Nike Air Force 1 Mid Premium M Vick 'Collection Royale'
Colorway: University Blue/White-Midnight Navy-Varsity Maize · Style code: 313984-411 · Release date: 2006 · Price: $274 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Nike Air Force 1 Low Luxe Se Oregon Ducks (JF5453-001) · PS Nike Force 1 Low (IQ7192-100) · Nike Force 1 Low (IQ7193-100) · Nike Air Force 1 Low (IZ1990-900) · Nike Air Force 1 '07 (IX7257-133)
Collection Royale ran on a single conceit: take a handful of Nike's signature shoes and treat each one as a face card. This mid-top, made for Michael Vick, was the fourth of them and drew the Jack of Diamonds. The graphic is not a small heel print. It is laid across the University Blue leather upper in navy, yellow and white, carrying over onto the ankle strap so the card design continues where most graphic treatments stop. The best part is underneath: the outsole is translucent blue, and a Jack illustration fills the entire forefoot, visible only when the shoe is turned over.
Vick was an Atlanta Falcons quarterback under contract to Nike at the time, and these belong to the period when the brand was giving its football and basketball athletes Air Force 1 makeups rather than signature silhouettes of their own. The pack came out in 2006 at $100, which reads as modest for the amount of printing involved.