Nike Aloha was originally designed and produced exclusively for the 1984 Honolulu Marathon as Nike had a long running tradition of sporting new drops exclusively for this event.
The tradition started back in 1978 when Nike released their first Nike Air shoe, The Tailwind. Since then, Nike Air releases have gone from strength-to-strength with the brand surpassing far more than the original 230 pairs they first manufactured for their original Tailwind release back in 1978.
Back then of course, the process of getting 230 pairs of identical trainers would have been a huge feet for many shoemakers, especially in the sportswear market.
However, employees at Nike would have worked around the clock to ensure that production ran smoothly and that the Tailwinds were shipped to Honolulu and distributed across a handful of stores in total.
All stock was then sold within 24 hours and even to this day, Nike Air drops continue to become deadstock within hours, days or weeks if you’re lucky so remain very hot property and arguably comes up champs in the streetwear division. Style aside, the Nike Air drops (in general) are super comfy and genuinely embody a premium look and feel across the ever-growing packs in the range.
The Nike Air Aloha was a shoe that was designed to celebrate the Honolulu Marathon in 1984, with the iconic floral fabric featuring across the entire range of styles. The Nike Air Aloha was released on November 30th 1978.
The Nike Air Aloha was the first Nike running shoe with an eye-catching floral print on the uppers. The design was originally inspired from Hawaiian Hibiscus flowers. The release was dropped in 3 colourways with all sporting the Hawaiian-esque turqoise, mustard yellow, salmon pink and bottle green tropical pallet adorning a black, red or stone backdrop.
We love the drop so much, we actually have all 3 colourways in the Nike Air Aloha. You can pick up a pair of Nike Air Aloha Dunks (UK4) in the black colourway here.
To conclude, we simply love the Nike Air Aloha pack! They’re fun, add a great pop of colour to to an outfit and perfect example of how Nike as a brand are undoubtedly pioneering when seamlessly pushing the envelope and redefining the boundaries between fashion and function.
Roll-on over 3 decades later and you’ll find this great old print being revisited by Nike so a whole new generation (and older enthusiasts like myself) can enjoy this pack of kicks for many years to come! From some new technical running shoes right through to some more recognisable retro classics, say Aloha to your new pair of Alohas in-store.