What Makes The Nike Air Max 90 So Special?

Air Max 90 Infrared Original via Sneaker Freaker

For its 30th anniversary, Nike has been dropping countless color ways of one of their most important sneakers of all time, the Air Max 90. Or as the latest "Infrared" colorway of the Radiant Red variety is being called, the Air Max 3. So what makes the Nike Air Max 90 so special?

To understand the impact of the Air Max 90, we have to look back at two shoes that really set the stage for this iconic sneaker. In 1987, legendary designer Tinker Hatfield created the Air Max 1. This was the first sneaker to ever use Visible Air cushioning.

Before that, every shoe that had Air cushioning (thinking about the Air Jordan 1) never exposed the cushioning. The Air Max 1 was revolutionary and Nike's use of The Beatle's Revolution in their commercial only furthered its social impact. Not long after that, MJ winning the Dunk Contest in the Air Jordan 3 and Mars Blackmon promoting the Air Jordan 4 made Visible Air bubbles in your sneakers the wish of every kid that wanted to be like Mike. Not to mention, athletes like Bo Jackson and John McEnroe feeling the flames in other sports.

So in 1990, when Nike unveiled a bigger Air cushioning unit in the heel of the Air Max 90, it quickly became the most identifiable sneaker on the market. While it didn't sell out in the ways we've come to expect shoes to today, the global awareness of Nike Air leveled up thanks to the "Radiant Red" of the original release.

Nike Air Max 90 "Air Pres"

The awareness even hit the White House when then President, George H W Bush, rocked a one of a kind pair labeled as the "Air Pres" version of the Air Max 90.

DQM x Nike Air Max 90 "Bacon"

30 years later the Nike Air Max 90 has become a collab favorite from boutiques like Dave's Quality Meat in New York City who released the famous "Bacon" AM90 for the 15th anniversary in 2005, KAWS who released two colorways in 2008, and more recently, Virgil Abloh and Undefeated, who have dropped multiple colorways in the past few years.

Now that Nike has dropped the Air Max 90 in a plethora of new colorways for the 30th anniversary, the only question is, which colors will you add to your Sneaker Throne?