Distilling the race-ready ethos of Nike Running‘s Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT% into a lifestyle package, Nike N. 354‘s Air Zoom Type is a conceptual casual silhouette — one that’s now been introduced in “College Grey.” Using a traditional colour scheme to bring an alternate twist of flair to its unique shape, the “College Grey” is at once classic and cutting edge.
Stripped-back uppers are built from a grey suede-like material, and add a duo of Swooshes: dotted on the lateral side, small and hand-scrawled on the medial side. Further embellishment arrives via perforated toe boxes, a tongue badge that states “this shoe is based on a Zoom Air prototype built at Nike WHQ” (an abbreviation of World Headquarters), branded heel tabs and small brown leather heel patches.
On the lower half, double-stacked speckled grey midsoles are left intentionally askew, with the bottom half jutting out below the top to drive home the layered look. These two pieces are separated by a plastic plate meant to represent the carbon fibre present in the aforementioned Alphafly and other silhouettes like the ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%. The main dash of vibrance — and signature detail — is handled by a duo of “Hyper Jade” pucks in the forefoot, and black outsoles complete the look.
