25 Years Of Airwalk

Airwalk Jim - 1993

How has Airwalk adapted with the times in terms of skateboarding? Were there certain ideas and features the brand adopted in its design to accommodate for the changing direction of skateboarding during the early 90s?

The early 90’s were a fusion of durability and style. Upper designs began losing all their molded parts and ideas like double or triple layer Ollie protection took hold using properly patterned suedes. Shoes became less bulky-looking, yet held up equally as along.

To what extent did Airwalk influence the emergence of the lifestyle footwear category? What styles have played into this movement over the years? How did Airwalk define “lifestyle” during this time with its marketing and product? What was the image Airwalk was selling?

Lifestyle has always been important and has helped shaped Airwalk’s brand’s culture. In that sense, we can fairly say the brand has always influenced and been influenced by music and pop culture as equally as our core disciplines. In the mid 1990s, Airwalk’s leadership made a decision to broaden the product mix and distribution—expanding its lifestyle offerings, while maintaining its core offerings for the skate, BMX, surf and snowboarding markets. The product was segmented, but some of the lifestyle product definitely bled a line that appealed to both markets. For example, as street skating popularized, street skaters sought low tops. This is where shoes like the One and the Jim really thrived. They were skateable, but also became the lifestyle shoe of choice. This expansion grew the brand exponentially on a global scale. While most board sports brands play heavily in the lifestyle market today, Airwalk was definitely one of the first to aggressively address the opportunity there.