Nike Air Max 1 NL Premium 'Elephant Print - Neutral Grey'
Colorway: Neutral Grey/Neutral Grey/Varsity Red · Style code: 313227-002 · Release date: January 2005 · Price: $590 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Nike Air Max 1 NL Premium 'Elephant Print - Black Varsity Red' (313227-001) · CLOT x Nike Air Max 1 Premium 'Kiss of Death' 2006 (313227-161) · Nike Air Griffey Max 1 (JA1091-100) · Nike Air Griffey Max 1 (JA1136-100) · GS Nike Air Griffey Max 1 (IV6222-410)
Neutral grey leather covers this Air Max 1 NL Premium, released in January 2005 with an elephant print texture stamped across the toe and heel panels and a varsity red trim underfoot. At $120, it kept the shoe's window into the Max Air heel unit while swapping the usual smooth leather for a textured hide, giving the grey colorway a heavier, more tactile finish than the standard runner.
The elephant print motif traces back to Tinker Hatfield, the architect turned designer who first put it on the Air Jordan 3 in 1988. Bringing that pattern onto the same shoe he redesigned by exposing its Air unit connects two of his signature ideas in one grey and red pair, without needing a printed logo to make the point.