If you’ve been a sneakerhead for quite some time now, there’s no doubt you’ll remember the first time Nike linked up with Sanrio‘s iconic Hello Kitty.
Throwing it back to 2004, when Sanrio was celebrating the feline character’s 30th anniversary, Nike created a limited-edition Hello Kitty Air Presto, that ultimately only ended up releasing in 12 pairs of each colorway and were obtained by friends and family. “The original plan was for 500 of each style when the project was first presented to me,” Steven Smith, one of the project’s creators, told Highsnobiety in an interview from 2018.
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Now, Nike is once again tapping Hello Kitty for a collaborative capsule that features co-branded apparel, and rumor has it the Hello Kitty Air Presto might be making a surprise return.
We’ve seen plenty of Hello Kitty collaborations recently, including the Y2K-dream capsule with Blumarine, a range with Takashi Murakami, and even a luxury drop with Balenciaga. There’s no doubt that the cat has a chokehold on the fashion industry, and as one of the most recognizable characters in pop culture, we’re all in for more Hello Kitty.
There’s yet no official information as to when we can be expecting the reunion, but keep your eyes peeled as more information is guaranteed to surface within the next few weeks.