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Remove Before Flight.
Welcome to today’s Nice Kicks’ Throwback Thursday where we pay tribute to the Nike Air Zoom Rookie PRM “Galaxy” — a sneaker which nearly a decade after its release has maintained its staying power and cultural relevance in a highly progressive, forward-thinking era centered around sneaker technology and high fashion on the part of influencers.
In 2011, Nike Sportswear embarked on an entirely new endeavor whereby a modern basketball silhouette would be introduced into the modern collection and marketed as a premier, high-quality, stable hoops shoe, one that would be infused with the DNA of two iconic hoops shoes from the 90s golden era of Nike Basketball yet appealing and practical in the modern era.
Led by Marc Dolce, Nike Sportswear Basketball Footwear & Apparel Design Lead, this new project would pay homage to Penny Hardaway and his signature line, one of the most popular in sneaker history, a project whose purpose was to develop a shoe that would evoke nostalgia for basketball purists while at the same time injecting a classic silhouette with a modern twist.
In a 2011 interview, Dolce said, “NSW is where Performance meets Style and past meets present. We’re constantly pushing innovation and technology, and we use a combination of modern and classic craft to do that.”
This quote illustrates the premise and basis for the development of the Air Zoom Rookie, one of the most memorable Nike basketball sneakers in the post-millennium Nike era.
Dolce and his design team sought to develop the Air Zoom Rookie as a hybrid and descendant of the 1995 Nike Air Flight One and Air Go LWP, classic and popular silhouettes worn by Penny during the 1994/1995 NBA season, a low-key project that took two-and-a-half years to develop.
Many design elements and subtleties of both aforementioned models can be seen in the Air Zoom Rookie including the Air Flight One’s plastic pods along the medial and lateral aspect of the shoe and pod placement and herringbone tread along the outsole, in addition to similarities along the upper and lacing system similar to that of the Air Go LWP.
Other details include a removable tongue and heel pull tabs which when removed read, “Remove Before Flight,” an ode to NASA.
Another interesting detail concerns the front pull tab which when removed, reveal a 1 Cent logo underneath, an ode to whom the sneaker was designed. A final touch involves the insoles which feature the words, “Ballin Is What I Was Born to Do,” a Penny Hardaway quote.
A fashion-forward silhouette, the Air Zoom Rookie featured the best hoops technology including Zoom Air cushioning, a carbon fiber spring plate, and a Foamposite upper, and debuted in myriad of colorways including an Orlando Magic black/binary blue colorway as well as black/anthracite, Memphis red and blue versions, and limited-edition Foot Locker House of Hoops black/red and white/black glow in the dark editions as well.
Images of a rare, purple galaxy sample pair worn by Penny leaked several years ago on social media; however, that version never made it to the final production run, a pair which remains a grail pair among die-hard Penny collectors today.
In 2012, Nike once again moved the sport fashion needle by leaps and bounds by introducing the galaxy motif in the Nike Air Foamposite One, another popular Penny silhouette, during the 2012 NBA All-Star Weekend in Orlando, a release that was met with extreme hype, fanfare, and hysteria, elevating the Penny line and galaxy collection to new heights.
Later that year, following the launch of the Air Penny V, Nike came full circle and outfitted the Air Zoom Rookie with the galaxy treatment complete with its trademark and iconic starry-sky appearance that would surely impress theoretical physicists, mathematicians, and astronomers including Galileo, Stephen Hawking, and John Nash by virtue of its intergalactic aesthetic.
The Air Zoom Rookie Galaxy released online at nike.com in November 2012 in a limited-edition run for $215 which featured black pods and sold out immediately.
In addition to the “black pods” pair, Nike teamed up with Sole Collector Magazine and launched a hyperstrike “Sole Collector Galaxy NRG” version with glow in the dark pods and outsole available only on the Apple iPad and Sole Collector app.
Incredibly, 500 pairs sold out in just 80 seconds with deadstock pairs commanding a premium in the marketplace today illustrating the timeless and enduring effect of the galaxy motif, truly an avant-garde, pioneering, and trendsetting sport fashion movement in the modern sneaker era.
While critics found the pair to be stiff, heavy, unforgiving and lacking sufficient traction on court, the Air Zoom Rookie nonetheless makes for an excellent lifestyle and fashion statement piece, a definite banger from a larger cultural and fashion standpoint.
The Air Zoom Rookie PRM “Galaxy” makes its retro debut on Friday, February 22 for $220 following on the heels of the release of the Air Jordan 6 Retro black/infrared.
In a day in age where releases are commonplace, it will be interesting to see the consumer response regarding this newest version of the Air Zoom Rookie “Galaxy” compared to its initial launch several years ago, a release that truly captivated the entire sneaker world.
Take the Harder Way, lace up your pair of Galaxy Zoom Rookies, remove the pull tabs before flight and ask yourself: black pods or glow pods?
Check out the 2019 Nike Zoom Rookie “Galaxy” via photos from our friends at Sneaker Politics below.
Inspired by the OG…
