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Nike Blazer
NIKE BLAZER, ONE MODEL, ONE HISTORY
Nike has over the years become the leader of the world of the sneaker and the biggest sports brand on the planet. But it is worth knowing that this was not always the case. In 1973 the brand from Oregon was mainly established in the world of running , where it performed well. The founders of Nike, Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman , wanted more; ambitious and driven by a strong desire to grow by reaching new sports, they decided to set out to conquer basketball. The NBA was enjoying exponential growth, which placed basketball as the number 1 sport in the United States. However, a well-known brand, Converse, was already very present on the courts of the league with its famous Converse All Star Chuck Taylor 70. So the brand with the swoosh had to create quickly and release a model in order to grow its standing. A pair appeared in a minimalist style, made up of a high leather upper carrying a large swoosh. A classic shoe, but terribly comfortable for the footwear of the time, it gave perfect support to the ankles of basketballplayers.
Once the silhouette was created, it needed a name that would stay in people's memories for good. As a symbol, Nike decided to call its first basketball silhouette the Blazer , as a tribute to Geoff Petrie, the first basketball player of the franchise to have worn a pair of Nike in the NBA. Nike would gain a prime ambassador with George Gervin, the famous player of the San Antonio Spurs between 1972 and 1985. A genuinely emblematic athlete, the man nicknamed Ice Man would push the pair to the rank of benchmark basketball sneaker, thanks notably to impressive stats that earned him the title of top scorer in the NBA four times. A true icon, he would be seen proudly wearing the Blazer in the advertising of the brand fromOregon. So Nike had just made its entrance into the world of basketball, but without knowing it, this silhouette would take a completely different turn with the rise of skateboarding and of sneaker culture.
A SILHOUETTE MAKING ITS MARK IN SKATEBOARDING
Skateboardingand hip-hop would begin to emerge and explode in the 80s. Many performance shoes would then take on another, more lifestyledimension, which is what we would come to call sneakers. Gradually the Nike Dunk and the arrival of the Jordan would hasten the decline of the Blazer in the world of basketball, to the benefit of skateboarding. The pair suits skateboarding perfectly, giving riders effective ankle support. Its flat sole and its restrained design make this sneaker a classic that can go with every sport and any situation. There are versions that play on materials, with leather and suede. In the same way the Low version appeared, which would amplify the lifestyle side of the silhouette. Once the model was well developed, the brand with the swoosh would build on strong collaborations, such as those with Slam Jam, Off-White or even the Nike Sacai editions, to widen its reach. The Blazer would enjoy a notable revival with the creation of the Nike SBrange.
STRONG NIKE BLAZER COLLABORATIONS: OFF-WHITE, SACAI, SLAM JAM
As usual, Nike does not hesitate to collaborate with various worlds in order to revisit its classics. There are collaborations that have left their mark on the Nike Blazer , such as the one with Slam Jam. Released in 2019 in a first white colourway, this sneaker, extremely limited to 1,977 pairs, sold out very quickly. Celebrating 30 years of the Italian shop, this model has a swoosh in black leather embroidered in reverse on the inner face, which makes all the charm of the silhouette. A black version also appeared at the end of 2019, taking up the same design. This sneaker shows how much basketball fans love the model. What also gave the model a second wind is the work of the famous designer Virgil Abloh, artistic director of the menswear collections at Louis Vuitton and a big fan of the Air Jordanrange. In creating his Nike Off-White collection named THE TEN, he would put his mark and his vision of a modern, deconstructed fashion on it. Three colourways appeared, playing on transparent materials and a swoosh rethought in its positioning, with the Nike Blazer Off-White The Ten, the Black and the All Hallow's Eve. A genuine collector's piece, this collaboration marked the revolution of the silhouette of the brand with the swoosh. Along the same lines, the famous Japanese designer Chitose Abe and her label Sacai would revisit the Blazer in her own way in 4 colourways, with the Black Legend Blue, the Snow Beach, the Black and the White. True to her work, we find doubled materials with 2 layered swooshes, 2 tongues and 2 sets of laces. Once again, this collaboration was an immediate success. Over time, Nike has managed to read the trends in order to rethink its classic model and make it last.
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