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Over the course of more than three decades, the Nike Air Max has gathered a unique form of collateral. Both in the business of cool and comfort, its revered archetype has become supreme to the point of iconic. Sneaker die-hards argue it to be one of the most important sneakers to have ever been invented, not only for its timeline of nostalgic incarnations, but for its embedded technology. It has pushed the possibilities of what a sneaker can be to far beyond face value (which is, as well, exceptional) and created what has become a talisman of innovation and boundary-pushing experience. Now, in 2025, the next generation of the Air Max, the Nike Air Max Dn8, is here.
Following last year’s Nike Air Max Dn release, the numerical superscript was added for its eight visible, pressurised air tubes engineered into the sole. With four along the back and four smaller ones at the front, the result is a graphic, boisterous, buoyant masterpiece. The new dispersion of tubes allows twice the amount of ‘Dynamic Air’ to that of its predecessors and, in turn, cushions and propels, the entire foot. An innovation never before achieved in the Air Max, it’s one that aims to deliver an effortless and invigorating sense of ‘unreal’ movement.
Lead Designer for Men’s Sportswear at Nike, Jonathan Kosenick, told ICON how the experience of movement drives his process. “When we set out to design the Dn product line, the core insight was, ‘How do we create a shoe that not only has incredible underfoot cushioning, great compression and impact protection, but also has impeccable heel-to-toe transition?’ It was this smooth transition that was our North Star for this entire product line.”
“When Air Max is at its best, it’s about being bold and unapologetic. Air Max is not about saying things quietly, it has always been self-actualised, self-confident.”
Innovation precedes the Air Max brand and it has been known for pushing the limits of human vs. gravity since its inception. The original Air concept was conceived by NASA engineer, Frank Rudy, and made its debut encapsulated in the midsole of the Air Tailwind. So, with a history that focused on engineering, is it simply luck that they look good, too?
“Innovation comes first.” Kosenick explains. “We design the Air unit first and then once we have the innovation down we design. [At first] we’re not really worried about aesthetics, we’re just designing the technology [and] trying to make it perform as highly as possible. [The sneaker] ends up looking the way it needs to for the innovation to work. And then, once we know what the Air units are going to look like (in this case, the eight tubes), we begin designing around them. The hallmark of the Air Max is its design across generations – big, bold, almost graphic approaches to footwear. Think of the mudguard on the Air Max 1 or the stacked layers on the Air Max 95. We knew that for the Nike Air Max Dn8 to feel like an Air Max it had to be built with that same approach. Additionally, we wanted to create graphic elements that draw attention back down to the Air units.”
Clearly the Nike Air Max Dn8, with its light weight body and durable fabric, has arrived to be the future of footwear. The idea of moving forward, figuratively and literally, has been at the core of Nike’s ethos since the beginning. Imagining ways to improve movement is inherent to their design process. The idea of modern fluidity, in all its real and unreal capacities, fuels the Nike Air Max Dn8’s DNA. At an existential level, the idea of movement whether through physical contortion, purpose-built uniform or cerebral visual representation, is one of the groundings of human connection.
For this reason, Nike collaborated with Bella Loke, an Australian photographer, director and pioneer of artistic expression, for a special closed event to be held in Melbourne on April 10 – an exhibition dedicated to the limitlessness of movement. Connecting with several young creators, Loke, created ‘We Move Together’, a contrasting and complementing installation that welds a synergy between varying ideas of movement. With film director Ben J. Read, Loke co-produced a short film centred on the worlds of eight different dancers whose respective styles create unexpected harmony. Then Jaida, known as Jaida the Creator, showcases a sartorial creation, a tracksuit researched and inspired by the way humans and animals move, while visual artist Tyron Tran distributes unique methods of painting into an arc that talks to both the foundations and silhouettes of the Nike Air Max Dn8.
The Air Max is something of a unicorn shoe on the Nike family tree – a diffusion line with its own life source, one sneakerheads are never not obsessing over. So, what might the future hold? “Air Max has existed at the forefront of Nike’s ability to innovate, to take risks and do things other companies might not — even things that other branches of Nike might not attempt.” Says Kosenick. “That’s the spirit of Air Max. We always see it as our opportunity to push the envelope both in terms of aesthetic and performance. On average, it takes somewhere between two to three years for an Air Max shoe to hit the shelf. It takes longer, because the projects are more complicated and they take longer to figure out.”
“I’m working on innovations now that are three+ years into the future and I can tell you that we are continuing to dream big. We’re continuing to innovate and imagine things that have never been seen before, and [developing] sensations underfoot that have never been felt. The goal is to continue to push the envelope and to try to find the boundaries of what’s possible.”
The Nike Air Max DN8 is available now.
