by Highlighting this season’s Nike N7 footwear collection are two new silhouettes designed by Tinker Hatfield: the Nike Zoom Heritage N7, a basketball shoe, and the Nike Air Zoom Down Rock N7, a skate-streetwear hybrid. The idea to create the shoes came about when Nike N7 General Manager Sam McCracken approached Hatfield and asked if he’d bring his peerless approach to designing original footwear to the collection.
“I immediately thought, if I’m going to work on a basketball shoe and a multi-purpose shoe, that I would start from scratch and do it with a certain criteria and give it the same energy that I would in designing for a professional athlete,” says Hatfield. “It’s ended up being one of my favorite projects at Nike.”
That technical detail for the grassroots-level athlete is embodied in the Nike Zoom Heritage N7. Its felt aesthetic is built for “rez ball,” a style of basketball played in tribal communities and elsewhere, and known for its physicality, fast-paced nature and pressure defense. Moreover, the play connects to a fandom that’s fervent in Native American circles and, in its spirit, encourages participation in the game.
The Nike Zoom Heritage N7
“Basketball is king in tribal communities across the United States and Canada,” says McCracken. “On reservations, schools always have a basketball team, and kids always want to play. Whether teams play at home or on the road, the gyms are always packed. When Tinker shared with me his passion to create a unique shoe for Native American kids who love basketball, I knew that we’d have something special.”
Two More Ways N7 is using Basketball for Transformative Good in Native American Communities
- Since 2010, N7 has partnered with select collegiate basketball programs to createspecial turquoise jerseys to celebrate Native American Heritage Month.
- Now in 2019, N7 is in its 15th year as a title sponsor of the Native American Basketball Invitational (NABI), the largest all-indigenous tournament in the country. The tournament is led by the NABI Foundation, a national foundation committed to supporting Native American youth by implementing programs that encourage higher education, sports, health and wellness and community building.
Hatfield also brainstormed with musical artist Taboo, an N7 ambassador, on a shoe that would thrive in multiple settings, whether on the stage, for b-boying or for casual wear. Born from that collaboration was the Nike Air Zoom Down Rock N7, a skate-streetwear silhouette driven by Paul Rodriguez lineage. Tooling was carefully matched with materials; the suede was selected for its durability and its versatility to go straight into a dressed-down look.
The Nike Air Zoom Down Rock N7
In their designs, the two silhouettes establish a broader connection to the Native American community, fulfilling an aim of the Nike N7 mission — inspiring the community, in McCracken’s words, to be the truest version of itself.
