The document provides a history and competitive analysis of the Nike Air Force 1 sneaker. It outlines key moments in the sneaker's history from its introduction in 1982 to popularization in hip hop culture. It then discusses the sneaker's resurgence in popularity from 2010 onward, highlighting exclusive colorways and collaborations released each quarter. The document concludes by reflecting on lessons learned about maintaining exclusivity, an always-on marketing approach, and balancing tradition with new technologies to drive future success for the iconic sneaker.
5. 1982
Moses Malone Takes
Regular Season & NBA
Finals MVP Honors in Air
Force 1
Air Force 1
Becomes First-
Ever Retro
Sneaker
1984
Original AF1 Created
1983
Air Force 1
Discontinued
1986
HISTORY TIMELINE
1990
AIR FORCE 5
RELEASED
Color of the
month, 3
AMIGOS
1984
12. Q2
• Released one at a
time, overseas before
stateside
• AIR Jordan-Inspired
• Equipped with
custom box and
dust bag
J PACK
FLYKNIT USA FAMILY EDITION
13. Q3
WOMEN’S HIGH FLAX • Women’s version from
men’s flax.
• One of the most sought
after AF1’s, now for
women
20. WHAT DID WE LEARN: EXCLUSIVITY
• The Hunt, making shoe shopping fun
• Exclusivity, low supply & high demand (kids want
what they can’t have)
• Not flooding market too soon
started in 82’, designer Bruce Kilgore, inspiration for shoe came from the president’s plane.
Sheed made it big with signature shoe, wore shoe all throughout early 2000s. Kobe also endores the shoe heavily. Jay z and Nelly brought the attention to hip hop and the streets….if its hot in the nba, the streets and regular consumers/sneakerheads react……consumers and sneakerheads loved the simplicity of the silhouette and the freshness of the all-white look.
These 3 retailers brought the shoe back to life after being discontinued. Demand for the shoe remained high from consumers so the 3 retailers met with Nike and convinced them to bring the shoe back. They made a deal for 1,200 shoes for two colors and each retailer had consumers immediately lining out the door for them. They started the color of the month which introduced a new colorway every month for 8 months. Consumers came from numerous states to the Baltimore area retailers via word of mouth to get the shoe.
Many call the Air Force 1 recent resurgence a great comeback………other loyalists and sneakerheads say it never left
2016 Year in review
Year started off very hot with Nikelab introducing their own mid and low version of the shoe via Nikelab Instagram……followed by seeding efforts to celebs like Bella Hadid who posted several times wearing the shoe…….also media makes posts to announce release and price, where to buy.
Media outlet, Highsnobiety and others, post about Cristiano Ronaldo wearing Ultraflyknit a month before initial release. Both the white original and black low version announced in February only a month after mid and low released…….media for release and where to buy
Very important to note this is a soccer superstar collaborating with a basketball/lifestyle shoe. Can PUMA do this more with our soccer focus??? Why didn’t we for Usain bolt? Per usual……the biggest media outlet grabs the release date and where to buy,price.
J pack specifically made to resemble iconic Air Jordans; it’s a hybrid of AF1 and Air Jordan. Were released one at a time overseas before stateside…..media posts to announce release etc. USA Flyknit initially released in time for 4th of July exclusively but promotes summer olympics at KITH NYC. KITH made a custome box and dust bag to go with it, also received media posts.
Flax was one of the most sought after versions, now making it available to women after original men’s version.
Any time Nikelab releases something its big news…even if its only some new colorways. Q3 was quieter but still had a few key moments with Nikelab colorways and Roshe II.
Like the USA family edition, this also was made ahead of Olympics. “Unlimited glory” gold identifies USA’s unlimited success in receiving gold medals. Numerous media outlets like Sneaker Bar Detroit posted press releases. Only available on NIKEiD. Could Puma use more customization. Is PUMA doing cool customization options like this?
Complexcon was the single biggest thing for Air Force 1 this year. It got everyone talking about their collab with stadium goods reselling AF1 classis for $89, teaser for the Linen rerelease, introduction of the Special Field Air Force 1, collab with Vlone and ASAP Bari which resold on ebay for $90,000. Collab with anti social club. The collbas are key examples of working with the right people at the right time (these are hot brands now). Complexcon served as a huge gateway for product drops/releases. They took a major event that gained a lot of media attention and also had a hugely impressive installation with new and old products to create product heat.
City Pack is unique because it was exclusive to NIKE suppliers ONLY in each’s own respective city (Chicago, nyc, LA) …….you could not buy them anywhere else. They also teased consumers by placing the LA one at complexcon first. Is there anything Puma could do with classics for select cities or areas of the world?
BESPOKE VERSION. Tyller can do whatever he wants with the shoe and it is not sold to the general public. Although not publicly sold, kids will still see how cool this is to colab with a big name hip hop artist for a custom version. This reminds sneakerheads that the shoe still cares about its roots with hip hop.
http://www.vibe.com/2016/11/nike-special-field-air-force-1/ Urban approach – Lunar force 1 to the right, Special Filed AF1 on the left, and A Cold Wall collab in the middle. Great indications for the technology going into the future of Air Force 1 shoes, but also serves as bridging the gap between classic silhouette/design and newer consumer approaches. The bottom left image is a modernized version of NBA stars they used as a transition from the original Air Force 1 ad I used in my 1st slide.
Nike made shoe shopping fun for consumers, like hunting for shoes. They also provide mostly low supply for the AF1 which has resulted in high demand because everyone, especially youth want what they cannot have. Think Johnny Cupcakes. Nike also didn’t flood the market too soon. They waited until Q4 for their huge push after riding the wave from Q1-Q3 with key drops here and there. They did not oversaturate the market the whole year and they did not worry about cash flow and hoping for a good ROI from only mass producing a few major skus……instead they focused on giving consumers cool, groundbreaking, and unique and stylish versions as well as their traditional classic, with that the good ROI will come later but the emphasis was to give consumers what they want. And they did.
Always dropping products. Keeping consumers on their toes and constantly giving them something new and different, but with exclusivity instead of mass mass producing everything. They didn’t have to rely and hope on only a few shoes for a good return on investment. There was good flow of new products on the first 3 quarters, then Q4 really made a big push to get the word out moving into the new year, 2017.
Specialty boutiques for re-releases, nike retail in certain cities, nikelab, champs for basic colorways, nikeid for some releases like reflective camo, Nike SoHo for exclusives too, Nike+ SNKRS App. Importance of this is being able to use different channels to attract consumers whether it be via an app an exclusive account, or big public event like Art Basel. They know their consumers well and it shows with their placement of distribution. Big collabs and groundbreaking styles get placed in key events and popular accounts like KITH while more simplistic general colorways are placed in champs and footlocker etc as well as Nikelab. Also dropped some shoes on NIKEiD for customization.
Where’s puma’s transition to technology with our classics? AF1 shows how to combine both traditional silhouettes and incorporate new technology to appeal to young consumers.
Media outlets went crazy with posting on every AF1 drop because they created such hype that everything became a must-read. Media outlets need this content. Which in return means plenty of public attention getting out without Nike having to do much work or spend much money. Third parties did the work for Nike as you will notice close to zero internal advertisement from Nike or Nikelab. Maybe can Puma cannot entirely afford to not have campaigns and internal advertisement, but how can we get media to do more help for us? There needs to be more classics being produced to keep up with the market and get people talking again, like other brand classics like Stan Smith’s.
If we had/could taken a more similar path as the AF1’s with their current resurgence………..incorporate more athletes and specifically soccer assets into our lifestyle classics, create different channels for distribution via apps, place drops around more key events such as simple things like the start of the NBA season and college basketball (raining buckets shoe) to something bigger like the summer Olympic (unlimited glory pack and USA family editiion), what about hybrids?? Air Force combined shoes like the lunar air force 1 and air force ultraflyknit. Can we have a shift in distribution to make the shoe more desirable and gain revenue through different channels?
