Shop Nike Blazer Sneakers

The mid-top silhouette, which is celebrated for its simple look, has already had several collaborations and can boast of noteworthy partnerships like Off-White and Supreme. The Nike Blazer can now convince with countless sexy colourways and should have something to offer every sneaker enthusiast. To make sure you don't miss any new Blazer releases in the future, download our free Grailify app!

The Nike Blazer was first released in 1973 as supposedly the best basketball shoe ever — pretty much the last thing the sneaker is known for by now. At that time, the label with the Swoosh was only nine years old, and they were still looking for a solid place in the shoe industry. For much of this time, the brand was not even known as Nike. It wasn't until 1971 that the familiar name and Swoosh logo were established, and the brand began to sell its own sneakers. Two years later, it was finally decided they would design a basketball shoe that consisted almost exclusively of the so-called Swoosh and represented the brand logo on a simple white base. The resulting simplicity of the sneaker made the Nike Blazer very popular, and it slowly but surely became a casual-wear shoe. In particular, the continuously growing competition in the basketball segment and the technical innovations that emerged in the following years pushed the Blazer more and more into the lifestyle sector.

Nevertheless, the Nike Blazer was able to boast of a leather upper, a mesh-nylon shoe tongue, as well as a textured and vulcanised rubber sole at the time of its release. The latter was especially the must-have for all basketball shoes at the beginning of the '70s. Even if the Blazer is no longer known as an unbeatable b-ball sneaker, it offered the latest and best technologies of the time. In fact, many people keep forgetting that the '70s were still the early days of today's very popular sneakers. In fact, before the '60s and '70s, these were just shoes with rubber soles that were made exclusively for athletes. However, the Nike Blazer is one of the few sneakers of its time that efficiently supported athletes with the latest technologies and fundamentally changed their game.

Since Nike was still at the very beginning of its success story as a world-famous brand when the Blazer was released, the unmistakable logo later had to get into the heads of the masses as quickly as possible. It's no real coincidence that Nike released a model at the very beginning that, in terms of design, consisted almost exclusively of the Swoosh. So, it only takes a quick glance at the Nike Blazer to recognise the brand of sneaker worn from a hundred metres away. The Swoosh ultimately dominates the overall appearance of the shoe. At the time, it was logical to take advantage of this to make the new brand present in people's minds. So, Nike signed basketball player George "The Iceman" Gervin to wear the Blazers during his games. The Iceman then became convinced of the new sneakers relatively quickly, so much so that he never replaced them with any other shoes in the course of his entire career — much to Nike's delight. Gervin was one of the most notorious basketball players of his time and regularly delivered unparalleled performances. Every time the shooting guard was in the spotlight, it became difficult to overlook the huge Swooshes. The logo jumped right out at you in all the pictures, and so, all of George's photos became a source of accidental advertising for Nike. Over time, the relationship between Gervin and the label with the Swoosh even improved so much that he received an exclusive custom model of the shoes. The so-called Nike Blazer ICEMAN was intended exclusively for the basketball star himself, but this created all the more hype around the unique sneaker. The Blazers thus set the first direction for how relationships between brands and players should look. Nowadays, individual shoe collaborations are an integral part of basketball and regularly contribute to some sexy releases. The Air Jordan brand is probably the most famous example. The Nike Blazer is therefore not only a cornerstone of sneaker history, but also a fundamental influencer of today's scene.