The Basement is releasing Manchester-inspired Nike Air Max 90s – and they look amazing

Notorious streetwear Facebook group turned creative family The Basement has just released a Manchester-inspired edition of Nike Air Max 90s – and they look amazing.

The super cold kicks look to capture Manchester’s fearlessness and have been designed as part of The Basement’s Air Max 90 “City Pack” collection, which revolves around three UK cities – Manchester, Glasgow and London.

Manchester’s version is differentiated by two densities of hard-wearing, water-resistant Cordura, making them perfect for battling the incessant October rain and bottomless Manchester puddles.

The shoes also feature a jewel Swoosh (an Air Max 90 first), with a black 3M quarter panel running around the shoe – increasing visibility whilst maintaining the shoe’s stealthy aesthetic.

According to The Basement, this design hopes to capture Manchester’s essence as a defiant city that forever defies expectations.

 

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A post shared by The Basement (@basementapproved) on Oct 6, 2019 at 5:34am PDT

The Glasgow edition, meanwhile, features a contrasting safety orange tongue and retro-reflective Swoosh that take inspiration from iconic traffic cone placed upon the head of the Duke Of Wellington statue in Glasgow’s city centre.

And London’s boasts five tones of grey Cordura and a transparent, velcro-edged Swoosh that can be customized by a choice of four detachable Swooshes — Yellow 3M, Dark Grey Corduroy, White Patent or Pearlescent.

Each design will retail at around £140.

Since its release as the Air Max 3 in 1990, the shoe has become a cult classic – following its reintroduction (and subsequent renaming) in the early 2000s.

It has also, over the years, become synonymous with the creative community across the UK and Europe. Manchester rapper Black Josh even penned a dedicated tune, on which he sings “Air Max Lites, Air Max Skylines / Air Max 1’s not 2 but 95’s / Nike’s on my feet and a bag of weed to keep my cypher complete.”

Now these new collabs look to channel that historic energy to a new set of creatives on the up.

The second BSMNT Air Max 90 release drops on 12th October. The Manchester edition will be regionally locked at select retailers and can be picked up from city centre retailers Size? and Selfridges (Offspring).

A donation from the project will go to Youth Futures organization, which currently provides mentorship programming to young Londoners.