Series 2

It's 1980s.

Nike is sinking.

Reebok was giving Nike a serious run for its money.

Michael Jordan is about to leave Nike for Adidas.

So Nike held a 24-hour shoe design contest to find a design wizard.

What happened next saved Nike from disaster..

The winner of the contest was Tinker Hatfield.

A former athlete turned architect who wasn't even a shoe designer.

But he understands the pain of an athlete & their struggles because he himself was a pole vaulting champion of his time.

So he mixed his passion for sports & design experience to design a shoe.

While other designers played it safe in concert, Tinker pulled an all-nighter and came up with wild concepts.

Nike was impressed & they made him a lead designer of Nike.

His first ever design project: Nike Air Max 1.

Tinker was always fascinated by a building he studied in architecture school:

The Centre Pompidou in Paris

It is an inside-out building, meaning that the structural & mechanical systems are all exposed.

He did something similar with the Nike Air Max 1.

Instead of putting the bags inside the sole, he decided to cut a window & expose those bags.

At first, the team didn’t all agree on the design.

It looked fragile & there was uncertainty about whether it would work or not

But Tinker stood his ground

The result? The shoe was perceived as it came from the future

The Air Max 1 didn't just change Nike - it changed sneaker culture forever

Suddenly, shoes weren't just about function

They were art

They told stories

Coming to MJ & Nike partnership

He was fed up with his Nike shoes & was close to jumping ship

Nike's leadership was in full panic mode & turned to their new secret weapon: Tinker

The mission?

To design a shoe that would keep the greatest basketball player of all time with Nike

Tinker's approach was magical

He didn't just design a shoe

He designed a story

The Air Jordan 3 was born, featuring the iconic elephant print inspired by the cracks on MJ's basement wall

He often gets inspiration from unexpected places

But Tinker didn't stop there

For the next decade, he and MJ formed a dynamic duo that would change sneakers forever

Each Air Jordan told a new story - from MJ's "Black Cat" nickname to his love of luxury cars

But here's the kicker: Tinker's genius isn't just about cool designs

It's about solving problems

Every wild idea, every "impossible" concept, was born from a simple question:

"How can we make athletes better?"

Today, Tinker's legacy lives on in every pair of Nikes you lace up

But more than that, it lives in the spirit of innovation he breathed into the company

He showed us that great design isn't just about making things look cool - it's about daring to think differently

So next time you slip on a pair of Air Maxes or lace up some Jordans, remember

You're not just wearing a shoe

You're wearing a piece of history

A product of relentless innovation

A Tinker Hatfield’s masterpiece

And that, sneakerheads, is how a pole vaulter vaulted Nike to the top.

Source - Yasmine Khosrow on X