Nostalgia for an Age Yet to Come: Nike Shox TL by Patta

‘As seen by Patta’ is an ongoing series in which the Patta team presents various sneaker releases from the their point of view. With help from talented artists they try to give a little more depth to the releases that can be an addition to the cultural landscape.

Nostalgia for an Age Yet to Come: Nike Shox TL

The “first” Shox was created in 1997, but the beginning of the Shox is rooted in another time and place. In 1984, Bruce Kilgore, who began his career as a footwear designer 1979 at the Nike Research & Development facility in Exeter, developed a contraption which started the project.

It wasn’t until 1997 that the “solution” of twin plates with foam columns birthed the original Nike Shox—appearing on athletes’ feet en masse in 2000 with the R4.

To cut through the mists of the "once upon a time," it might be useful to pose a question that puts us squarely in the here and now: why is the "boing" back? Well, because although the original Shox TL was released in 2003, its Recent iteration retains the enticing aroma of radicality.

Dissolving the boundaries between life and training, the shox TL - in new colour ways "Speed Red," "Total Orange" and "Triple Black" - ushers past movements into the present with the same experimental attitude. Now, the Shox TL return in a new form. The result is an unlikely harmony between nostalgia and an age to yet come.

Photography: Piet Oosterbeek

Cast: Oko Ebombo, Mattanja Ewida