Air Max 1 STR x HUF – Anthracite/Pear-Medium Grey-Flat Pewter

Originally released in 2004, the HUF Air Max 1 has returned for its 20th anniversary—giving collectors another shot at a shoe which pre-dated the sneaker collaboration craze of the 2010s.

Created by pro skater and store owner Keith Hufnagel, the HUF name is synonymous with early streetwear as a founding retailer in the San Francisco area. When their custom Air Max 1 released the idea of store collaborations was anything but mainstream, adding further to the impact of the shoe’s release. The grey base with ‘Pear Green’ accents was a direct reference to the store’s signature green hue which had become synonymous with SF thanks to the stickers slapped across the city. The shoe’s defining feature however was the shiny crackled leather mudguard—a reference to the seismic reputation of San Francisco and a precursor to future HUF collabs.

Each pair comes with a small silver charm memorialising Hufnagel’s chihuahua ‘Bones’—a common sight around HUF’s original San Francisco store. The unique touches don’t stop there, with custom-printed paper housed inside a bespoke flip on the early-2000s Nike box replacing the iconic orange with HUF’s signature green.

With the early loss of HUF founder Keith Hufnagel to brain cancer in 2020, the return of the HUF Air Max 1 feels like a fitting tribute to the legacy not only of a brand but the man himself.