RAIR: An Exhibition Celebrating London’s Love for Air Max

We joined forces with SNEAKER FREAKER and STOCKX for RAIR; a celebration of London’s undying love for Air Max…

To mark Air Max Day 2019, we joined forces with Sneaker Freaker and StockX to celebrate the cultural impact of the over three-decades strong footwear line with an all-encompassing exhibition featuring 20 of the world’s rarest pairs of Air Max, each contributed by a predominantly London based selection of hardcore collectors.

The installation, designed in collaboration with sculptor Joseph Bond, was created using boxes sent in to StockX by customers selling their pairs. The use of this raw and humble everyday material represents both the classic Air Max shoe boxes that collectors would stack and stash in every corner, nook and cranny of their house, whilst also linking it to the younger generations more transient relationship with sneakers built around a greater rotation and often phenomenal resell values.

The centre of the space featured a display housing five of the most interesting and recognisable Air Max boxes from throughout the years, with Sneaker Freaker opening up their extensive archive to provide corresponding articles and imagery to provide further context to each pair on display.

To accompany the visual element of the exhibition, The Drop Date created an aural soundscape, produced by DJ Snips and London based poet William Stowe. The recording brought together testimonies from each of the contributing collectors, highlighting what they had to go through to acquire the shoes, blended together with key sounds from the era to create somewhat of a love letter to Air Max.

With the exhibition powered by StockX and the secondary market playing an increasingly important role, we wanted the exhibition to be an interactive and shoppable experience, so each shoe on display features an accompanying QR code, which can be scanned on your phone to automatically open up the model in question on the StockX app.

A big thanks to Bad Sports for providing food and booze during the launch event.

The RAIR exhibition by THE DROP DATE and SNEAKER FREAKER, powered by STOCKX ran from WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH through to SUNDAY 31 MARCH at 15 BATEMAN STREET, LONDON. If you couldn’t make it down in person, check out the video edit below to get a taste of what was on display. Click the banner to see the latest AIR MAX options on STOCKX.

A full list of the exhibited trainers:

NIKE AIR MAX 95 SPRUCE (1995)
NIKE AIR MAX 96 GOLDENROD (original)
NIKE AIR MAX TL (1998)
NIKE AIR MAX 1 SC LEATHER ROYAL (1999)
NIKE X ATMOS AIR MAX 1 SAFARI B
NIKE AIR MAX 1 SHIMA SHIMA
NIKE X ATMOS AIR MAX 1 VIOTECH
NIKE X STASH AIR MAX CLASSIC BW
NIKE X DQM AIR MAX 90 BACON
NIKE X PARRA X PATTA AIR MAX 1 AMSTERDAM
NIKE X SIZE X DAVE WHITE AIR MAX 90
NIKE AIR MAX 90 POWERWALL LEMONADE
NIKE AIR MAX 93 POWERWALL BRS
NIKE AIR MAX 90 HOMEGROWN
NIKE X BEN DRURY AIR MAX 1 HOLD TIGHT
NIKE X KAWS AIR MAX 90 WHITE/NEON
NIKE X DIZZEE RASCAL AIR MAX 90 TONGUE’N’CHEEK
NIKE X PATTA AIR MAX 1 CHLOROPHYLL
NIKE X PARRA X PATTA AIR MAX 1 CHERRYWOOD
NIKE X MITA AIR MAX 95 (prototype)