The SNKRS Stash in New York City featuring the Air Jordan 12 ‘Wheat’ is available only on iOS. Public School New York designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne have never been bashful when it comes to putting on for their hometown.
New York City’s contagious energy buzzes through everything they do, but nowhere is that more apparent than with their luxe and limited Jordan Brand collaborations. For the latest installment of their iconic partnership, the duo took inspiration from not just New York, but also some of their favorite cities across the globe. Paris and Milan influence the Bordeaux and Olive iterations of the new Air Jordan 12 designs, respectively.
“Wheat was definitely the starting point for this collaboration. It’s so New York City,” explains Maxwell. After crafting an authentic tribute to their hometown via an elevated wheat execution, Dao and Max began setting their sights on other iconic cities that had played a role in the PSNY journey. “We’ve each spent some time in Paris and I think for us it was the first time we ever showed overseas, and the first time we ever really had that type of moment. And as for Italy, the same feeling was felt when we went to Milan,” says Maxwell.
Once the cities were solidified, the next task was ideating on how to bring those locales to life with the iconic Air Jordan XII as the canvas. For Dao, the inspiration was truly organic. “Bordeaux obviously, is the color of wine. When you think of wine, you think of France, and for us, Paris was the city. And then Olive rounds it out for our line in Italy.”
Never-before-seen colorways were just the starting point in their design process. Maxwell and Dao took the classic Air Jordan silhouette to new heights by incorporating premium materials and detailing throughout. “Everything is molded. So, it was like trying to take away as much of the stitching as possible just to give it this really strong structural edge,” says Dao. “The molded nubuck was something that we really want to do. For us, it’s something that we love to see on sneakers.”
An undeniable love for sneakers and a lifelong respect for Jordan Brand make collaborations like this one “a childhood dream” that creates “pure excitement” for Max and Dao. A shared passion for meshing fashion with performance has helped forged a natural partnership populated by legacy-defining moments.
“We just want to be able to do something that captures our generation and is able to live on for generations to come,” says Dao. The latest chapter in the PSNY x Jordan Brand partnership does just that by making a tri-city statement that’s true to the game and to the street.
