In celebration of its annual Air Max Day, Nike will release its brand new Air Max Pre-Day sustainable sneakers.

Ever since 2014, Nike has turned March 26 into its very own, full-fledged holiday deemed Air Max Day. It’s a day to celebrate the ever-growing Air Max line which first debuted on the same day back in 1987. For seven years, sneakerheads of all ages have gathered together, in person and online, to sport their coveted silhouettes and show love for the line. For seven years, the brand has released “instant cops” and revealed innovative leaps to the Air technology on this day. For seven years, it’s been a date circled on the calendars of many Nike fans – a day you can always anticipate something great to drop.

In the previous years, we’ve seen cult-classics come back, brand new models introduced, and even mashups of some of our favorite Air Maxes (shout out to FUTUREVVORLD friend Sean Wotherspoon). The emphasis on the day gives all of us a full 360-degree view of this part of the brand: the community of Air Max wearers, celebrating the favorites from before, all while looking ahead at how the brand pushes Air Max forward with its reimagining, retooling, and reinventing of the line. 

This year is no different. Nike is looking forward, and they’re doing so to help ensure there are future tomorrows to look forward to. Yes, 2021’s Air Max Day comes with what you would typically expect: revivals of highly sought after models from the past, new collaborations, and new colorways. But this year, Nike is also using Air Max Day to add a little more depth to the celebration by pushing sustainability through the brand new Nike Air Max Pre-Day model. 

This new silhouette aims to be the best of both worlds with its blend of a late 1970s waffle, jogging aesthetic, and radical 2020s design and technology. Importantly, the sneaker minimizes material waste with at least 20% recycled content by weight. This includes the upper being 100% recycled polyester and the outsole using about 13% Nike Grind Rubber – the brand’s reprocessed material innovation using manufacturing scraps, unused materials, and end-of-life footwear including rubber, foam, fiber, leather, and textiles.  

The Air Max Pre-Day also boasts an entirely new way of positioning the Air unit. Instead of encapsulated it within the sole and seen only through a window in the midsole, the full Air unit is exposed between the midsole and outsole. This allows compression between two hard surfaces to create a uniquely soft bounce in each step. 

The Air Max Day celebration is a global affair. We’re happy to see Nike taking this moment to not just bask in the past or create something amazing for today. Using the Air Max Pre-Day as one of the models to kick off the Air festivities is a great gesture for the overall priorities the brand has put towards our future, including the popular Space Hippie collection, the recent Cosmic Unity basketball shoe, and the brand’s overall Move to Zero initiative. As mentioned in the Nike: Better is Temporary book, “a future without a planet is a future without sport.”

You can purchase the Nike Air Max Pre-Day on March 26 at 10 a.m. EDT via the SNKRS app and select retailers worldwide. 

In similar news, adidas has revamped its iconic Stan Smith sneaker with recycled materials.