Designed in 1982, the Air Force 1, is arguably Nike’s most iconic and successful sneaker. In 1988, on the album It Takes Two, DJ E-Z Rock was immortalized wearing a Nike Air Force 1 basketball trainer altered by Dapper Dan with a swoosh adorned in the Louis Vuitton monogram. The cover embodied the hip-hop community’s early practice of hacking together high fashion and sportswear, highlighting diverging brands with equal reverence. For Spring-Summer 2022, Virgil Abloh collaborated with Nike on bespoke Air Force 1s, fusing the trainer’s classic codes with the insignia and materials of Louis Vuitton in homage to the hip-hop culture that shaped him.

In early 2022, news also broke of “The List”: a rarefied group of designers, athletes, musicians, and others receiving exclusive “Friends and Family” pairs of Louis Vuitton Nike Air Force 1s. Big names, from LeBron James to DJ Khaled to Eminem, were gifted with Nike Air Force 1 Louis Vuitton sneakers from a lineup of eight select colorways. Each Friends and Family Louis Vuitton Nike Air Force 1 style – in black, green, orange, purple, red, Royal Blue, University Blue, and yellow – features a solid-colored upper debossed with LV Monogram print, contrasted with white Swooshes, laces, and midsole. This collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Nike has resulted in some of the most authentic, high-end sneakers ever created.