For my second big research piece, I had to tell the story of the Air Max 90’s journey in the UK. I managed to find a lot of great images for this piece that I was really happy about. However, researching the Max 90’s period from around 1992-2000 proved difficult.
I looked back through my phone to see if I could find any photos of me wearing the shoe during my stockroom days, but instead stumbled across this photo.

I took this image at a Sneakers Unboxed exhibition at the Design Museum on the 12th of April 2022. Captured in that photo is a pair of original Nike Air Max 90 “Infrared” from 1990. Little did I know I would be writing about the importance of this iconic Air Max and its connection to UK culture over 4 years later.

For the more keen-eyed among you, there’s a photo of me balancing the “Laser Blue” in my website’s banner. That’s a shoe I really fell in love with during my time at the Manchester size? days. I had put that pair on hold for months, until one day I finally bought it for £56.50 with my employee discount.

During my time writing about the Air Max 90’s UK History, I would wear the laser blues to the library, hoping it would inspire the words and research I was trying to formulate. Sort of like when a writer wears his lucky writing pants, or a florist uses their lucky secateurs – you get the picture.
Another one for Nike and sneaker history lovers, be sure to give it a read!
Here’s the song of celebration, a tune to celebrate the current feeling of gratitude,