Nike SB Air Jordan 4
Re-imagined for skateboarding, the Nike SB x Air Jordan 4 is the latest collaboration between Nike’s official skate subdivision and the basketball centred Air Jordan label. A celebration of mid-century counter culture, the Air Jordan 4 SB arrives as a creative retool of the iconic ‘89 shape to feature skate-specific updates in a classic collegiate inspired ‘Pine Green’ colourway.
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Built for skateboarding with a design narrative that aims to give back to the growing skate community, the Nike SB x Air Jordan 4 revisits Tinker Hatfield’s original 1989 profile through a technical lens. Established in 1985 as a division that inadvertently brought innovation to both the courts and to skateboarding, Air Jordan’s formidable legacy is one with ties to both the NBA and Michael Jordan, whilst popular silhouettes such as the Air Jordan 1 have remained a skate favourite thanks to its durable construction, supportive ankle height and rebellious energy mirrored by both skate culture and Jordan’s own unrestrained persona. The AJ1 released at a time that coincided with the height of vert skating in 1984, 18 years before Nike released the re-engineered Nike SB Dunk in 2002 and just three years before the shoe appeared on the feet of Lance Mountain in Powell Peralta’s ‘87 video ‘The Search For Animal Chin’.
Designed by Hatfield in ‘89 with developmental ties to the late Sandy Bodecker, the Air Jordan 4 OG was the first from the Jordan brand to be styled with over-moulded mesh underlays, whilst the oversized Nike Air heel logo was a creative reference to the way Michael ‘Air’ Jordan’ played with gravity. Honouring Air Jordan’s already rich history as a skate shoe, Nike SB’s collaboration with Air Jordan began in 2014 with releases from both Craig Stecyk and Lance Mountain marking the beginning of the iconic Air Jordan 1 SB collection. Follow-on collaborations have since included Mountain’s wearaway ‘Paint Shoes, Not Walls’ Nike SB x Air Jordan 1 release that honoured his love for mismatched styling, as well as the ‘Lakers vs Bulls’ wearaway release from 2019.
The first Air Jordan 4 to enter the Nike SB collaborative collection, this retooled skate shoe remains loyal to the original ‘89 shape, whilst the deconstructed leather uppers are redesigned with softened moulded side wings and extra flexible eyestays in a Pine Green colourway already seen across skate shoes including the Nike SB Blazer Low and Blazer Mid. Featuring a reinforced toe vamp, Nike SB Zoom Air heel inserts and a Poron sockliner, whilst this redesign removes the original forefoot Air unit for increased boardfeel. Flat style laces secure the Jordan ‘Flight’ embroidered tongue in place, whilst the rubber outsole features a grippy underfoot tread. Finished with a moulded heel piece, 3D style ‘Nike SB’ heel branding and with a co-designed Flight box.
A homage to the mid to late ‘80s and to the peak of both vert and street skate evolution, skaters such as Eric Koston and Kaspar Van Lierop act as some of the creative minds behind the Nike SB Jordan 4’s design process. Meticulously designed and tested to offer the best in boardfeel, flexibility and pre-Dunk nostalgia, this release is joined by an accompanying long-form video featuring the likes of Caleb Barnett, Oski Rozenburg and Dashawn Jordan.
