crooked tongues magazine News Features

This Nike Sportswear Athletics Far East rollout had us intrigued when we clocked the lookbook a while ago.Seemingly intent on recapturing elements of a golden age of co.jp goodies that we could only gaze at on now-defunct Geocities sites and vastly expensive, catalogue-sized publications. Camouflage on a trail shoe was always something accessible to our friends in the far east, while we settled for blander looks as a golden age of Terra and ACG subsided, but there's pieces set to drop that incorporate some of that energy—Lunar Macleays are incredible (we'll be taking a closer look at 'em shortly), there's a tribute to the Terra Humara that we've yet to warm to, Lava Dunks are a potential grower and SFB MIds with military patterning are our kind of thing. But let's stick to the topic at hand—the ACG Air Moc.

This isn't the first time this shoe has tried to camouflage itself. What looks like some kind of halfwitted foot spud to some is a thing of easy-going avant-garde beauty to many, including us. The perfect byproduct of total creativity, Nike's maverick approach and slip-on necessity, we're still rocking the Footpatrol salerack HTM Air Moc II Mids as slippers when the colder weather arrives, but the renaissance of the original version is something to celebrate. It's funny that even after 16 years, people are still freaked out by this deconstructed, stripped-down oddity, but if you were keen to collect beyond the blander palettes, 1999's import offerings included a blue camo, a green DPM looking pattern and a snow camo style makeup on black recycled runner sole units.

These ripstop nylon (in line with the theme) versions are more hardwearing and set on speckled brown or white bases, but the spirit's intact. When it comes to All Conditions Gear, God loves ugly and that accounts for the continued appeal of this experiment in comfort and resilience. If you want them, go harass your local Tier Zero dealers...