Nike to Celebrate 40 Years of Air Max With Lost Samples Collection

Although the 40th anniversary of Nike‘s Air Max line is still nearly a year away, the brand has already previewed a celebratory collection at Paris Fashion Week.

The Nike Air Max “Lost Samples” pack is made up of three revisions of the launch colorways for the Air Max 1, Air Max 90 and Air Max 95. Each features clouded bubbles to suggest aging, and the Air Max 90 takes the idea further with a distressed upper in the Infrared colorway.

Starting with its Sport Red colorway, the Air Max 1 swaps its namesake color for blue in a few subtle areas. The color change comes on the upper eyestay panels and the forefoot of the outsole, as well as Swoosh on the otherwise unchanged tongue tag.

Rounding out the trio is a take on the Air Max 95 Neon with orange substitutions on its Big Bubble heel unit and eyestay loops and a green and orange gradient on the outsole’s shank.

Designed by Tinker Hatfield, the Air Max 1 debuted March 26, 1987, in Sport Red. It was the first Nike sneaker to feature a visible Air unit, the idea of which came to Hatfield after seeing the exposed elements of the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

With the series still being updated to this day, most recently through the Air Liquid Max, the trio involved in this collection represent the three most popular sneakers in the nearly 40-year-old history. Nike likely has much more in store to celebrate the ruby anniversary, much of which should surface via official or unofficial channels as the occasion draws nearer.

So far, the Nike Air Max “Lost Samples” pack has only been confirmed for a spring 2027 release window, but it could very well come on Air Max Day. Pricing is set at $160 for the Air Max 90, $170 for the Air Max 1 and $200 for the Air Max 95.