Nike Air Max 90 Drift

Air Max 90 Drift

The Nike Air Max 90 is one of the brand’s most long-standing silhouettes, but in 2024, its designers managed to reinvent the 1990 original with a new model known as the Air Max 90 Drift, altering both its structure and its texture for a futuristic look.

The sole unit of the Nike Air Max 90 Drift remains the same as the classic version, with a grippy rubber outsole underneath a comfortable foam midsole whose Air cushioning is visible through a window in the heel. The familiar TPU cassette surrounds the Air Max unit, thus maintaining its retro style, before the upper takes things in an entirely different direction.

Various layers of hard-wearing materials have been used across the highly durable outer. It is founded upon a tough piece of Ripstop whose captivating grid pattern can be seen across the forefoot and around the collar, while the usual leather overlays have been replaced by various synthetic and rubber panels, including a protective toe cap and smooth sidewall coverings. Into these last pieces, large swooshes have been etched, their edges straighter than those on the original shoe. In fact, this angular design is a theme of the Drift, which has geometric shapes throughout, with pointed corners rather than smooth curves on the edges of its eyestay and heel tab.

The Air Max 90 Drift also benefits from some other practical features, including the strong, armor-like material on the extended mudguard that runs along each flank and the reflective pull tabs on the tongue and heel. The tongue itself is broad, offering protection over the top of the foot, and it comes without a woven patch, instead having Nike Air Max branding printed directly onto it.

With its complex mix of panels and materials, the Drift provides ample opportunity for stylish color-blocking, and in late 2024, Nike announced that it would be bringing the bold beige, blue and orange tones of the 1991 Mowabb to the silhouette. Inventive combinations like this pay homage to the era that both models came from and give the Air Max 90 Drift a nostalgic charm.

Powerful in its construction and dynamic in its appearance, the Nike Air Max 90 Drift looks both like an artifact from the past and a cutting-edge shoe of the future. Its durable features work together with the classic comfort delivered by its Air Max sole to create a silhouette that is great for everyday wear, while its compelling esthetic makes it a modern and stylish design.