John Kim 
Nike is a company built on innovative concepts and the proper execution of those ideas. For decades, the brand has lived on Air and Zoom, with the 21st Century making way for Free and Flyknit. These four pillars of comfort technology will be mainstays for as long as the brand is breathing, and there’s no mistaking Nike’s dominance in the industry and the influence its had on its competitors. In the mid-90s, Nike raised the bar considerably with the introduction of Zoom Air. It was first featured in a basketball shoe called the Air Go LWP in 1994, but wasn’t officially called Zoom until Spring of 1995, when the brand unveiled the Air Zoom LWP running shoe. Technically, the Air Zoom LWP was half Zoom, half Air, as the shoe featured the tensile Air (the original name of Zoom) only at the fore-foot. What followed was a series of Zoom-cushioned sneakers that have grabbed cult-status, while the big-bubble Air Max joints were getting the mainstream love. It’s clear that Nike is concentrating on bringing energy back to these Zoom-specific models, and it all started with the re-released of the Air Zoom Talaria earlier this year.
It appears likely the the Air Zoom LWP running shoe will return in its “OG” form, but starting things off is a collaboration from NikeLab’s umbrella. Involved in this futuristic interpretation is Louis Vuitton’s Kim Jones, one of today’s most respected minds in men’s fashion who uses his wanderlust and affinity for Huaraches toward his design. He specifically calls out his desire to make it look futuristic rather than retro, speaking to today’s youth with a modern fit of the classic runner. Paired with the footwear is a selection of super-lightweight Windrunners; all of it grouped together is called the Kim Jones x NikeLab Packable Sport Style Collection. The entire set releases exclusively at NikeLab stores (not online) on July 23rd; check out the footwear and selections from an interview between Nike and Jones below.
What are your earliest memories of Nike?
Being obsessed with having to have a pair of Nikes when I was about 13, or maybe even 12, and just nagging my parents to buy them for me. I saw them and immediately wanted them.
Do you have any of them (Jordans and Huaraches) in your archives now?
I have about 500 or 600 pairs of sneakers in my archives, probably. I’ve got them in my house in London and just lots and lots of cupboards in Paris. I’ve got lots of Jordans and tons of pairs of Huaraches. When they first came out, I bought them in bulk because I loved them so much.
What is about sneakers in particular that interests you?
Now I’m interested in them because of the technology that goes into them and how they are developing so quickly and becoming really proper, serious product design. The technology side of it is the thing I really, really like — how it leads the fashion side and that becomes a lifestyle.
The NikeLab Air Zoom LWP x Kim Jones marries inspiration from an original Zoom 95 upper with Air Max 1 last. Why did you select these particular silhouettes?
I like the fact that it has come from an old shoe but has become a completely new shoe. It took quite a few go-s to get it right. At first it was too chunky and then it was too skinny. I was thinking about a shoe that I would really like to wear and be proud of. To have a Nike sneaker is an amazing thing. It’s a real honor.
Are there any other sneakers from the Nike archives that you’d like to reimagine?
There are a few, actually… a Footscape would be interesting to work with, or just taking a few of my favorites and doing that mix-and-match and cut-and-paste to get to something new. So you are taking something that was at the forefront at its time, then bringing it back in a different way so it’s at the forefront of now, because the technology has changed so much and everything is so light and comfortable. People wear sneakers all the time now, so comfort and practicality are the key things. That thing of “time is luxury” is also important to think about. If products can make things easier for you and more simple, that’s important in life — as well as aesthetics, obviously.
