Nike and Stussy's Latest Sneaker Collab Feels Like the Swoosh's Next Big Smash
For a few years now, Nike’s leaned heavily on a pretty foolproof method for rebooting long-forgotten sneakers: they let big-name designers have the first crack. Back in 2018, the Swoosh tapped A-COLD-WALL’s Samuel Ross to produce a blocky flip on 2010’s Zoom Vomero 5 before the road runner made its wide return to store shelves a few months later. Last March, they revived 1999’s Air Tailwind IV through an always-covetable Supreme collab, then pulled the same trick in June by letting Undercover’s Jun Takahashi work his artful magic on the ‘80s-era Daybreak. Now, Nike is going back to the well with streetwear stalwart Stussy—one of its longest-running collaborators—and the Air Zoom Spiridon Caged 2.
A little-known performance running shoe from 2003, the Spiridon Caged 2 has all the trappings of its era: a puffy mesh upper veined with shiny metallic overlays, nesting on a tech-y, muscular sole that looks a little like one of the ships from The Matrix. It's the type of wild-yet-unassuming shoe that, as a kid in Foot Locker, you probably would've ignored without a second thought on your way to peep the latest Iversons. In 2020, though, those same overlooked kicks are getting critical reevaluations in sneaker circles, thanks in part to Instagram accounts, like @nike_server and @nikestories, dedicated to shining a light on the missing links throughout Swoosh history.
Stussy, for its part, has done an admirable job of making the Spiridon feel drool-worthy to the widest possible audience. Depending on how you feel about the ugly runner renaissance, there's a colorway for you: there's a gleaming, menacing black-and-silver version that leans all the way into the early-aughts vibes, if you're into that sort of thing, but there's also a subtle, matte, all-fabric khaki take if you're absolutely not. And they've smartly surrounded the kicks with something we can agree on, especially right now: a whole bunch of comfy sweats, highlighted by an extremely good mock-neck tee with embroidered Swooshes encircling the collar. The entire collection drops today at 1PM EST over at Stussy's webstore—but if you strike out there, it's also landing at the UK's END. next week.
Unlike, say, a hot Jordan drop, not many people are begging for kicks like the Spiridon to be retroed—no matter how seamlessly their silhouettes slide into today’s sneaker landscape. High-profile collabs like this one, the sneaker equivalent of Drake hopping on a Soundcloud hit, are a smart move to give under-the-radar bangers the kind of juice necessary to survive in our hype-fueled economy. Based on all the online noise surrounding these Stussy makeups, it feels like Nike’s got another surefire smash on their hands. But we’ll find out for certain soon enough: just as expected, like clockwork, the Air Zoom Spiridon Caged 2 will be dropping wide in its OG colorways later this spring.
Originally Appeared on GQ
