Always in Colour Exeter store
Spring Launch Event

On Friday 23rd March, we opened up the doors late at our Exeter store to celebrate the launch of the Sean Wotherspoon Nike Air Max AM1/97 and our Spring 2018 editorial, covering releases from Universal Works, Saturdays NYC, Nike, Oliver Spencer, Norse Projects, Fjällräven, Patagonia, Folk, Tender and Battenwear. You can view the editorial here.

Born through a project that saw 12 creative ‘Revolutionairs’ invited to design the future of the Nike Air footwear model, the public-voted winning design was released especially for Air Max Day 2018 and was created by vintage store owner, sneaker collector and avid Nike fan Sean Wotherspoon. We’re pleased to see that a life-long dream to have his own trainer design produced has come true and thanks to a collective effort between Wotherspoon and a team of friends which included sneaker review YouTube God ‘Franlations’, skater and photographer Julian Berman and vintage enthusiast ‘iMaq’ to name a view, the design captures Sean’s love for Nike and his knowledge of the iconic sportswear brand’s rich design archive. As expressed by Wotherspoon “When we designed these shoes, I tried to take my nostalgic memories and create something new from them”, there is a strong sense of vintage influence across the design, taken from windbreakers, hats and old Nike trainers, which together have been presented through the use of fine wale corduroy and selected colour tones as well as combined detailing from two archival footwear models.

Giving the model a distinctive silhouette and finish, the midsole and outsole combine detailing from an Air Max 97 outsole and Air Max 1 midsole whilst the corduroy uppers have been inspired by old school Nike hats. Pastel tones match Wotherspoon’s uniform staple, a white t-shirt and custom emblems include a smiley face with a Swoosh tick smile, breaking waves embroidered onto the tongue and subtle "VA → LA" lettering on the heel tab which reference his roots in Richmond, Virginia and a life-changing move to Los Angeles, California. Pulled from a vintage ‘Have a Nike Day’ t-shirt, the definitive yellow smiley face graphic can be seen across the insole and as Wotherspoon puts it "When you put your shoes on, the first thing you want to see is a face smiling back at you, right?".

As our way of celebrating Wotherspoon’s winning design and the annual Air Max Day, we welcomed the local community into the Always in Colour store with free cocktails and a live DJ set in addition to an exclusive look at the Sean Wotherspoon Nike Air Max AM1/97 which we safely stored in bulletproof lucite on the counter ahead of their hard launch the following day.

Thanks to all that came, it was great to see so many of you and we’re hoping for more late nights with us once the sun stays up later.

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