Nike and Virgil Abloh have had a longstanding relationship and are cementing it with a book titled ‘Icons’ that explores how the partnership works to unify all the intangible cultural threads connected to sneakers.
Underpinned by The Ten, a design project where Virgil collaboratively explored 10 Nike footwear silhouettes, establishing his now respected reconstructed design language.
The book traces Abloh’s investigative, creative process through documentation of prototypes, original text messages from Abloh to Nike designers and treasures from the Nike archives showing the 50 shoes that Virgil has designed for Nike. Readers will find Swooshes sliced away from Air Jordans and reapplied with tape or thread, Abloh’s quotation marks trialed on Nike Air Force 1s and Converse All Stars cut into pieces.
The book builds upon Abloh’s printed matter practice — archiving, documenting and storytelling through books and ephemera in service of preserving important cultural stories. It will be available from today (Jan 22nd) via Nike SNKRS in America, and through Off-White and Canary Yellow, before a wider release globally on February 5th.
SCDW 