#TRAINERTUESDAY • On Tuesdays we talk Trainers. • TRAINERS WELCOME. METCONS TOLERATED.

Nike Trail NOT Nike ACG • NIke Trail + Nike ACG • Nike ACG • Go figure. • Now get outside and ACG. Outside is the best side. • BTW: @ellaesco these are your size.

#womenswednesday • Man, women’s shoes were top notch. The Air Tech Challenge Low is a thing of beauty. That internal thermoplastic heel counter is UNDEFEATED. The airbrushed pattern, each colorway being just slightly unique from each other, was a masterpiece in and of itself. There’s a hidden message in the design but it’s for the deep deep deep… like 10,000 leagues deep… • Will the women’s Air Tech Challenge IV ever see a Retro? Will the Air Tech Challenge IV entire line see a proper Retro? Is it deserving?

#TRAINERTUESDAY • On Tuesday we talk Trainers. • It’s a common discussion point on the athlete commonly associated with the Air Trainer 1. Is it Bo? It’s it Mac? Is it Andre? Is it Howie? Is it Joanne? Is it MJ? • The truth is… it’s all of them. • It’s whatever you choose to believe. Canonically, it’s Howie and Joanne in the original ad campaign, its Mac on-foot on-court. Andre then followed suit on-court. Then MJ in a shot in a dressing room. Bo was retconned into AT1 folklore, which is why you see his imagery on the TR1 “Trainer Legacy Pack” in 2009, as he is THE quintessential, synonymous face of “Cross-Training.” • That’s the beauty of sneakers. There’s so many stories, so many connection points. The existential nature of sneakers is what makes them so unique, powerful, and unifying. • Find the Joy in Sneakers.

#LOSTANDFOUND • Uncovered in the bins, 11x17 SPS “Cerise” prints I had made years ago featuring one of my photos of a 1991 Air Tech Challenge 3/4. • Ten made. Hand-numbered and signed. • You want to support my endeavors? HMU, I got a few left. • #SNEAKERPRESERVATIONSOCIETY #PROVENANCERECOGNIZED #ORGANICSCARCITY

• COME FOR THE SNEAKERS. • STAY FOR THE STORIES. • @aaron.ac.cooper x @jeffstaple • THE GATHERING: NYC at @staple21mercer • THURSDAY APRIL 9, 2026 5PM NYC TIME • @itsthestoriesthatmatter

#TRAINERTUESDAY • On Tuesday we talk Trainers. • Over the weekend I got to spend time with family, notably my inspiring BIL. I walk into the garage and the first thing I see in the filtered afternoon light are the Air Trainer 1, Chlorophyll, on the diamond cut, heavy rubber gym flooring, dumbbells, Assault Bike, and bench at the ready. I literally did not have to touch a thing. The arrangement, the lighting the organic placement of everything could not have been more ad-ready than it was. • We tell stories that connect us to sneakers. And iconic models can now span many generations. But those generations don’t necessarily connect aside from liking different iterations of the same shoe. How do we bridge the gap? How do we make our stories mean to them as much as their stories mean as much to us? The space doesn’t need to be a babel of competing stories, but rather a collective community sharing and furthering them. So let’s start with Trainers… • Lastly, the kettlebell is the trainer. You are the student. If that is not the case, you’re not using the correct kettlebell weight. • Find the Joy in Sneakers.

@agassi wore these. • John McEnroe wore those. • Air Tech Challenge (1) 1988 • Preservation. Preserve the stories. Preserve the history. Spread the knowledge. Create Community. Strengthen the Culture. Continue the Conversation. Come for the Sneakers. Stay for the Stories. • @itsthestoriesthatmatter

#TRAINERTUESDAY • On Tuesdays we talk about Trainers. • The Air Spat. No one know about these. Everyone knows about these. The Spat Strap was a thing back in the 90’s. It was every where. There’s a joke that Nike held a chokehold on Velcro in the 90’s simply because they employed it so much across Training and many other sports verticals. • The Air Spat was a mid-range turf training shoe that sold like hot cakes when budget-conscious parents of high school kids that wanted Diamond Turfs walked into a local Foot Locker. • Should something obscure, but not, like the Air Spat get a Retro treatment?

#SNEAKERSTORYSUNDAY • He knew of the colorway but had never seen it until this moment. • We talk about sneakers and what they mean to us. They represent a moment in time. A connection to a memory. A bond between people otherwise disconnected. • The 1988 Air Trainer High “Black History Month” has proven to be the connective tissue between Designer, Archivist, Artisan, and Community. I don’t know why I brought it to Portland in 2023 of the myriad other pairs I could have. I guess because it carried a story… • In 2023, @aaron.ac.cooper invited a filthy few to Portland and asked us to bring something to share a five minute sneaker story about. We were at an undisclosed Nike site, and were being filmed. Steve Boux @snkrtechtalk shared first. Then he kicked me in the shin to go up. What a jerk. 🤣🫶🏽 I told my story how the Air Trainer 1 basically shaped my entire sneaker history. Oh! Also how this specific pair was loaned under contract to Tom @instyleshoes1999 in 2021 for a replacement value of $5000. We laugh about it to this day. The other wild thing, I was on a Zoom with Tom, and sneaker legend Adam @airrev along with some 6453 folks, and Rev inquires about who even thought to put this colorway together because, for the time, it seemed so out of left field. It was at that point when John Barbour, who was on the call, explained that it was a colorway made up for Black History Month. • He knew of the colorway but had never seen it until this moment. • Back to that Portland trip, we all end up back at Aaron’s house for dinner and conversations. I realize about 10 minutes before I need to run off to PDX for a return flight that I have this AT1 in my backpack that I could show Tinker. His face says it all. I brought the AT1 “Black History Month” to Portland again in 2025 to revisit, and share with the now expanded group at The Gathering. The stories continue to propagate. • “A shoe by itself doesn’t mean jack. It’s the stories that matter.” - Aaron Cooper

#AIRMAXDAY • I’ve seen some folks banger posed with the question of their “Air Max Mt. Rushmore.” While everyone’s will and should be somewhat different, mine will undoubtedly evolve. My Rushmore today are these: • Air Maxim Trainer 1 • Air Max² • Air Max 95 • Air Max Triax 96 And I don’t think anyone has to justify why they picked their picks. Ever. I have stories connecting me to each of these models and pairs which is why they resonate with me today. Will my picks be different next year? I reserve that right! 🤣 • Enjoy Air Max Day 2 da MAX! • Find the Joy in Sneakers

#TRAINERTUESDAY • On Tuesday we talk Trainers. • For many years, in fact as long as I can remember growing up in Honolulu, the @nfl Pro Bowl was always held at @alohastadiumhi. It showcased the All-Stars of the NFL in classic AFC vs. NFC and was sandwiched between the end of the Playoffs and the Super Bowl. The players liked it because it gave them a reason to take their families to Hawaii for vacation. One year I happened upon Deion and Jerry in the lobby of the Sheraton Waikiki that one year they were the coaches for their teams. • Nike would often commemorate events in Hawaii. For a long time they were the brand sponsor for the @honolulumarathon (think the Niketown Honolulu-era). And for many iterations, they created a Pro Bowl Quickstrike Edition shoe. One year it was a Dunk. One year (2014) it was an Air Trainer 1. • This Quickstrike featured floral panels and insoles, screened Nike logos on the tongue and forefoot strap, translucent outsole, and extra laces to match. This was a true tribute to the island vibe of the Pro Bowl in Hawaii.. • The Pro Bowl was a part of my life growing up. It was basically tradition. And sometimes traditions evolve, fade, or die. The Pro Bowl is a much different experience and event in 2026, for better or worse. I’ll never forget where I came from, my roots, and I’ll always have fond memories of the Gladiators of the Grid Iron going to battle in my childhood backyard. • ALOHA

#SNEAKERSTORYSUNDAY • It’s just a pair of sneakers until you hear the story. • In 2014, @nikesportswear went on a run of OG and newly-inspired colorways of the Air Tech Challenge II. Up until recently I was missing the Clay/Mandarin colorway. Not sure why I slept on that colorway, but I did. Thanks to 1BD, I finally added it to the archive. • It’s crazy what a story can impact for something as simple as a pair of sneakers. Take the “Pixel” and @ayo_johnnyboi story. He would be buried in them. HIStory makes it all that more impactful. Sneakers may have saved his life. It probably saved many others. I’m blessed to know Johnny. • In 1990, I played tennis in the ATC2 Lava, and being IN them elevated my game on a confidence level, at the very least. Years later I got to share my story and pick the brain of its designer, Tinker Hatfield, to which he had many a story to share of his journey to create them. • I truly believe that YOU are the sum of your life experiences. If those experiences inspire you to be more, create more, or connect more, then more power to you. I hope I can connect and inspire more of you, the Sneaker Community, so together we can propagate the history, knowledge, experiences, and stories.

AIR CHALLENGE LWP x THE GOAT • On this day: March 18, 1995

#TRAINERTUESDAY • On Tuesdays we talk Trainers. • Anything Hiroshi Fujiwara touches turns into ________? • The Fragment Deisgn ⚡️⚡️ x Nike Air Trainer 1 x NikeCourt was a moment in time. A lot of these ended up available at bargain prices. Was it because of Fragment? Was it because no one cares about Tennis? Was it Air Trainer 1 fatigue? • Personally I liked the Rust, Red, and Black colorways, but something about the deep obsidian blue hit home. • What was your favorite colorway (there were A LOT of them) from the Fragment x AT1 x NikeCourt collection?