Nike's Light-Absorbing Vantablack Air Force 1 Is for Color Snobs
Calling all chromophobes: Nike is releasing a Vantablack Air Force 1 sneaker, a take on the classic basketball shoe for the color-averse.
Nike teased the pitch-black sneaker as part of its 2024 SNKRS Showcase, an annual preview of the sportswear giant's upcoming yearly launches.
Though Nike did reveal the Vantablack AF1 shoe's name, it did not clarify a release date nor whether the sneaker was actually made in collaboration with Surrey NanoSystems, the company that invented Vantablack, a super-black coating that absorbs nearly 100 percent of visible light.
You might remember that scandal surrounding Vantablack.
In 2014, Surrey NanoSystems granted sculptor Anish Kapoor (one of his most famous creations is Chicago's "Bean") an exclusive license to use to a spray-on version of Vantablack in his work.
This barred other artists from using the substance, a stipulation that Kapoor's art world peers swiftly criticized. In 2017, British artist Stuart Semple created Black 2.0, a version of Vantablack, that he began selling to the public.
Anyone and everyone could purchase Semple's ultra-black pigment — that is, everyone but Kapoor.
"By adding this product to your cart you confirm that you are not Anish Kapoor, you are in no way affiliated to Anish Kapoor, you are not purchasing this item on behalf of Anish Kapoor or an associate of Anish Kapoor," Semple wrote on his website. "To the best of your knowledge, information and belief this paint will not make it’s [sic] way into the hands of Anish Kapoor."
Kapoor did eventually manage to get his hands on Black 2.0, but that's beside the point.
All of this is to say that Nike's Air Force 1 in "Vanta Black" is a wearable reminder of the wholly entertaining art world scuffle.
As far as we know, the shoe will be purchasable by all — Kapoor and Semple included.
