The Nike x Kids of Immigrants Air Max Sunder Is a Bona Fide Sneaker of the Year Candidate
Close BannerClose00Days:00Hours:00Minutes:00SecondsSEE THE BEST DEALSShop the Best Sales Before Black Friday's OverStyleThe LA label’s first-ever Swoosh collab is already legendary.By Tres DeanNovember 27, 2024Photographs: Nike; Collage: Gabe ConteSave this storySaveSave this storySaveAll products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.If you’re a streetwear brand collaborating with Nike for the first time, you have to put it all on the line. The Swoosh provides a bigger stage than any other brand in the space—and they don’t just hand everyone with a decent logo tee a collaborative colorway. Those invited to work with the brand need to aim to make a big impression, something like the one Los Angeles’s Kids of Immigrants is making with their first Nikes. Their big swing has connected and the result is one of the best sneakers of 2024.The brand, founded by Daniel Buezo and Weleh Dennis back in 2016, have spent the last near-decade carving out a unique space for themselves in the streetwear world. Their threads pay homage to the ethos of their namesake: first-gen kids, their parents, and the communities they forge. Tees and hoodies branded with sincere slogans like “Support Your Friends” and “We Are Our Parents’ Wildest Dreams” stood out alongside increasingly detached and sardonic branding from their peers. The scene took notice. So did the Swoosh.Impressed by the vision, Nike invited KOI to lend their touch to a colorway of the Air Max Sunder, a gorpy archival trainer that first hit shelves back in 1999. The shoe never quite took off then, but Nike revived it back in 2022 with a colorway from staple collaborators Comme des Garçons. As the shoe slowly found its way back to shelves in general release colorways, KOI now stands uniquely poised to elevate it to a new level of popularity with their take on the off-kilter kicks.Released in two makeups–‘Sun Down’ and ‘Sunrise’–the Nike x Kids of Immigrants Air Max Sunder adds a grid webbing to the silhouette’s shrouded neoprene upper (representing global lines of longitude and latitude). Both versions boast gorgeous gradients: ‘Sun Down’ features deep violets and bright purples while ‘Sunrise’ works with radiant yellows and oranges. Blacked-out soles and browned-out toe boxes allow for the colors to shine unencumbered, with “KIDS OF IMMIGRANTS” emblazoned across the outsole of the sneakers. Whereas the original Sunders had the numbers “6453” ("Nike" on an old-school phone keyboard), the KOI joints feature “3062,” the last four digits of their community phone number. The sock liners read “JUST DO IT. TOGETHER,” co-opting the Swoosh’s iconic branding with a touch of that signature sincerity that’s made Kids of Immigrants such an indelible brand. Each pair also comes with a unique packaging detail, too: a phone card, likely familiar to any kids who grew up having to buy them to make international calls home.Kids of Immigrants has a bona fide sneaker of the year contender on their hands with their first Nike collab. The shoes go on sale this Friday, November 29 via Kids of Immigrants, with a second release coming in December via SNKRS.
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
If you’re a streetwear brand collaborating with Nike for the first time, you have to put it all on the line. The Swoosh provides a bigger stage than any other brand in the space—and they don’t just hand everyone with a decent logo tee a collaborative colorway. Those invited to work with the brand need to aim to make a big impression, something like the one Los Angeles’s Kids of Immigrants is making with their first Nikes. Their big swing has connected and the result is one of the best sneakers of 2024.
The brand, founded by Daniel Buezo and Weleh Dennis back in 2016, have spent the last near-decade carving out a unique space for themselves in the streetwear world. Their threads pay homage to the ethos of their namesake: first-gen kids, their parents, and the communities they forge. Tees and hoodies branded with sincere slogans like “Support Your Friends” and “We Are Our Parents’ Wildest Dreams” stood out alongside increasingly detached and sardonic branding from their peers. The scene took notice. So did the Swoosh.
Impressed by the vision, Nike invited KOI to lend their touch to a colorway of the Air Max Sunder, a gorpy archival trainer that first hit shelves back in 1999. The shoe never quite took off then, but Nike revived it back in 2022 with a colorway from staple collaborators Comme des Garçons. As the shoe slowly found its way back to shelves in general release colorways, KOI now stands uniquely poised to elevate it to a new level of popularity with their take on the off-kilter kicks.
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Released in two makeups–‘Sun Down’ and ‘Sunrise’–the Nike x Kids of Immigrants Air Max Sunder adds a grid webbing to the silhouette’s shrouded neoprene upper (representing global lines of longitude and latitude). Both versions boast gorgeous gradients: ‘Sun Down’ features deep violets and bright purples while ‘Sunrise’ works with radiant yellows and oranges. Blacked-out soles and browned-out toe boxes allow for the colors to shine unencumbered, with “KIDS OF IMMIGRANTS” emblazoned across the outsole of the sneakers. Whereas the original Sunders had the numbers “6453” ("Nike" on an old-school phone keyboard), the KOI joints feature “3062,” the last four digits of their community phone number. The sock liners read “JUST DO IT. TOGETHER,” co-opting the Swoosh’s iconic branding with a touch of that signature sincerity that’s made Kids of Immigrants such an indelible brand. Each pair also comes with a unique packaging detail, too: a phone card, likely familiar to any kids who grew up having to buy them to make international calls home.
Kids of Immigrants has a bona fide sneaker of the year contender on their hands with their first Nike collab. The shoes go on sale this Friday, November 29 via Kids of Immigrants, with a second release coming in December via SNKRS.
