Air Afrique Pays Tribute to Afro-Diasporic Elegance With New Nike Collaboration
The launch campaign for the Air Max RK61 features Ivorian football legend Didier Drogba, renowned Malian singer Oumou Sangaré, Ivorian sprinter Marie Josée Ta Lou-Smith, and Mme Daba Traoré, a former employee of the defunct Air Afrique airline.
Acclaimed actor Issa, left, and football legend Didier Drogba feature in the Première Classe campaign for the Nike x Air Afrique Air Max RK61.Air Afrique x Nike
Paris-based creative collective Air Afrique has teamed up with Nike to launch the Air Max RK61, a dress shoe silhouette rooted in the Afro-diasporic tradition of traveling home while dressed to the nines. The new shoe applies Nike’s classic Air technology in a way that blends cultural memory with modern design, a sporty attitude, signature technology, and sartorial elegance.
Inspired by the now-defunct pan-African airline of the same name, and its eponymous cultural magazine issues that could be found in its planes, the Air Afrique collective’s latest collaboration pays homage to the historic airline’s legacy of connecting French-speaking West and Central African countries, and their diasporas.
The shoe is named after the original Air Afrique’s flight code, RK, as well as a nod to its founding year, 1961. Air Afrique was formed by 11 African countries, following the wave of independence that swept through many former French colonies the year before.
“The notion of Air is deeply connected to our history: Air Afrique, the airline itself, took to the skies to transcend cultures and newly independent African people,” says Ahmadou-Bamba Thiam, Air Afrique collective cofounder and editor of its magazine. “We also speak of Air as a symbolic, metaphorical elevation through culture and humanity. This concept was really our starting point for the product design and was central to creating the elegant silhouette of the Air Max RK61.”
Co-founders Lamine Diaoune, Djiby Kebe, Jeremy Konko, and Ahmadou-Bamba Thiam transformed Air Afrique’s heritage into a multidisciplinary platform for Afro-diasporic cultural expression.Air Afrique x Nike
The Air Max RK61 draws inspiration from the classic Air Max SNDR and moccasin styles, with design details nodding to aviation heritage, including an Air Max unit inspired by a jet engine, Morse code spelling “Air Afrique” on the outsole, a zipper pull featuring the original airline logo, and a jacquard sock liner reminiscent of vintage aircraft seats.
The launch campaign features several cultural icons, including Ivorian football legend Didier Drogba, renowned Malian singer Oumou Sangaré, Ivorian sprinter Marie Josée Ta Lou-Smith, and Mme Daba Traoré, a former employee of the original airline.
The Nike x Air Afrique Air Max RK61 applies Air to a new canvas, blending cultural memory with modern design, a sporty attitude, signature technology, and sartorial elegance.Air Afrique x Nike
“This project is meant to bring out the rich history of Air Afrique, highlighting what the airline represented as an achievement for the continent and the people of those West African nations, domestic and abroad,” says Jupiter Desphy, the silhouette’s lead designer.
Meanwhile, Ahmadou-Bamba shares that this collaboration, an extension of last year’s Air Afrique Football Club campaign, is based on the excellence generally associated with Nike as a leading global sportswear brand. “There’s intention and distinction in every Nike innovation and design decision, and that’s what connects them to our story with Air Afrique — because that intentionality is at the center of everything we do.”
The Nike x Air Afrique Air Max RK61 will be available globally from October 9.
