Nike and Off-White: "The Ten" was a sneakers collaboration between Nike and Off-White in 2017. It initially involved the deconstruction of ten iconic Nike silhouettes, designed by Founder and CEO of Off-White, Virgil Abloh. The ten shoes were individually broken down by Abloh, and then rebuilt with a different design and rearranged components. The collaboration sold out and the shoes became highly sought after. Further additions to this collaboration were then added throughout 2018 and 2019 which included endorsements from athletes and celebrities but are not included in the original "ten".
Creation process
The ten Nike shoes were deconstructed and redesigned by Virgil Abloh throughout early 2017. The collaboration between the two brands was officially confirmed in late August, however Abloh had been working on the designs since much earlier in the year and teased them throughout. The design process involved Abloh taking each individual shoe, breaking it down with an X-ACTO knife, removing and altering key elements of the shoe. He maintained the foundational silhouette of each shoe, but added small fabrics and panels and relocated parts. Abloh concentrated his design towards editing the stitching and tongues of each of the shoes.
Abloh designed each shoe to have a print on the inside of each shoe, reflecting the creative process and location of creation. It was titled "Off-White for Nike" then a line which included the name of the shoe that had been remodelled and then two lines saying "Beaverton, Oregon USA" and "C. 2017". Beaverton, Oregon, being the location at which these shoes were designed. Abloh also added the name of the main material of the specific shoe to the midsole in bold black quotation marks, a signature trait of Off-White and Abloh. These examples include 'AIR' and 'FOAM'.
A key part of the creation process was adding the signature Off-White zip-tie that is attached to Off-White products. All the shoes in this collaboration featured the red zip-tie that features the date, name of collaboration and 'zip-tie' in bold white letters.
All the shoes in this collaboration had laces and the word "SHOELACES" was written in bold at the end of each shoelace. Every shoe came with multiple pairs of shoelaces and were different in colour.
Abloh created all the shoes in men's sizes. Except for the Air Force 1s, which were released in toddler sizes in the all black and volt colour-ways. Abloh added deconstructed versions of the Air Max 97, Blazer Mid and Waffle Racer in Women's sizes only.
During 2019, Abloh shared images from his 'Figures of Speech' exhibition at MCA Chicago, which included initial samples of Nike and Air Jordan shoes from this collaboration. It included remodelled versions of the Air Jordan IV, Nike Vaporfly and Air VaporMax.
Deconstructed shoes
Air Force 1
The Air Force 1 kept its original form and features, with the deconstruction occurring on the tongue and the laces. Abloh removed the signature Nike Swoosh logo that is placed on both the inner and outer section of the outside of the shoe and restitched in the same original place, showing all the stitches. It was originally released in the all white colour but was later re-released in an all volt and all black colour.
Air Jordan 1
Abloh deconstructed the Air Jordan 1, the first shoe designed personally for Michael Jordan in 1984 by Nike. The Jordan brand is currently a subsidiary of Nike, thus Abloh was able to reconstruct the Air Jordan 1. The Air Jordan 1 can be found in many different colours but Abloh decided to use the Chicago colours that Michael Jordan played in, being white red and black. Abloh completely took apart the shoe and readjusted the key elements and placed them around the shoe. Abloh also designed an all-white Europe exclusive version of the shoe. Abloh later designed a light blue coloured edition of the shoe on June 23, 2018, containing the traditional University of North Carolina colours, a common colour used for Air Jordan shoes as it represents the university at which Michael Jordan attended. Michael Jordan, Bella Hadid, Drake, Naomi Campbell, Travis Scott, Odell Beckham Jr and Chris Brown were some of the celebrities who received personalised versions of this shoe before the global release. In June 2019 images were released of a yellow version that had initially been designed by Abloh but was never properly released and was confirmed as a sample.