Nike Concept Air Jordan 3 RTNA: A Touch Of Nature On Your Feet

Nike has gone a step further with harnessing and incorporating the beauty of nature into its high-end products. The Air Jordan 3 RTNA that currently sits at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art is a true manifest of a nature-inspiring product.

Nike collaborated with the British firm Lifescaped, led by Explore Team and zoologist Andrew Parker to develop this shoe. The project took about two years and saw Tinker Hatfield, the VP of Design and Special Projects, Kim Kovel, Tory Bryant, and Elizabeth Brock Jones playing diverse roles. The success of this project is the eye-pleasing Air Jordan 3 RTNA enhanced with the Pure Structural Colour pigmenting technique.

What makes the Jordan 3 special?

Nike considers the RTNA coating used in the Air Jordan 3 as the right step towards “the future of color.” The coating is applied carefully across the shoe without mixing with other materials. It is then cut into patterns and sewn beautifully, displaying the blue and lilac on the surface and a lime green tongue. The heel tab also comes in this buoyant elephant print on the upper.

The Pure Structural Colour technique coating developed by Lifescaped is what gives the RTNE that special feel. The technique takes inspiration from nature and uses transparent silicon dioxide coating with microscopic structures. The coating is fragile and has less than 1/100,000th of hair thickness. But how would it perform in normal indoor lighting or sunlight?

The Air Jordan 3 RTNA prototype is now on exhibition; however, it comes with strict no touching instructions.