11 Years of Air Max Day.
Nike has been celebrating Air Max day since 2014. Developed to honour the memories, moments, iconic styles and most importantly, innovation, surrounding the air unit, Nike has deemed March 26th a yearly sneaker holiday. Every year, the brand has ushered in new sneakers, whether it’s regional classics redeveloped by local artists or entirely new silhouettes.
2025 Air Max Day marks the unveiling of the Air Max Dn8. While the sneaker has been teased through fashion influencers and generally released to the public with essential colourways, Nike is opting to offer a full range of colourways on their namesake holiday.
Though we must say, this year’s Air Max day is underwhelming in comparison to the mid-2010s. In the last few years, Nike has stayed silent on the activation front, opting to simply hone in on their generic silhouette launches. While the jury is still out on whether or not keeping everything in-house was a better financial decision for the brand, one opinion rings true: The fashion world doesn’t care about the cultural significance of Air Max Day like we used to, and neither does Nike.
PHOTO CREDIT: Nike
Taking it back to 2014, Air Max day and more importantly, the Air Max, was peak sneaker innovation. The shoe transcended cultural norms, being worn by UK ravers, athletes in North America, and just about every fashionable person who wanted a point A to point B sneaker. Nike started Air Max day with a bang, hosting a pop-up in Shanghai and an Undefeated-hosted event in Los Angeles. That year, we got the OG Sport Red Air Max 1 revisited with a volt green midsole.
In the years following, Nike installed exhibitions in the Paris Metro in 2015 and hosted Air Max Con in 2016 across New York and Tokyo. 2017, 2018, and 2019 marked some of the most impactful Air Max day releases the world has ever seen. The iconic elephant print Atmos Air Max 1 re-took flight first, followed by the launch of the VaporMax, collaborating with Off-White on the silhouette the year after.
In 2018, Air Max Day peaked, sending Sean Wotherspoon and his hybrid Air Max 1/97 to the stratosphere. Looking back, peaked might not have been the right word to describe 2018’s festivities, as the year following, Nike would launch six city-themed Air Max colourways including the Neon Seoul Air Max 97 and Tokyo Maze Air Max 1. Each of these was pounced on by sneakerheads globally, as they were itching to get their hands on Air Max’s, which truly represented not only them but also their culture.
While that history breakdown is a bit beefy, it’s necessary to understand how Nike has dropped the ball in the years following. Nike began launching one-off collaborations with streetwear brands, filming single movies, and more importantly, dropping new sneakers that would end up performing like a general release. As Nike’s investment in Air Max Day diminished, so did people’s desire to celebrate.
Instagram hashtags leading with “Airmaxday20xx” remained between 12,000 and 15,000 posts from 2015 to 2019. In 2020, that number was cut in half, and last year, that number was under 1,000. While social media numbers don’t tell the full story, it’s a terrific signifier of the times, as more and more people are treating social media as a place to express their opinions and beliefs.
There’s a direct correlation between how Nike treats Air Max Day and how much the fashion world cares. In reality, the Air Max sneaker, Air Max Day, and Nike were at their peak when they were innovating the sneaker world with activations, regional collaborations and global launches with big names. As Nike has slowed down on the creative front, and focused solely on launching their new sneakers, the desire to celebrate has diminished.
With today being Air Max day, and there being a lack of exciting releases to celebrate, we seem to be nearing the end of the Air Max prevailing as the most culturally impactful athletic sneaker silhouette.
