Nike roll out the special edition treatment for their three big hitters from the Premier League, launching the Air Max Club collection, which sees special ‘alternate’ shirt designs for Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, all inspired by the Swoosh’s illustrious back catalogue of Air Max sneakers.
Last season, Nike looked to the natural connection between sneakers and football for inspiration for the full collection of 2020/21 third shirts for their Champions League teams, weaving together admired club identities with storied sneaker designs in the kits. Now, before you get your hopes up, the Air Max Club Collection shirts for this season aren’t fourth shirts and so sadly won’t be worn on pitch by Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs. Instead, this is an exercise in Nike flexing their impressive creative muscles and drawing inspiration once again from their the iconic Air Max franchise and sneaker heritage for the three-shirt setup that's reserved for the street and exclusive to the three Premier League sides.
First up, Liverpool get their first taste of being involved in one of Nike’s showpiece releases, and their special edition jersey has been inspired by the Air Max 90 OG colourway, with the classic Nike Air logo replacing the traditional Swoosh. Pinstripe lines – a look familiar for the Premier League champions – run down the body but on a white background with the grey shoulders, all colours that are taken from the sneaker. The shirt is then complemented with a full lifestyle collection through a colourway that has a strong visual connection to the city.
Chelsea’s shirt draws inspiration from the Air Max 180 OG colourway. Representative of the creativity and cultural imprints within the city of London, the ember glow and ultramarine marry up across the plain white canvas with an embossed ‘180 logo’ in the middle of the jersey. This is a continuation of the third jersey colour scheme and features throughout the entire collection, which also includes a full tracksuit with a ‘90s vibe all round – a modern uniform for streets of SW6.
Finally we have the Spurs shirt, which looks to the Air Max 95 OG colourway for its inspiration. The design takes the same grey hues seen on the sneaker, with the neon accents added in, leveraging the impactful nature of the look of the Air Max 95. The style shows the synergy between Nike sneaker heritage and North London culture, creating an authentic and locally relevant collection for the streets of N17.
Shop the Nike Air Max Club Collection at prodirectsoccer.com
