Celebrate Nike Air Max Day with the Air Max 1/97, which teams two classic sneakers in one shoe with an unexpected fabric – corduroy.

Nike Air Max Day (otherwise known as Christmas for sneakerheads) is here. And with it comes the now-customary spate of super-limited-edition sneaker drops. This year’s Air Max Day, however, something a little unexpected is coming – and dare we say it, it may prove to have some lasting impact on the brand.

But first, let’s rewind a bit. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll be familiar with Nike’s Vote Forward competition – which gave 12 creatives around the world the chance to imagine and create their own pair of sneakers. The process was documented on social media, and as each design came to life, the public were asked to vote for their favourite – ultimately determining which one would be made into reality by Nike. Once the votes were counted, Mr Sean Wotherspoon’s design (quite rightly, in our opinion) emerged victorious.

You may not be familiar with Mr Wotherspoon, but suffice to say he is the sneakerhead’s sneakerhead. As founder of destination vintage store Round Two in LA, he has a deep connection to sneaker culture, and it’s clear simply from taking a look at his Instagram feed on any given day that he is a scholar of the Nike’s history, with a particular interest in its designs from the 1990s and 2000s.

And this was especially apparent when we got our hands on the Air Max 1/97 – Mr Wotherspoon’s hybrid creation for Vote Forward. He has managed to create a sneaker that conveys his laid-back, retro-obsessed personality.

Eschewing the super-sleek, high-tech, maximal approaches of the other contestants, he instead took inspiration from Nike’s heritage, paying homage to it by combining the Air Max 1 midsole with the Air Max 97 upper (to surprisingly good effect, we might add). The twist comes in his choice of materials: who’d have thought corduroy would ever be associated with innovation? But, for Mr Wotherspoon – a collector of vintage corduroy caps – it seemed like the natural material with which to work.

Unlike many of the more high-tech fabrics Nike’s sneakers are tending towards, corduroy is notable for looking better the more worn in it is (although, depending on your level of fanaticism, you may choose to keep these pristine in the box). The rainbow colourway is designed to work with white T-shirts, while other playful twists include a smiley face, taken from a vintage “Have a Nike Day” T-shirt on the insole, and a set of interchangeable velcro graphic patches for the tongue.

The Air Max 1/97 is a study in nostalgia – featuring nods to both Nike’s heritage and Mr Wotherspoon’s own past. “When we designed these shoes, I tried to take my nostalgic memories and create something new from them,” he says. “That’s my thing. It’s an organic feeling, and as you can see in the shoes we made, it’s pretty special.”

Demand for the shoe is likely to be off the scale. What we’re interested in, however, is if corduroy will make a welcome return appearance in any of Nike’s upcoming releases.

Shop the new Air Max 1/97 – while it lasts – now (available in the US on Monday 26 March).