In 1990, Nike debuted the Aqua Boot, a shoe made for water sports like sailing and windsurfing that became a street style favorite. Over 25 years later, the sole of the Aqua Boot provides the foundation for the new NikeLab Air Zoom Legend x RT, a Chelsea boot inspired by the merging of ocean and land in Rio de Janeiro. Created in collaboration with Riccardo Tisci, it marks the fourth time the designer has teamed up with Nike.
“I wanted to combine Nike’s rich experimentation in boot silhouettes with my love of the Chelsea Boot, in particular,” Tisci says. “Shoes like the Nike Aqua Boot or SFB Boot have been equally embraced by niche sport communities and adopted as style staples. After our first collaboration in 2014, when I designed an Air Force 1 Boot for Nike, I knew I had even more visions of this kind of sport style to realize.”
“The NikeLab Air Zoom Legend x RT was made possible through Riccardo’s unique ability to fuse athletic geometries with sneaker aesthetics,” says Darryl Matthews, NikeLab Senior Designer. “The shoe juxtaposes Rio’s lively beach life with inspiration from Brasilian modernist architecture and the formality of a gentrified Chelsea boot.”
The NikeLab Air Zoom Legend x RT is available December 8 at NikeLab retailers and on nike.com/nikelab.
Riccardo Tisci x NikeLab Air Zoom Legend
Black/Black-Washed Teal
908458-002
December 8, 2016
$350
Riccardo Tisci x NikeLab Air Zoom Legend
Black/Black-Light Graphite
908458-001
December 8, 2016
$350
