Nike continues their 18-Part 1World Series with the success of the ?uestLove Air Force One’s. This time giving LaDainian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers a crack at designing his own Air Force One. He sat down with Nike’s Jesse Leyva to create these lux-ed up sneakers. His personally designed Air Force One is composed of all croc. Most of the shoe is white but the baby blue swoosh and Lightning Bolt LT design is also made of croc. To make this shoe even more LT-esque the standard AF1′ lacelock has been swapped out and replaced with LaDainian’s jersey number, which can also be seen on the heel tab in baby blue. For those LT fans, his signature graces the tongue. Did I mention these have a nice icey translucent baby blue outsole?

Some might ask, why so plain? LaDainian wanted to create a shoe that he could wear with anything and if I might say myself, great job LT. I hope the success carries over onto the playing feild.These are set to drop sometime next month. Tons of pics after the jump!

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EmmanueLabor has joined a growing number of sneaker artists who are paying tribute to Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight. His latest project is a pair of Nike Air Force Ones based on the outfits worn by the Joker throughout the movie. These photos were taken from EmmanueLabor’s latest Nike Talk post linked here.

The exterior of the Joker Air Force Ones feature a simple purple/black colorway that is evocative of the Joker’s signature suits. EmmanueLabor shows his true colors with the small surprises on the tongue, heel tag and outsole.

The outside of the tongue features a perfect recreation of the card given to the Joker’s victims in the movie. The tongue’s interior lining is a colorful argyle pattern that is featured on the villain’s socks. EmmanueLabor added scuff marks to the white outsole to simulate the paint that wears off the Joker’s face throughout the movie. I love the Joker Air Force Ones and hope to see other designers step up to the level that EmmanueLabor has set.

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Desp One was asked by a friend to create a pair of custom Air Force Ones with a Toronto Raptors theme. The designer mixed the Raptors colors with his friend’s love of leopard prints to create the “Laptors.”

The “Laptors” feature dark purple outsoles, dark purple leopard spots and a light purple background. There is a hint of orange or yellow on each leopard spot which makes the light purple background look like a thin shroud. Desp One added red to the Nike swooshes and shoe strings to complete the Toronto Raptor color scheme. The colors are well-balanced from heel to toe with a pallet-cleansing white space on the toe box.

Desp One posted his “Laptors” Air Force Ones on the Customsnkr.com blog linked here. While I am not a big fan of leopard prints, I am a fan of well-crafted shoes with great colors. I am sure the “Laptors” were met with appreciation by Desp One’s friend and I am sure there will be a few readers interested in these shoes.

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Image source: here.

Beijing Olympics ended on August 24. It will be another 4 years to 2012, when the next Olympics will be held in UK.

Nike commemorated the closing of the Olympics 2008 with a shoe called Nike Air Force 1 “Closing Ceremonies”. The price is rather steep at $888. The graphic is laser etched over the shoe upper. The sneaker is housed in a special box featuring the significant date, 080808, and this shoe will be released on August 25.

The entire shoe upper is gold colored. The toe box has vertical columns of perforations. The mudguard surrounds the toe box and has the laser etchings of curved lines. This forms a nice border frame for the toe box. The shoe lace and inner lining of the shoe is black. The shoe lace holes are lined on panels that have the laser etchings. The tongue is gold colored and has a tag at the tip. The tag is black, with gold colored lettering.

The main section of the shoe is plain, without etchings. The Nike swoosh is attached over the midsection and it is a plain swoosh too. The panel that forms the heel has etchings again. The midsole has 2 layers. The top layer is gold colored while the bottom layer is black. This is a beautiful pair of shoes.

Last week’s best caption contest winner is Kevin Demosthenes from Totowa, New Jersey with the above caption for Yao Ming as Kobe Bryant does his thing against the China basketball team.

We had a total of 208 approved captions, with many others that didn’t quite fit the audience here at MAS. I would like to personally thank all the contestants for playing. Be sure to stay tuned for this week’s contest. You have nothing to lose and something to win. Enjoy!

Ups-N-Comin has released a new pair of custom Nike Air Force Ones called “Gucci-esque” at the Nike Talk post linked here. The designer feels that custom sneaker artists should be able to transform sneakers into high-end products before they can advance to bigger challenges. The “Gucci-esque” idea has been done by other artists in the past but Ups-N-Comin brings his own flavor to these shoes.

The original Air Force One used by Ups-N-Comin featured a tan/white/blue colorway that is neutral enough for most sneaker fans. Ups-N-Comin added sophisticated touches like golden swooshes and a metal “Ups-N-Comin” tag that would not be out of place on a pair of Gucci sneakers.

I am a fan of the color changes employed by the designer on the “Gucci-esque” Air Force Ones. He switched out the tan for white and the off-white for blue to create a fantastic shoe that would look great in any situation. The design, finishing and overall execution of these Air Force Ones proves that the veteran Ups-N-Comin is at the pinnacle of his ability.

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The Air Force 1 has taken a step up in the new Nike Sportswear Air Force 1 Lux collection. These Air Force 1’s feature premium leathers, flush seaming, shaped tongue and cuff and a polished deubre.

12 colorways of this shoe will be sold exclusively at the 21 Mercer Nike Sportwear store via special order and will take 4 weeks to deliver.

The new Nike Sportswear retail store is located at 21 Mercer Street in SoHo, New York City. This store will offer exclusive access to premium products, an elevated retail experience, and a new customization experience called Nike Sportswear Bespoke, where consumers can work with Nike designers to customize premium Nike Sportswear footwear. Opening August 22nd, this stand-alone store will be the only location globally to carry the complete Nike Sportswear NSW collection, which includes seasonal exclusive 21 Mercer products. Find out more about the 21 Mercer Street store at Sneaker Freaker.

D@ Prince Customs has created a pair of Nike Air Force Ones to honor the main characters of the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. The designer placed the blue spiky-haired Spike on the left shoe and his red haired rival Knuckles on the right shoe. These characters first faced off in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as competitors with a healthy respect for one another.

There are a few small touches used by D@ Prince Customs that complete the sneaker’s video game theme. The checkerboard pattern that is found in every Sonic game, comic book and cartoon runs from the heel to the collar strap. The designer added the name “Jamal” in Sega lettering as a subtle way to brand his shoes.

I found these photos from the first post by D@ Prince Customs on Nike Talk linked here. Readers who are interested in procuring a pair of custom sneakers from this designer can head to his website linked here.

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Source of images: here.

These sneakers are not for sale. DJ Clark Kent designed these shoes as a special collector’s item. These shoes are named as “Beijing 2008 And The Winner Is …” They are Air Force Ones using the metallic trilogy. They use the colors of gold, silver and bronze.

The toe box ix silver colored with perforated holes. The mudguard is bronze colored. The main body has a silver colored panel of leather. The Nike swoosh is bronze in color. The shoe lace panels are gold colored and so is the shoe lace. The shoe laces are densely laced together and the tongue is not visible. Only the tip is visible and there is a white tag with the Nike label on it. The inner lining of the shoe is white-silver and has small specks of silver on it.

The midsole is white and thick. Around the heel, there is a gold colored line and the word Air. The outsole is beige colored and extends upwards to show at the midsole. The outsole has a mixture of different tread patterns. These treads are densely arranged to provide good grip on the surface.

I like this shoe. It is too bad DJ Clark Kent decided to make only one of this model.
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Ras Martin has created sneakers in the past that represent the blurring of human and animal instincts and characteristics. Martin has turned to the crane as an inspiration for his latest pair of shoes called the Air Force Cranes. The designer references the myriad crane positions used in martial arts including the Fujian White Crane style favored in southern China.

The left shoe features images of a crane including an upclose image of the crane’s head on the interior side. The right shoe has images of martial artists engaged in crouching positions with contorted hand positions that look like silhouettes of crane heads. Ras Martin did not feel that the space between both shoes meant that the human and animal elements needed to be separated. Both toe boxes feature human and swan features that create a unified narrative for these Air Force Ones.

Ras Martin has posted a bunch of Air Force Cranes photos in his latest entry on Nike Talk linked here. The detailed imagery applied to these sneakers should be examined from multiple angles for a full appreciation of Ras Martin’s work.

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