Missing Link x Nike Air Max Susan
1,442Mr. Link, the protagonist of LAIKA’s new film, “Missing Link,” is the inspiration behind the latest collaboration between Nike and the animation studio. In the story, Mr. Link, a lovable creature, supports Sir Lionel Frost, the world’s greatest monster chaser, on a globetrotting adventure to find a remnant of Mr. Link’s primitive ancestry. The Missing Link x Nike Air Max Susan, designed by Nike VP of Advanced Concepts, Tinker Hatfield, and former animator Michael Berger, translates the materials and textures of Mr. Link’s plaid suit, created by LAIKA costume designer Deborah Cook, to a Nike Air Max 1.
Cook explains that Mr. Link’s aesthetic plays up the character’s Pacific Northwest roots and balances it with a desire to serve as playful foil to the urbane Frost. This is also evident in the shoe’s leather-wrapped midsole, cuff links and kurim fur tufts on the tongue that lend a gleefully haphazard elegance to the silhouette.
Nike has a long-time partnership with the LAIKA studio, and while many shoes have been produced in tandem over the years, the Missing Link x Nike Air Max Susan is the first to release commercially.
