Instant Skateboards Nike SB Air Force 1 IV5289-002

The “Color of the Month” series is perhaps best remembered as setting the style foundation for the Uptown, two-tone splits that came to define the choices of metro markets around the country for decades. However, it’s also a truly seminal moment on the business end, as Baltimore-area retailers helped to save the silhouette from the cemetery by issuing exclusive colorways that helped cement the DMV’s claim to being the true owners of the model.

Whether we, in all our hometown bias, would entirely agree with that final assessment is a different story, but we and Nike are in total synchronicity when it comes to venerating the “Color of the Month” ethos. Revived several times in the past decade and change, yet another revisitation is on the horizon, but with a few notable twists. Nike SB, in their stewardship over Bruce Kilgore’s design, is tapping four global storefronts to take on the slouchier, skate-ready Nike SB Air Force 1, and Instant Skateboards’ take is now finally revealed.

The footwear historians will immediately clock the “J-Pack” influence on the Shibuya store’s colorway. Though obviously looking to the cross-category hits from the mid-aughts, the “Pink Box” classic isn’t adapted one-to-one, as the Uptown eschews a blue leather toe in favor of a comprehensive black suede foundation. Still, shifting to the iconic aquatic tone on the Swoosh, heel cup, and branded call-outs at the rear makes the allusion concrete.

The Instant Skateboards x Nike SB Air Force 1 is expected out in the Holiday 2026 window, retailing for $120. Catch in-hand images below. We’ll have any additional developments regarding this pair and the rest of the group here and on our Sneaker Release Dates page.

Written by

Matt Varga, Junior Editor

Matt Varga is an Editor at SneakerNews. Initially earning a degree in Video Arts and Technology, he got his start in video editing and writing in the music world — primarily on hip-hop and electronic. A long-standing interest in sneakers led him to switching over to footwear. An avid collector, his favorite sneaker of all time comes down to either the Air Jordan 1 “Black Toe” and Air Jordan 5 “Laney,” his first ever pick-ups. When he’s not writing, you can find Matt cooking, traveling, attending concerts and when weather permits, on the handball court.