Nike’s king-of-street-cred Air Max Plus sneaker now has trail cred too. Nike has reinvented one of its most iconic shoes as a hiking boot, complete with its very own backpack. No, really… we’re not kidding. Welcome to the Nike Air Max Plus Hiker.
But if any company can convince edgy rappers that an idea you’d have thought was more suited to tweenage girls’ roller shoes is, in fact, the height of cool for the trails, it’s Nike. Hell, you have to have somewhere to stash your, um, essential medication.
Other outdoor-worthy upgrades to the Nike Air Max Plus sneaker include an extended zip-up overlay for the upper, which is claimed to make the shoe waterproof – reviewers will be quick to test that, we’re sure. The new overlay zips open to reveal the iconic sneaker’s traditional lace system.
The Air Max Plus’s distinct sole is also evident in the boot’s base, though embellished with a rusty crackled design. The actual grip on the sole doesn’t appear to make many concessions to the kind of heavily lugged mud grippers normally seen on the best trail shoes, but again, let’s see what the reviewers have to say about that. We only have images to go on for the moment.
The famous Nike swoosh on the Air Max Plus Hiker comes in a very striking aged-bronze effect that Nike calls “Patina”. The mini-backpacks feature a similar verdigris-stippled bronze swoosh. Because nothing says hiking like oxidized pipes. (It does look cool, though, and we think the whole point here is cool rather than practical.)
There are no release details for the Nike Air Max Plus Hiker yet, but with Nike blasting it all across the social, expect to see your favorite recording artists trekking the Pacific Crest trail in them soon. Possibly.
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