The Yuto Horigome Air Force 1 SB looks a lot like the standard version. Underneath, though, Nike made some surprisingly significant changes.
History:
Yuto Horigome, the Japanese skateboarding phenom, has a pretty storied history of Nike collabs under his belt already. The two most famous are the original dunk low as well as the “Matcha” variant.
More recently, though, Nike asked Yuto to sprinkle some of his magic on the recently released Air Force 1 SB. This makes sense. While I personally loved the recent Jordan 4 SB and Air Max 95 SB, both of those were clearly lifestyle shoes that Nike slapped the SB badge on to get some attention. The Air Force 1 SB is something much more serious, something Yuto might actually wear.
He didn’t want to keep everything the same, however. This version of the Air Force 1 SB features a number of changes compared to the original. Let’s go over them and see if they are worth it.
Tongue (and Sizing):
The biggest change between the Yuto Air Force 1 SB and the standard Air Force 1 SB is the tongue. This one is pretty surprising. Arguably the biggest change made when creating a skateboarding specific pair of AF1s was adding a big puffy tongue, but when designing this one they swapped the tongue for something much closer to an original one.
This makes a surprisingly large difference to the sneaker for a few reasons.
The first is going to be the look of the sneaker. The chunky tongue really morphed the way the shoe looked on foot, pushing the visual weight towards your ankle. This thinner tongue gives a silhouette much closer to a traditional AF1 than the SB version.
The second is the padding. While Yuto might be good enough to avoid having the board slam the top of his foot during tricks, I’m certainly not, and I’d bet you aren’t either. If you actually plan on skating these, you’re going to miss that extra protection.
Finally, and most importantly, is the sizing. Unlike a traditional AF1 that fits quite large, the puffy tongue meant the SB version fit closer to true to size. Even with the smaller air unit creating extra volume in the sneaker, the tongue more than fills it. With the puffy tongue gone, these have the spacious design of the AF1 and the smaller air unit.
These fit much larger than an AF1 SB, and even slightly more spacious than a standard AF1.
Materials:
Nike made a big deal about the upper material of the Air Force 1 SB, utilizing suedes designed to be durable and able to hide wear. For the Yuto Air Force 1 SB, instead they swapped for a soft nubuck. While the nubuck feels great in hand, nubuck has much less abrasion resistance. If your grip tape comes into contact with the upper, it’s likely going to show immediately.
Inside the sneaker, Nike swapped the traditional polyester and nylon lining with a microsuede (also made of polyester). This interior is a big step up in comfort and should do a better job at keeping your heel in place, but will also be a step down in durability.
Finally, they swapped the oval laces that SBs are known for to flat laces more traditionally found on basketball sneakers. These will help keep your shoes tied, though are much more likely to fray if dragged on grip tape.
Much like the tongue, these make me think this pair is designed to be a bit less of a serious skate shoe and more focused on comfort and style. I’m also not sure this is a farfetched idea – even after the Yuto AF1 SB released, the man himself continues to exclusively skate Dunk SBs.
The only other change from the material angle is swapping the leather heel panel for matching nubuck.
Design:
The overall story of the design of these is actually pretty cool. The way Nike tells it, when they asked Yuto to design an Air Force 1 SB, they let him into the Nike vault to take inspiration from older Air Force 1 models. Apparently, Yuto found an unreleased version of an original Air Force 1 High from the 1980s, and modeled his colorway off of that sneaker. This is where you get the pale grey upper, mid grey swoosh, and knit midfoot pattern.
But we’re not comparing archive sneakers – what about the differences with the Air Force 1 SB?
There are five design changes, most of which are fairly subtle.
- The toe box no longer has any perforation, instead offering a smooth panel across the top of the sneaker.
- The lace dubrae, which was already modified for the SB version, now features a map of the world with rope designs on the edges.
- An homage to the Horigome family crest (the crossed-feathered logo) pressed into the side of the heel.
- The number 7, Yuto’s lucky number, in red on the rear heel panel.
- The interior “Air” wording on the outsole switched to “Yuto.”
Wrap Up:
The Yuto Horigome Air Force 1 SB kept the changes to a minimum. If you’re going to be kind you might say they are tastefully subtle. If you’re not, you might say these are lazy and actively make the Air Force 1 SB a worse skate shoe.
From my perspective, the reason to buy this pair is because you really want an Air Force 1 SB to wear casually, but find the other Air Force 1 SBs a bit too bulky for your taste. The materials will also improve comfort, even if you’re trading a bit of durability to do so.
For everyone else, however, I don’t think these are a must-add to your collection. Not only is the design not a Yuto special, with Nike openly admitting these are just a colorway from an original Air Force 1, but this sneaker undoes some of the changes made to make the SB version of the Air Force special.
