It’s rare to find a pair of muted, dull-colored Nike Air Max Plus sneakers. The sporty shoe is known for its eye-catching colorways consisting of gradient prints and bright, clashing hues.
Its colorful legacy was established with the Air Max Plus’ first release, a three-part drop where each colorway represented different times of the day, and one of those original makeovers from 1998 has quietly made its return.
Rumors of the Nike Air Max Plus Sunset’s re-release have been swirling around since the end of last year, a rare chance to scoop up a storied sneaker that last hit shop shelves in 2014 and 2018.
And the rumors have been proven true, the OG sneaker with its sunset-colored gradient print upper has returned.
The sneaker is available online on Nike’s website, retailing for $180, where it was quietly uploaded with little fanfare from Nike: there was no campaign, no announcement of the release date, no celebrity endorsement.
Growing up in the UK, where we lovingly call the sneaker TNs, the sunset-colored Air Max Plus is a grail. And in other countries, like Australia and France, where there are subcultures that have adopted the sneaker, this is a certified classic.
What makes Nike’s lack of marketing around the Air Max Plus Sunset even more surprising is that there’s been a lot of interest in the Air Max Plus model of late, especially its more experimental iterations.
Plus, Nike has a lot of sunset-inspired colorways in the pipeline with the return of its Air Max Sunder model and its upcoming collaboration with Kids of Immigrants.
However, the quiet nature of this drop is good news for anyone looking to get a pair. This re-release has flown largely under the radar meaning there’s a full-size run available on the Nike website (for now).