story

''A lot of people are going to look at the shoe 10 years from now and go, 'Wow. That was really crazy.' To be a hundred percent honest, this speaks to all generations. I can't wait to wear these.''

''Hi, my name is Audie Villot. Hi, my name is Scarr, born and raised in New York. I'm the owner of Scarr's Pizza. Pizza is a huge part of New York culture. Always had a passion and a dream of opening up a shop.''

''It's the one food that's really New York. I'm Nicole. I'm Natalie. And we're Nina Sky. We are twin sisters from Queens, New York City. We've been DJ's since we were 13. Singing since we could speak.''

''We didn't have a lot growing up, but we had music. We always lean on each other, help each other. That's a sense of community we have here. I look out for people, you know. Having that person that you trust along your entire journey is so valuable.''

''In Puerto Rican culture is just very proud people, man, very proud people. Whether you're born on the island, whether you're born in New York City like us, you're not any less Puerto Rican, you know? It's inside of you. I myself, I'm a black man who's a Puerto Rican.''

''Community has always been a big thing everywhere, especially here. The culture came from here, sneaker culture came from New York City. And everybody out here wants to get fresh. It's like when the 97s came out, that was a really dope shoe.''

"They were so in demand, it was really hard to get it some places. You had to go to a different neighborhood. 
As soon as I could buy my own sneakers, I was buying the 97's. So ill, best shoe."

''Sometimes you over-design or overstate something to emphasize a message, but it's not necessarily doing that. The fact that this exists as it existed when it was released without...''

''...compromising the integrity of the shoe is just really awesome. Something that Natalie noticed that I thought was really cool is the flag is front and center. That's the message. Front, center, Puerto Rican flag and I think that that says a lot without saying a lot.''

"It hasn't aged. This is one of these shoes that doesn't age. It's so cool because it's the same colors of the flag at the bottom. You've got the red spotting, the white, the navy blue. The inside of this one says, 'aqui me quedo' so that that means 'here I stay'.''

''Aqui me quedo, I'm here, I'm good, here I stand and firmly in my shoe. I'm planted here. Looking at this, we're really proud. We're still being recognized and...''

''...this is our a baby. We got one, we got another one. Just knowing that our parents worked really hard for that and our grandparents worked really hard for that. When you get sneakers it's like, oh my God, I'm wearing those to the Puerto Rican Day Parade. I'm wearing those...''

''...to the club, whatever, everywhere, because you got the newest sneakers. I hope the community loves it. It will start with the Puerto Rican people and hopefully inspires creativity.''

''Our hearts are in this and can't wait to see what the next generation does with this shoe.''

Behind the Design: Air Max 97 'Puerto Rico'

Behind The Design

Air Max 97 'Puerto Rico'