Nike is using Air Max Day to look forward, not backward. Alongside headline models like the Air Max 95, Air Max 90, Air Liquid Max, and Air Max 1000, the brand has now introduced Air Works, a new program built around global design talent and 3D-printed footwear.
The idea is simple, but the reach is big. Nike is bringing in eight designers from Beijing, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Shanghai, and Tokyo for a special creative session at its Beaverton headquarters this May. Once there, they will work directly with Nike mentors, engineers, and Zellerfeld to develop original 3D-printed Air Max concepts shaped by their own identity and the communities they represent.
Nike is clearly treating this as more than a one-off workshop. The program also includes access to some of the brand’s most important innovation spaces, including its archives, research labs, and footwear design facilities. That gives each participant a chance to build from Nike’s Air legacy while pushing the category somewhere new.
The finished designs will not hit retail in a wide release. Instead, each creator will receive a limited friends-and-family version of their shoe, with launches happening locally over the next year ahead of Air Max Day 2027. More than anything, Air Works feels like Nike opening the door for a new generation to help define what Air Max becomes next.
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