Nike and Skepta have a new Air Max collaboration on the way.
Since 2017, the London-born grime rapper and the sportswear giant have delivered four Nike Air Max collabs, and continuing their collaborative efforts is a new Skepta x Nike Air Max Tailwind 5 dropping this week. The Swoosh said the artist designed the pair to mimic the metamorphosis of butterflies tying back to his creative rebirth in his career.
The upper of the shoe wears a predominantly blue-based butterfly wing print that pays tribute to Skepta’s exploration of evolution in both nature and art. In addition, the collab also references design elements from his past projects including a chrome Swoosh pulled from his Shox collab from 2019 along with a thermographic heel counter, which nods to the artist’s “Ignorance is Bliss” album cover. Adding to the look is a chrome TPU overlay panel at the midfoot that reaches down to the black Air-cushioned midsole and rubber outsole.
“We are all going through metamorphosis, a new stage of life,” Skepta said about the collab in a release. “We chose this butterfly print out of about 50 different options because it had to evoke the correct emotion.”
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Skepta’s latest Nike Air Max Tailwind 5 collab and its matching tracksuit and bucket hat will be released this Friday at select Nike Sportswear retailers exclusively in Asia Pacific, Europe and Greater China. The shoe will come with a $180 price tag.
