Andrew Rizzo If the massive year the Nike Air Max 95 had for its 30th anniversary in 2025 is any indication, the Air Max 97, largely absent from the Nike catalog in recent seasons, is about to ball out in 2027. In fact, we’re already starting to see the seeds get planted. Joining a multi-pair Nike Yardrunners collection and Air Max 97 “Silver Bullet” in the release pipeline is a collaboration by Italian outfit Slam Jam, a stealthy black makeup rich in materials and detailing.
Already in dialogue with Beaverton via an upcoming Air Jordan 8 collab inspired by feathers of all things, Slam Jam’s Air Max 97 stays within the retailer’s wheelhouse with an all black colorway, most of the store’s collaborative catalog sticking to simple contemporary executions of this vein. The lone teaser image shows a cracked leather mudguard and what appears to be some sort of tumbled material within the mudguard window, both materials then branching outward across the rest of the shoe in different areas. The side window also reveals a metal mini Swoosh rather than the usual stitched motif, a hardware change that could extend to the tongue branding. The bottom half is equally noteworthy, taken with a slight granular effect and white O’s appearing on the full-length Air Max unit. For fans of the elevated yet understated Dover Street Market/Comme des Garçons genre of sneaker collab, these are bound to be a hit.
The Slam Jam x Nike Air Max 97 drops “one month from now” per the retailer’s Instagram, meaning on or around November 2nd, 2026. We’ll circle back with an update once more angles hit the ‘net.
