By Jake Woolf [GQ]
The songwriter’s kind-of-sort-of official Nike collaboration is here.
Earlier this week, singer/songwriter/world class social media user John Mayer sat down with our friends at GQ Style to discuss a wide range of topics involving his personal style. In recent memory, the 39-year-old star’s wardrobe has become fodder for menswear obsessives who can’t help but be jealous of Mayer’s extensive collections of brands like Visvim, Acronym, and more.
In the interview, Mayer also teased an unofficial Nike collaboration, stating that rather than get the folks at Nike on board in any kind of sanctioned capacity, he simply designed a Nike sneaker on NikeiD and bought up every single pair the brand would sell him. “I’m just waiting for it to get discontinued on their site. And I’m gonna offer it as my own shoe through my Shopify page. [laughs] Just for fun!” he told GQ Style. It turns out the fun is coming is very soon, and the kicks will seemingly drop on July 29 according to Mayer’s own Instagram page.
The shoe Mayer decided to customize and buy up is none other than a classic—the Nike Air Max 90. The sneaker hasn’t been quite as popular in sneaker collector circles over the past few years as it was 10 to 15 years ago, but it remains a tried-and-true staple of the Nike Air Max family.
A post shared by johnmayer (@johnmayer) on
For his version, Mayer created a gray, black, white, and neon green Air bubble style that don the unofficial name of the “Spirit Level” Air Max 90s. Mayer, who has long been one of the wittiest celebrities in the business, certainly knows that a neon green Air bubble brings to mind the kind of levels folks use when hanging pictures in their home. It’s also worth noting that after he first ascended to fame over a decade ago, Mayer quickly became known as one of the biggest pop star sneakerheads alive, even if in recent memory he’s championed more old school footwear styles like boots and moccasins.
Thing is, we don’t know how many pairs John Mayer bought of these sneakers, so it’s hard to speculate on just how hard they’ll be to get. We also don’t know how much the “Gravity” star will be selling them for, though Mayer did tell us via Twitter Direct Message that he only “wants to make enough money to buy exactly one four-pack of Clearly Canadians.” Ultimately this may not be an official Nike x John Mayer collaboration, but in a weird way Mayer’s rogue spirit makes the whole release a little more fun to watch.