Pollen Rise

Lately, I’ve been wanting sneakers that are releasing only in Korea. Already this year, both Japan and China received regional exclusive sneakers making it near impossible for consumers to buy this sneaker for retail from their quarantined homes in the US.

I also have been obsessing over the Nike Air Max 95; this spring I plan to make it an essential entity for my seasonal wardrobe (but will anyone actually see me irl this season?!) 2020 marks the 25th anniversary since the original Air Max 95 debut. To celebrate the popular silhouette, Nike announced South Korea would receive the exclusive Nike Air Max 95 Pollen Rise.

Korean forsythia flowers inspired the colorway with the vibrant yellow, orange and green that pop against any background. Most notable about this sneaker: customization. The Velcro layered upper panels allow sneakerheads to place various Nike Air Max patches including a large floral Swoosh. The contrasting black piping along the upper add an accent for each part of the sneaker, in addition to a cartoon-like style. The background for my illustration was inspired by chlorophytum comosum, also known as the spider plant.. I keep imagining myself placing these sneakers right next to this leafy buddy, so it felt fitting to add it to the background against the contrasting black lines.

While this sneaker released on March 21 for ₩209,000 KRW ($172 USD), you can find it on select resellers such as StockX. But that’s only if you’re okay with paying for the markup, which remains a hard pass for me. I guess I’ll be stuck staring at this illustration in my apartment instead of the actual sneaker.

Happy 25th AM95!