In case you haven't googled "Nike Air Force 1" recently, you get 158.000.000 results, and that's probably just scratching on the surface. The "Forces" and "uptowns" of this world have quite the cult following, and standout colorways, collaborations, and timeless "white on whites" go head to head for the Air Force 1 throne. It's the pure genius simplicity and history that separates the Air Force 1 from many other kicks, and to be honest, entertaining stories in the almost 40 years of existence.

Highlighted by incomparable inside-stories and the sheer amount of knowledge that only someone can tell who experienced the heydays of the Air Force 1, we linked up with Abdul Fouzi and Paul Givelekian for an in-depth retrospective you probably haven’t read before.

Abdul: I moved to Baltimore USA in September 1990 at the age of 14 from Freetown, Sierra Leone. I remember getting off the plane with my parents and my sisters at BWI airport, and on the way to baggage claim I saw an airport worker in, what I found out later were Air Force 1 highs - I want to say white with a grey check. I remember saying to myself "OH I AM IN AMERICA NOW." The next time I got that "Oh I am in America now" feeling the first time I went to a shopping mall but I will save that story for the book. I had just arrived from West Africa and not only did I not know what Air Force 1s were but I had never owned a pair of Nike sneakers, I actually pronounced it 'Nyke' instead of 'Ni-kee'. I started 11th grade in Baltimore a few days later and it did not take long for me to realize this was the sneaker of choice not just for high schoolers but for the whole city of Baltimore.

PG: Maybe the Air Force 1 was the true head-turner when it came out – I wasn’t there to confirm. When I fell in love with the AF1, it wasn’t the glamour shoe. It wasn’t the new Air Jordan. It wasn’t the $150 Air Max with the biggest air bubble I’d ever seen, but the dudes who wore AF1s were much cooler than the dudes who wore those other signature lines. They were kind of the working man shoe – the “hustler shoe” back when that term had organic meaning. They just MADE them fresh.

But let's go further back in time to understand the importance of the Air Force 1, back to 1977, when the Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Portland Trailblazers in the NBA Finals. Three years later, in 1980, they lost to the Lakers, and just when they thought they hit rock-bottom, Philly signed Moses Malone in 1982, the league's MVP to knock on the doors of NBA promise land.

Fo-fo-fo (4-4-4)! Moses was a confident guy, so it came with no surprise that just before post-season started, he made a statement that the 76ers would sweep every opponent and win the championship – four wins, three teams, no losses. It turned out to be Fo-Fi-Fo, as they lost one game against the Bucks, but who cares if you bring the Championship to Philly. Moses did it all with Nike's latest innovation on his feet, the Air Force 1, switching it up from the Nike Franchise Low, he unleashed a must-have pair of shoes to the streets of Philadelphia, determined to change the course of performance footwear. Sparking a cultural and artistic sneaker genesis across I-95 inner-cities, Bruce Kilgore's creation was bound to be terminated just after its initial run. Originally an industrial designer and fine arts sculpture, Bruce Kilgore was tasked to create a basketball shoe with Air cushioning, turning a semi-great Michelin Man-looking like design from a previous designer into a hardwood classic. Later, Bruce also designed the Air Jordan II, Sock Racer, Air Pressure, or Shox technology.

Strangely for today's sneaker world, it was business as usual back in the days to end a sneaker design just after a short period. When once asked about the AF1, Bruce mentioned that five years after his design hit the market, he didn't even know it was still in the making, the Nike Air Force 1 was like many shoes supposed to be "done" shortly after its initial release in 1982. And before we forget about it, another guy you might know was part of the early Air Force 1 supporters, Tinker Hatfield, who was part of the "early testing team" (we created that term, just in case you wondered). Back then, hired as an architect for Nike, he played basketball in Air Force 1s and was blown away by the silhouette that it sparked an interest in him for sneaker design. So, stories write themselves differently sometimes, right, and after pretty much only two ad campaign, one that read "Air will be sold by the box" and one featuring the Original Six (aka Moses Malone, Jamaal Wilkes, Calvin Natt, Mychal Thompson, Bobby Jones, and Michael Cooper) as well as no-more marketing budget in-sight, Nike decided to introduce the Air Force 1 Low in 1983 as a less-performance driven version. And guess what, the now-iconic white on white leather version was not part of the OG selection.

PG: Air Force 1s were super easy to coordinate, so instead of having the one crisp pair of Jordans, we just bought the AF1 in color after color. A lot of people who rocked AF1s had “collections” long before there was such a thing as “collecting” because their thing was having fresh pairs in multiple colors, to mix and match. I guess my mind worked the same way.

All those same attributes make it the most fun shoe to “collect.” It’s not the glamour shoe - again. There’s no cheat sheet or checklist to learn everything in a week and then flash a bunch of money and check all these “grails” off your collection in a year and claim victory over the “shoe game.” That's not how AF1s work. You have to really know the deep cuts, the b-sides. You have to remember history – which is vital info to find stuff – that isn’t documented anywhere. You don’t even want to document it yourself, because then everybody will have it.

Still, several other colorways were produced and built a fundament for today's PE sneakers and collaborations. In fact, in 1984, Nike discontinued the Air Force 1 to make way for new styles, and as already mentioned, that wasn't really shocking. Actually, people were asking for more pairs, and yet again, one town stuck out; this time it was Baltimore. If you haven't heard of Downtown Locker Room, Cinderella Shoes, and Charley Rudo Sports, those three stores single-handedly changed the game of sneaker history, just by asking Nike for more Air Force 1s in more colorways, and the Swoosh went for it. Every month (until Nike stopped producing Air Force 1s in late '84), these three stores, known as the "Three Amigos," got 1200 pairs of each colorway (that was the minimum amount they had to buy), and each month they flew straight out of the shelves.

There was no internet, but the I-95, connecting Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City, was feeding sneakerheads with the latest "Color of the Month" Air Force 1, turning the interstate into footwear tourism. And after production stop ended in 1986, more regional colorways and exclusives were produced, not just for Baltimore, but all across the East Coast opening up an entirely new sneaker horizon. With Baltimore and Philadelphia in the books, New York City, and especially Harlem laid the foundation for the future of the sneaker by giving it a wider community and culture, DJ Clark Kent rightfully said once, no one person made the Air Force 1, it was basketball and the people of Harlem that made it. Until today, if you ask anybody in New York City for a pair of "Uptowns," they know what you are talking about.

The Air Force 1 became Nike's first retro sneaker through its re-release in 1986, and its distribution was nothing but different. Not listed in any catalog, only selected inner-city retailers got their hands on the sought-after grail in the late '80s and early '90s, which was the same time Nike ditched the mesh side panel and added the same leather from the upper for a sleeker, more streamlined look. And before jumping into the discussion when the game-changing white-on-white Air Forces debuted, Nike introduced the Air Force 1 Mid in 1994, the iconic Jewel Swoosh, and in 2001, finally women's sizing. Now back to the iconic "white-on-whites" and its mysterious first release somewhere during the '90s. First seen were "Lows" with a gum-sole-equipped in 1991, "Highs" in '92 (as exclusive colorway), and the all-white leather version being introduced around 1997 the truth lays somewhere in the middle, and we are cool with it.

*Abdul: My love for all sneakers grew quickly but the Air Force 1 had fast become my favorite. There was something simple yet exotic about it and it looked good with jeans or shorts. Almost every colorway looked good and I had to have all of them. I started going to Charley Rudo Sports located in the Liberty Heights Shopping Center and ended up becoming friends with everyone in there from the family that owned the store, to the manager, to the employees working there and before long it was known that when something new dropped my pairs were to be put to the side. I was 15 years old and on TheList early. Rudo Sports is very important to the Nike Air Force 1 story because the family that owned the stores were instrumental in keeping the shoe alive. Nike wanted to discontinue the model a couple of years after it released in '82. Harold Rudo, his brother Cliff, and Uncle Aaron ran the company which was founded by his father Charley. I still remember the day I found out Charley Rudo had died of cancer in '93. I had met the whole family just because I was coppin a lot of $80 pairs of Air Force 1s. I came from a humble and modest immigrant family that did not understand what was happening. They did not understand where all these sneakers were coming from especially since I did not have a job. I remember lying and making up all kinds of shit, everything from I got them for free to they were giving them out at the library and my parents, bless their hearts, believed me. Maybe they didn't and just did not know how to handle their son in this new country. *

The mosque I attended with my family was right off Wabash Ave (West Baltimore) and I was there on a Saturday when some kid walked in and had a pair of Air Force 1 lows in a color I had never seen before. I asked him where he got them from and he responded with "oh just up the street at Cinderella." I needed to go to this store right away and convinced him to take a quick trip there. Cinderella Shoes was located in the Park Heights neighborhood of West Baltimore and the last thing I expected in the middle of the hood was a sneaker store run by a white man. I was 16 years old when I walked into that shop for the first time and met Paul Blinken. Paul was also an important figure in keeping the Air Force 1 alive along with Harold Rudo and folks at DTLR so nuff respect to him. I became a frequent shopper at Cinderella and it was through conversations with him I learnt about stores in different cities potentially getting different colorways or receiving a completely different allocation of sneakers. It opened my eyes to a different world and I knew I had to start exploring other cities. I started frequenting spots like City Blue and Josephs in Philly, and stopping off at couple of other spots in Delaware on the way home. I recently saw Mr Blinken in 2017 at a Nike event in Baltimore for the 35th anniversary of the Air Force 1 that my boy, Matthew from Nike, had invited me to. I had not seen him in almost 20 years and I am standing with my man Ian and he sees me and yells out "I KNOW YOUUUU". It was good to see him.

In '94 I started working at Champs inside of Owings Mills Mall and my addiction for sneakers got even more ridiculous. Not only could I now buy sneakers at a discount and get them early if I wanted, but there were also the pairs that came out the back door at the end of the day when emptying out the trash ALLEGEDLY. I would spend slow days calling up Footlockers and Champs across the country and seeing what they had. At the time both stores were under the Kinney Shoes umbrella so I could use my discount at Footlocker as well. It was never about "collecting" sneakers to me, but if it was a colorway I loved I wanted at least 4 or 5 pairs of that shoe.

1994-1996 might be some of my favorite years for Air Force 1 releases, actually every year had some banging drops but I still remember my white canvas highs with navy blue swoosh, strap, and outsole, Team USA Olympic Air Force 1 lows for the Olympics in Atlanta, ivory snakeskin lows, black on black lows, black patent leather lows with a white swoosh, white on white patent leather lows. The all black air force with a white swoosh that retroed last year, I still remember buying that original pair in '94 from Rudo Sports in Mondawmin Mall.

Transitioning between inner-cities, basketball courts, and taste-making hustlers of the '80s and '90s, the Air Force 1 became a rap staple through its intertwined history with basketball, from Jay-Z shout-outs, early 2000s Diplomats co-signs, and Nelly tributes, the Air Force 1 transformed to a best-selling sneaker and created a space to collaborate. Roc-A-Fella in 2004 (with the help of NYC sneaker store legend Udi Avshalom), Jay-Z's Black Album, the Terror Squad gave it a go, later on, Nike pushed international partnerships, regional colorways like the "Linen" Air Force 1s from Japan, and offered individuals like Stash, Bobbito Garcia, Questlove or Mister Cartoon as well as selected stores (yet again) like CLOT or Colette, brands like Acronym or Supreme a chance to reimagine the perfect sneaker canvas, aka the Air Force 1. Groundwork they would call it for today's heavily fashionable sneaker world where the likes of Virgil Abloh or Comme des Garçons can do pretty much anything with a sneaker, and that is thanks to all the Nike Air Force 1 that has been created between 1982 and 2020, from Beaverton, Baltimore, and Philly to the world.

Abdul: The late 90's and early 2000's spawned the birth of "sneaker boutiques" and they were getting limited and more exclusive product than the mom and pop shops I shopped at. Personally this is where I think the shift occurred and it went from me building excitement for the shoe to Nike creating excitement around the shoe by doing collaborations with artists/stores/brands and putting out a certain number of pairs. I can admit I fell victim to this and actually loved it (LOL). The game has always been the game and part of it is shittin on everyone by wearing pairs that you know no one else has. Of course this was always secondary to my love for kicks but shittin on people is an extra incentive. The 2000's came around and with the internet I discovered the community of sneaker lovers around the world and I realized the Japanese got super busy. Linens and Atmos lows dropped, JD Sports in the UK was going crazy with exclusive colorways, and STASH was doing Air Force 1 highs and forums like eBay and Niketalk helped me with buying all of these pairs.

Today, 30 years after I arrived in America and a few thousand pairs later I am still chasing sneakers and the Nike Air Force 1 is still my favorite shoe. My father is 79 years old, still lives in Baltimore and when he wears sneakers, he only wears black Air Forces. They say you are a product of your environment and, while that might be true, I have a feeling even if I had ended up in bum-fuck Iowa the Air Force 1 would have still been my favorite sneaker. Last year with the help of a friend, I was taken to a few warehouses in the East Coast that still had between 10-15,000 pairs of sneakers from the late 80s to mid 2000s and we went digging for kicks. While the adult size Air Force 1s had already been cleaned up, I found a lot of pairs of lows and highs from the 90s for my 2 daughters that took me back to my teenage years. My eldest daughter, Sophia, who is now 8 years old has been telling me that the white on white Air Force 1 is her favorite sneaker since she was 5 and it makes me happy to hear that.

PG: People use the term “sneaker game” all the time. No chamber of sneaker collecting felt more like a “game” – in a good way – than chasing AF1s because you are piecing puzzles together, figuring out history as you go. It’s hard to fully explain how fun it all was before you had every answer at your fingertips without sounding either corny or old.

It’s actually kind of the same with both vintage and PE/exclusive type stuff. The rarity is often comparable – even if the perceived value isn’t but it’s the same type of thing. There are so many obscure samples, PEs, etc. …When it comes to Air Force 1s, even for the most experienced collectors, it’s still not uncommon to come across something you never saw before. That’s what keeps it fun, long after most other shoes I loved and collected ran their course.