Lastnight was a special night for Toronto’s sneaker community and Nike fans. We were introduced to our city’s first Nike shoe – the Air Max 1 “The 6”! And it was about time! Toronto has been making it’s global mark on every media front, from fashion, to music, to style-influencers. So receiving our own shoe was basically a birthright! Boasting aside, every proud Toronto-head knows you’ve gotta come correct if it represents the 6. Question is, did that happen?

Before I answer, let’s backtrack to when I received the Nike Sportswear invite. I simply didn’t know what to expect, but I had a clue. I knew the event was themed #tothe6 followed with a request to “wear your freshest air max” (more on that later). I also heard local rumblings describing what would debut. But here it is, “the 6”, delivered to us through the iconic Air Max 1!

Canadian-native and Nike designer, Erin Cochrane, was the one responsible for the creation. To put it short, she hit the nail on the mark. Black upper with a white mid-panel and mid sole. Colors I could get down with and my “athletic-goth” look accurately described by Legends League panelist, Bryan Espiritu.

The red maple leaf accented on the tongue immediately made me think of the colorway choices from the AF1 Acronym edition, coincidentally designed by another homegrown Canuck, Erolson Hugh.

My biggest concern was minimalism. Something hard to achieve when you design a shoe representing a city. Its gotta be hard-hitting, but not overly much. You want to avoid logo-overload like a #beentrill piece, but you need to ensure Toronto is unmistakably represented. And that’s what you get with the muted black-on-black heel treatment, the iconic CN tower on the insole, and the white-on-white air bubble. I think you know how I feel about this shoe. So to answer my previous question, “hell yeah“, this definitely represents our city!

In addition to the debut, Nike Canada brought in a group of renowned Canadian panelists to discuss personal stories and the significance of the Air Max to them.

More 6-side talent! Photographer, Jayscale, displaying his work illustrating the beauty of the shoe in its natural 416-habitat. Jay also shot the official event photos for FITTED Ontario Place. Stay tuned for that in a later post.

Playing by the rules, I wore one of my fave AM1 joints – a co.jp 2003 Japan exclusive also known as the “caves” 😛

So when can you get your hands on the “Air Max 1 – The 6”. Soon, the release date is ironically on the 6th of this month – 2015-12-06. More info on Nike Canada.