Nike’s first lifestyle Air unit, the 270, joins with the brand’s softest, smoothest and most resilient foam, Nike React, to form a new articulation of Air Max.

The Nike Air Max 270 React continues a drive for iterative Nike Internationalist Damen progress in the Air Max lineage. The introduction of Nike React technology results in a smooth transition from heel to forefoot (the offset is also reduced from its predecessor) and an energetic sculpting. The shoe's upper follows the radiating design language of the tooling by layering no-sew materials to mirror a traditional cut-and-sew aesthetic through a new construction Nike Air Presto Femme methodology.

“Instead of no-sew or stitched on panels, the Air Max 270 React is built with a bar tack technique inspired by the Element React 87," explains Dylan Raasch, Nike Senior Sportswear Design Director. "This creates the floating eye stay aesthetic."

The visceral strength of the silhouette, especially the ebullient geometries of the tooling, underpin the shoe’s potential to carry a variety of distinct visual expressions.

The initial releases of the Nike Air Pegasus 36 Femme Nike Air Max 270 React share a consistent foundation in art and design history. Each colorway translates a specific artistic style or movement in its blocking and hues. The lead launch colorway, for example, heralds the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus's founding by recalling the school’s formal studies of asymmetrical balance. Other colorways highlight explorations of geometric compositions, mid-century-inspired color blocking, San Francisco psychedelia and more.

The 270 is NIKE’s first ever, 100% lifestyle AIR MAX; its heel — 32 freaking mm tall — contains an enormous degree of heel volume displacement, way beyond that of the 1987 air safari, or the max thea, or any other predecessors. they’re so large that some have described the 270s as comfy trampolines, and yet, the shoe design nearly turned out even bigger — say what? Nike Air Max 2017 Womens designboom interviewed NIKE AIR MAX creative director dylan raasch. dylan had nothing but passionate things to say about the newest member of his AIR MAX fam; he even suggests that the playful design, in certain circumstances, could be a symbol of hope.

someone who is on their feet all day and always on the move. before we started on the design we made the decision to innovate around comfort as opposed to performance, which is where we begin with our athletes. this meant not looking at how you get from point a to point b the fastest, but how you maintain comfort when the trip between point a and point b could take all day.

initially, we wanted to create a unit that was much bigger! our talented team of engineers developed some test air units that went beyond the final production height, but stability became an issue and we had Adidas Gazelle Womens to make a comprise that gave us a balance of stability and cushioning that feel right in the sweet spot. the bigger unit looked cool but it actually didn’t feel as right. but hey, that gives us something to continue to work towards.