Nike Blazer x sacai

Blazer x sacai

Nike’s partnership with luxury Japanese fashion brand sacai began in 2015, and by 2018, they had developed their own distinct collaborative style. Characterised by the combination of timeless silhouettes from Nike’s back catalogue, this design format was inspired by the centuries-old Japanese art of kintsugi, which involves delicately repairing broken pottery using an adhesive infused with gold, silver or platinum powders. As well as reviving damaged items, this method seeks to celebrate the imperfections and complex history of each individual piece. In a similar way, Nike and sacai pieced together new sneakers from old models to form unique designs that highlight and honour the legacy of classic silhouettes. One of these stunning creations is the Nike Blazer x sacai.

When it was first seen on the catwalk during the spring/summer Paris Fashion Week of 2019, the Nike sacai Blazer showed off its composite look – a hallmark of the Japanese label’s work. Sacai’s founder, Chitose Abe, had developed her design philosophy, part of which involves a focus on hybridisation, while working for another Japanese fashion brand, the Paris-based Comme des Garçons. Having clearly applied the notion to her collaborative efforts with Nike, she left the audience to figure out which two sneakers were being represented in this new creation. The general shape of the shoe is unmistakably that of the Blazer, but it carries other distinguishing features from the classic 70s silhouette. It has the same herringbone grip outsole and a midsole that exaggerates the build of the original Blazer by layering up its textured exterior over the edges of the upper and several times up the heel. It also has exposed foam on its two tongues and a cut-away heel panel, here with intermingling Nike and sacai text printed across it; a characteristic branding effect repeated on the rear of the tongue label and the insole.

Alongside these recognisable design elements, the first Blazer x sacai sneaker has other features not associated with the OG silhouette. Both tongue labels display Nike branding with a more 80s look than the Blazer’s vintage logo, and there is a pull tab emerging from the heel. On top of this, it has two overlapping eyestays, the upper one with a wavy edge, the lower one with a single flat curve all the way from the collar to the forefoot, just like the eyestay on the Blazer. It also has dual swooshes on the sidewalls, the primary one clearly that of the Blazer, with its arcing edge swooping down each flank from a high starting position on the heel. The secondary swoosh, meanwhile, begins lower down the heel, moving in a straight line along the flank to finish further towards the front of the midfoot. Connecting the dots, eagle-eyed sneaker fans were able to identify the second silhouette as one of Nike’s 80s classics: the Dunk.

2019 produced four colourways of this eye-catching mashup, some in neutral tones and others in a diversity of bright colours. The former appear on the elegant White Grey and the stealthy Black Grey, while the latter can be found on the Black Blue, with its University Blue accents, and the retro-looking Maize Navy, which is known to some as the Snow Beach and has a radiant yellow upper overlaid by dark blue and red swooshes. The eccentric combination of the Blazer and the Dunk made this first run of Nike Blazer x sacai sneakers a huge success throughout 2019, and it wouldn’t be long before the two brands joined forces again.

In fact, fans of the collaboration had to wait a mere two years for the next Blazer offering. Arriving in 2021, it came in the form of the Blazer Low x sacai – an updated version of the 2019 Mid featuring a similar blend of Blazer and Dunk, but this time with a low-top collar whose exposed foam makes it look as though the designer has simply taken the Mid and sliced it in half. Aside from this, many of the other elements remain the same. The outsole has familiar herringbone grip lines running across it, and the midsole is still stacked into layers, while the dual swooshes, eyestays, laces and tongues also make a return. There is no heel panel as this normally resides higher up on the collar, but dual branding highlights the insole once more. Each of the tongues has its own label, one displaying a Nike sacai logo, the other a heritage Nike Sportswear emblem. Two of the low-top colourways also introduced suede onto the upper in place of the usual leather, thus giving them a plush outer texture. These are the dapper Iron Grey, with its combination of white and dark grey tones, and the British Tan, whose scarlet and brown hues are the perfect complement to one another. The other two colourways in this set use traditional leather, the Magma Orange layering bright orange and yellow swooshes over its white upper, and the Classic Green combining green, white and blue atop a grey base layer.

Later in 2021, Chitose Abe teamed up with KAWS to craft an apparel collection known as Wearable Art – a series of avant-garde garments that blur the lines between art and fashion. The American artist and designer was then invited to join the Nike x sacai collaboration, thus forming a powerful triumvirate of creative minds. Together, they made several low-top Blazers, each one employing the same general design as the others to be released that year, with the notable addition of the KAWS XX emblem debossed into the lateral forefoot of the midsole. The double X motif has also been incorporated into the Nike sacai logo to succinctly represent the three collaborating forces.

The group developed four colourways in total, beginning with the Neptune Blue, whose azure base layer supports overlays in tones including yellow, scarlet and teal, and the rich maroon Team Red, with its suede and leather panels coming in a range of primary colours. Their other two designs are just as colourful – the vivid upper of the Purple Dusk with various pastel hues decorating its overlays, and the Reed hosting a deep blue primary swoosh and a creamy white secondary one on its tan-coloured flanks.

2022 then saw two more Nike sacai Blazer Lows added to the series, these opting for classic black and white tones. KAWS had now departed the team, so they returned to the original low-top design from the year before, stripping things back in the construction of the Black Patent and White Patent. The former has sleek black patent leather on its upper with a bright white Blazer swoosh atop a black Dunk swoosh and a pair of tongues that are also tonally opposed. Meanwhile, the latter features a white patent leather upper that sets the tone for a mostly monochrome sneaker with off-white highlights on its secondary swoosh and tongue.

Although the Nike Blazer x sacai models so far created are somewhat abstract in appearance, Abe’s mastery of design allied with Nike’s footwear expertise has ensured that they are still incredibly stylish shoes that could even be considered artistic compositions. In bringing together two of Nike’s most beloved silhouettes, the brands forged a popular new sneaker with its own distinct identity that skilfully walks the line between art, streetwear and fashion.