![]() ![]() “ had hit me up and was like, ‘Yo Bob, I want to put the Puerto Rican flag on the Air Force 1, a celebration of the parade.’” He continued, “And my initial reaction was like, ‘Yo, I don’t know if that’s a good move,’ and he was like, ‘What do you mean? I think people will be amped,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, no, of course people will be amped, but you gotta understand, Puerto Rico has a very complex and layered relationship with the United States that dates back to 1898.’” It’s a significant shoe in the history of the sneaker culture, the sneaker industry, you name it.”īobbito and Parker were childhood best friends who grew up together in the Westgate Houses on 97th Street, and Garcia remembered talking to him about the Puerto Rico Forces around 1999. The starting point for all of that is the Puerto Rico Air Force 1. So, after that, the Caribbean Air Force 1 came out and logos on Nike that were not NBA-related started really popping. “And I know that because I’ve consulted Mike Parker, who was the product line manager at the time. “I mean, listen, that shoe was a game-changer, bro,” Bobbito Garcia told me over the phone. The PR Forces are a significant chapter in the sneaker lifestyle department, but I’ll let a legend tell it. Uptowns, as they are so affectionately called by NYC residents, were only used to play ball once upon a time, but when neighborhood kids started rockin’ them off the court as a show of flair, that’s when the Air Force 1 really became a cultural phenomenon. The Carribean has been ingrained in hip hop from the very beginning with uptown-specifically the Bronx-being homebase for one of the largest Caribbean communities in the United States. Puerto Rican culture (and West Indian culture in general) are a lifeblood of NYC street culture. I’ve always thought the sneakers were a cool nod to a population of people that helped make the AF1 silhouette as influential as it is. I remember that clearly, and going to the parade and wanting to have those sneakers and wanting to have your flag and wanting to walk up and down the streets,” La La Anthony said on an episode of Complex’s sneaker talk show Full Size Run from March. If you were Puerto Rican, that was something you had to have no matter what. Since 2000, Nike has released several pairs of Air Force 1 lows with Puerto Rican flags and coquis adoring on them in various colorways, and Nuyoricans have been wearing them to the parade as if it were a tradition since they first dropped. I am disappointed about there not being a coqui, the frog that’s indigenous to and a symbol of Puerto Rico, this time around, but there also isn’t any unfortunate Panamanian artwork or backward flags on the tongue, so I guess it evens out? The saying “Aqui Me Quedo” ( Here I’ll stay in Spanish) is plastered on the insoles and each pair comes with a towel that says “Puerto Rico, Te Quiero” ( Puerto Rico, I love you). There’s a PR flag at the top of the tongue and there’s also one on the bottom of the sole (still not sure how I feel about that). Instead of the traditional Air Force 1 low model traditionally used for its Puerto Rico tribute shoes, Nike decided to go a different route with an iteration of the “Silver Bullet” Air Max 97s by replacing the black accents with navy blue ones. New York City’s 64th annual Puerto Rican Day Parade happened this past weekend, and Nike released its latest sneaker dedicated to the United States territory. What does a sneaker corporation owe to the communities that support it? I don’t have the answer to that question, but Nike positions itself as a brand that cares, and I think-compared to other corporations and brands of their stature-they do a pretty good job. ![]()
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