Nike Air Force 1 Ultra Flyknit Mid 'Palm Green'
Colorway: Enemal Green/Enemal-Green White · Style code: 817420-301 · Release date: January 2017 · Price: $2682 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Nike Air Force 1 Mid Ultra Flyknit 'University Red' (817420-600) · Nike Air Force 1 Mid Flyknit White Sneakers (817420-700) · 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's Ultra Flyknit treatment is the most drastic weight cut the Air Force 1 has taken. Introduced in 2016, it replaces the leather upper with a single piece of engineered knit and drops the solid rubber cupsole for injected foam tooling, a combination Nike put at roughly half the weight of the leather and rubber build it descends from.
This mid-cut version keeps the details that make the shoe recognizable and drops the ones that add mass. The ankle strap is still there and still adjustable. Flywire cables run from the midsole up through the lacing to pull the knit tight across the midfoot, doing the job the old leather eyestay used to do. The Swoosh is one of the few leather pieces left on the shoe. The color treatment is deliberately plain against all that engineering: black blended into Palm Green through the knit itself, with the midsole cored out in matching black. At $150 it sat well above a standard leather Air Force 1, which is what the tooling cost.