IKNO RELEASE ARCHIVE · This story covers the September 22, 2026 release. Original retail and release details are historical; check current retailer listings for availability.
The Air Force 1 ’01 continues its return with a release that pushes the revived shape beyond straightforward archival colorways.
Nike’s Air Force 1 Low “Menta and White” is scheduled to release through SNKRS on September 22, 2026. Identified by style code JA0248-001, the pair will retail for $140.
The material is the message.
Color-blocked leather is paired with deliberately crackled textures, giving the shoe the appearance of a pair pulled from storage after two decades. The finish reads almost black in certain light before its dark Menta tone begins to show through.
That aged surface treatment feels especially appropriate on the ’01 silhouette—a version defined by the leaner, lower profile associated with early-2000s Air Force 1s.
Not restored. Reintroduced.
This is not simply another vintage-inspired treatment applied to the modern AF1 shape. Nike is using the returning ’01 construction as a foundation for new material experiments, allowing the sneaker’s past and present to occupy the same pair.
The IKNO take.
The Air Force 1 has survived by remaining recognizable while constantly absorbing new stories, materials and cultural references. The Cracked Leather edition respects the proportions collectors remember without treating the 2001 version like a museum piece.
The ’01 rollout is not slowing down. It is beginning to show what this revived shape can become.
Nike brings the Air Force 1 ’01 back to New York in white, blue and orange—connecting the revived early-2000s shape with the city that made the silhouette an institution.
Nike’s latest return to the ’01 construction brings that relationship back into focus. Dressed primarily in white leather, the Air Force 1 ’01 “NYC” breaks from the uniformity with Rush Blue and Brilliant Orange Swooshes, NYC embroidery and a “2026” mark across the heel. The result feels less like another Knicks-colored sneaker and more like a New York artifact built around a very specific moment.
BACK TO ’01
The more important part of the story is underneath the colorway.
Nike has brought back the 2001-era Air Force 1 construction, a shape distinguished from the familiar ’07 by its slimmer proportions and narrower toe. It’s a subtle shift on paper, but on foot—and especially in profile—it changes the character of the shoe.
That makes the NYC edition especially fitting. Rather than treating the contemporary Air Force 1 as another blank canvas, Nike is reaching back to an era when the silhouette’s relationship with New York was already firmly established.
NEW YORK, DOWN TO THE DETAILS
Blue takes the lateral Swoosh. Orange takes the medial. A miniature orange Swoosh sits at the base of the laces, while NYC branding appears across the tongue and heel.
The strongest detail, though, is almost small enough to miss. An embroidered 2026 sits toward the lateral heel, with an orange Swoosh cutting directly through the numerals. It turns the year itself into part of the identity of the shoe rather than simply stamping a date onto it.
Taken together, the details make the colorway unmistakably New York without relying on a giant city graphic. White leather does most of the work; blue and orange provide the recognition.
WHY THIS ONE MATTERS.
The easy read is that Nike made a Knicks-colored Air Force 1. The more interesting read is that Nike chose the ’01 shape to do it.
That distinction matters. The Air Force 1 has never needed New York branding to belong to New York. Its place in the city was built over decades—through uptown sneaker culture, neighborhood stores and the people who turned an early-’80s basketball shoe into something much larger.
Bringing the ’01 construction into that conversation gives this release another layer. Nike isn’t simply applying blue and orange to its most familiar white sneaker. It is reaching back to a particular version of the Air Force 1 and using New York to give that return context.
And the timing suggests the ’01 isn’t being treated as a one-off nostalgia exercise. As Nike continues introducing new executions of the revived shape, the NYC pair feels like part of a larger attempt to remind people that the Air Force 1 has had different proportions, different eras and different identities—even while the basic design has barely changed.
That may ultimately be what makes this pair worth remembering. Not the colors. Not even the embroidery. It’s the idea of the Air Force 1 looking backward in order to move forward.
NIKE AIR FORCE 1 LOW ’01 “NYC” White / Brilliant Orange / Rush Blue Style: JK5361-100 Retail: $140 Original Pre-Order: June 18, 2026 Delivery: October 2026 Wider Release: Fall 2026 (reported)
Originally offered through a limited New York pre-order in June 2026. Additional Fall 2026 availability has been reported; release details remain subject to confirmation.
