When you hear someone talk about Italian leather craftmanship in regard to footwear, more often than not they are talking about the type of footwear that will match your Sunday best, rather than your everyday streetwear. But the like of Nike’s Air Jordan trainers also utilise leather, albeit in a different way to a pair of brogues.
When you’re one of the biggest trainer producers on the planet (Nike) making one of the world’s most recognisable trainers (Air Jordan) it makes sense to connect with the best leather craftsmanship in the world.
The Jumpan and Italian leather craftsmanship can be traced back to 1986. Since then the quality of the Air Jordan has been one of the best in the world when it comes to leather trainer constructions. Not only are they light weight and supple, but they are durable and hardwearing and can be moulded into any sort of colourway that Nike and their designers want to try out.
To celebrate this relationship Nike are dropping their new Air Jordan 1 Mid “Milan”. This isn’t the first time the American apparel designers have paid homage to another city’s influence – the Air Jordan 1 Low “Paris gave us a Dior inspired look. His time, however, it is the turn of Milan.
The look is reminiscent of the neoclassical architecture of the city in muted pastel colours. Think of Milan’s iconic skyline’s heavy hitter, the Gothic Duomo di Milano for design and a Leonardo Da Vinci painting for the colourway.
The look mixes bone white, grey, tan and soft caramel tones across leather, suede and canvas panelled upper. The colour scheme is a recreation of the famous stonework of Milan. The construction is extravagantly premium; the mix of suede, leather and canvas creates great textural balance that is going to make this AJ1 a must have.
The new look drops on February 19 and is guaranteed to be an instant sell out. To make sure you add these new trainers to your collection, get yourself ready for the release.