AF-1 featured reflective spray can nozzle patterning across the panels with a suede Swoosh and a translucent outsole. The sneakers dropped in a special red suitcase in a limited run of just 1,000 distributed between the cities of New York, London, and Tokyo. Tokyo received the lion’s share of the sneaker with 500 pairs sent to the city while London and New York received only 250 each.
On the aftermarket, prices for this nearly 10-year-old shoe are still in the thousands, which isn’t prohibitively expensive for a collector’s item, but good luck finding a pair in your size. To date, Stash has dropped a few more renditions of the AF-1 but none look quite as good as this drop.
Find a pair at GOAT.
Air Force 1 — Mark Smith Laser, 2003
Created by famed Nike designer Mark Smith, this laser-etched AF-1 features a tan leather upper with brown laces and a swirling design atop a pure white midsole. This might be a controversial statement but I think this is one of the few designs that feels better to look at than wear, it looks like it belongs under a museum display case, not strapped to someone’s feet.
The sneaker is alternatively known as the ‘Cashmere Laser,’ which I never understood because this sneaker features absolutely no cashmere whatsoever. The cashmere in question is in reference to the beige colorway used on the upper. Don’t be scared Nike, give us an actual cashmere AF-1 — we’ll wear it!
Find a pair at GOAT.
Air Force 1 — Sakura Ueno, 2005
The Sakura Ueno is yet another Japanese-exclusive AF-1 that fills us with envy. Featuring an off-white suede upper with bright pink accents and laser-etched cherry blossoms, and embroidered details, the Sakura features simple color blocking and an elegant design. Embroidered Ueno branding adorns the hill which is a reference to Japan’s Ueno Park, a popular spot that is home to thousands of cherry blossom trees and serves as the main location of Japan’s cherry blossom festival.
If you compare the laser etching on this sneaker to the Mark Smith design, you’ll find that it’s much more tastefully done here. I’m not sure why the sneaker world was obsessed with laser etching in the ‘00s, but the Sakura actually makes the case for why it works.
Find a pair at GOAT.
Undefeated x Nike Air Force 1 — Entourage, 2005
Made specifically for the HBO television show Entourage this sneaker of the same name features a beautiful university blue on white leather upper and was designed by LA sneaker boutique Undefeated. This sneaker dropped at a time when the idea of sneakerheads first started to slip into the mainstream thanks in part to an episode of Entourage in which Turtle hunts down a pair of coveted Blue Fukijama Air Force 1s.
Who is Fukijama? Nobody, it’s a fictional character… but it sure sounded real. A rich dude’s fried named Turtle hunting town a pair of sneakers designed by a mononym artist from Japan? You could make a whole series out of that!
The sneaker makes reference to both LA and Queens, the adopted and original home of Entourage’s Turtle and feathers laser etching on the back panels with a black patent leather swoosh. What did I say about this era and laser etching? The sneakerheads of the ’00s went absolutely nuts for it. This pair of sneakers still exists on aftermarket sites today for a prohibitively expensive price.
Find a pair at Sotheby’s.
Air Force 1 — Savage Beast, 2009
Released as a Halloween exclusive, the Savage Beast is one of the wildest AF-1 designs in the sneaker’s history and is maybe the best Halloween sneaker of all time. Featuring an orange pony hair upper, lace jewels, with a frayed canvas Swoosh, the Savage Beast exudes crunchy hippie vibes and was undoubtedly a direct influence on the Grateful Dead Dunks that were released over a decade later.
Will wearing a pair make you look like a Muppet? Yes, but who doesn’t love the Muppets? The fuzzy design was actually meant to be a reference to the Looney Tunes character Gossamer which makes it one of the most obscure sneaker references of all time. Who asked for a Gossamer-inspired sneaker? Why Gossamer and not, you know, Bugs?
It’s a sneaker that inspires so many questions and that’s part of what makes it great.
Pick up a pair at GOAT.
CLOT x Nike Air Force 1 — 1World, 2009
Made in collaboration with Hong Kong-based label CLOT in celebration of Chinese New Year, this AF-1 features a bright red upper with etchings throughout with black laces and a matching black swoosh over a translucent midsole.
The sneaker was released with a special hexagonal box reminiscent of Chinese candy boxes. The design has seen all sorts of color variations since this initial drop, including a Rose Gold, Blue, and White Silk iteration. All of those are great but nothing really beats the original in its bright vibrant red. We don’t know for sure if this sneaker inspired the Yeezy Red Octobers but at the time it was one of the only sneakers to rock this vibrant red colorway.
Find a pair at StockX.
Off-White x Nike Air Force 1 — The Ten, 2017
Released as part of Virgil Abloh’s legendary ‘The Ten’ collection, the Off-White AF-1 was an attempt to reconstruct the design of one of the most legendary sneakers of all time, and whether you’re a fan or not, it definitely worked. This feels like an AF-1 and like something totally new at the same time. Featuring a translucent multi-fabric upper over a translucent midsole, a design style Abloh dubbed “ghosting,” this Off-White rendition served as the perfect deconstruction of the original design and was one of 10 sneakers that inspired the deconstructionist sneaker movement.
The Swoosh features a cross stitch swoosh outline, classic Abloh ‘Air’ and ‘shoelaces’ quotes at the midsole and laces, production detail text on the inner shoe and that iconic orange Off-White tab hanging off the Swoosh. It’s one of the few designs of the sneaker that looks radically different but still works.
Find a pair at GOAT.
Supreme x Comme des Garçons SHIRT x Nike — Air Force 1, 2018
Supreme has made a lot of AF-1s, and for the most part, they’re all just fine — good designs that don’t really offer anything new. But this three-way collaboration between Supreme, CDG, and Nike is something else. Featuring a textured black leather upper with a white split swoosh and midsole, this sneaker takes a gimmick (split swooshes) and actually makes it work.
It’s a sneaker that attempts and succeeds at having things both ways, it features a classic black and white colorway, with a small change-up that manages to make the old look new. The back heel has Supreme and CDG branding in a simple minimalist font that doesn’t distract the eye but still reminds onlookers of its heritage.
Find a pair at GOAT.
Off-White x Nike Air Force 1 — MCA, 2019
Released to coincide with Virgil Abloh’s exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, this sneaker was a MOCA exclusive that combined some of Nike’s most beloved colors into a single shoe. The main base of the sneaker is done up in University Blue with a silver metallic swoosh that pays tribute to an early AF-1, with a University Red tab in place of the Off-White usual Orange.
The tag on this sneaker is offset and while it’s not nearly as deconstructed as ‘The Ten,” it does still have some remnants of that original design, like the cross-stitched Swoosh, the text on the laces, and those ridiculous zip ties that are attached to every Off-White collaboration. The sneaker looks best without the zip tie in our opinion.
Find a pair at GOAT.
Travis Scott x Nike Air Force 1 — Cactus Jack, 2019
It’s far from the best Travis Scott Nike collaboration, but the Cactus Jack AF-1 is a modern classic in both the Air Force 1 and Cactus Jack lineage. Featuring a graphic and busy canvas upper with two different swoosh colors (brown on the outer, black on the inner), the Cactus Jack features a gum sole, green stitching along the midsole, Cactus Jack branding, and a corduroy zip-up lace shroud.
Can we do without the lace shroud? Absolutely, and luckily, it’s removable! For a while this was one of the best Cactus Jack sneakers but since its release Travis Scott has given us many more, particularly focusing on Jordan silhouettes. We get that the Jordans are hot, but here is to hoping the Cactus Jack brand spends a little more time on the non-Jordan silhouettes in Nike’s roster.
Find a pair at GOAT.
Off White x Nike Air Force 1 — Lemonade, 2021
LeBron James rocked this pair of Off-White AF-1s at the pre-game tunnel during 2021’s NBA All-Star Game, the Lemonade couldn’t look more different than Abloh’s first AF-1. Featuring a loud mustard yellow colorway with a silver Swoosh outlined in contrast stitching, the Lemonade sports a foam tongue with woven tags.
Aside from the silver swoosh and the black production notes on the outer panels, this entire sneaker from the outsole to midsole, to upper, to tongue and laces, is one color. You’d think that would only work in an all-white or all-black colorway, leave it to Abloh to crush expectations and assumptions.
Stüssy x Nike Air Force 1 — Black/White, 2022
Nike has been showing a lot of love to the high-top and mid-rise Jordan this year which makes us wonder if we’re about to enter a phase where the higher profile AF-1s take precedence over the low-top. For some people, that’ll never be the case, but for new sneakerheads on the scene who have no allegiance towards the low-top design, anything could happen!
This sneaker was made in collaboration with Southern California skatewear brand Stüssy and featured an all-leather upper with a white base and black paneling. Stüssy’s sloppy logo is a trademark of the brand, but they smartly decided to keep it simple here with an all-caps rendition embroidered on the mid-foot strap with simple ‘SS’ emblems at the heel.
It was released alongside an accompanying apparel collection and together with this sneaker, it’s the most exciting collaboration Stüssy has dropped in years.
Pick up a pair at GOAT.