On Saturday night, March 22, I entered a red-lit elevator at Junction Krog District in Atlanta and pressed the button with a Nike swoosh. Once I arrived on the 6th floor, I was transported to a one-floor festival, AIR ATL. Celebrating the impact of creativity on design, local culture and community, the 21-plus one-night-only immersive experience brought together the best of Atlanta culture and Air innovation.

At AIR ATL, everything had a swoosh (even the cups), and the new Air Max Dn8 were showcased in glass ‘bubbles’ in eight colourways. No detail was spared – every corner of the event space was authentically for and by the creative community in Atlanta. 

Ahead, we broke down what happened at AIR ATL for those who don’t live in Atlanta – or those who didn’t secure their spot before registrations for the free event swiftly filled up

THE LINEUP DELIVERED BANGER AFTER BANGER

With a headline performance by rap icon Latto and back-to-back DJ sets by Thrice Groove, Cleotrvppv, DJ Unruley and Champagne, the music at AIR ATL was always going to be good. The event started at 8pm and, by 8.45, people were throwing their bags on the floor to dance battle to Make the Trap (Aaayy) by Gucci Mane. Then Cleotrvppv yelled, “We outside, it’s a Saturday night, and we all look good,” and she was right. Once Latto took the stage at 11pm, the crowd was unstoppable.

IT WAS A SWOOSH FESTIVAL

Taking place on a warehouse floor at the buzzy Junction Krog District, every corner of the space was a slice of Nike Air heaven. Upon entrance, hundreds lined up to grab limited-edition merch by Wisdom Fashion House (the hoodie was highly sought after). Around the corner, there was a food station with sliders, wings and coleslaw, with long tables where people could gather and eat. There were also DN8 balls everywhere, red-lit pool tables, metallic couches and a private area for a sound experiment by DJ and producer Sonny Digital.

IMAGINATION WAS IN THE AIR

To celebrate the launch of the new Air Max Dn8 in the US, Nike is debuting its AirImagination digital platform on March 26. AirImagination provides an exciting opportunity to design with Nike Air, allowing users to create AI-prompted Nike Air designs drawn from Nike archives and text-to-image AI generation. At AIR ATL, guests could try out the new platform first-hand, using screens to remix and personalise classic Nike silhouettes and community creations into unique digital designs. For DJ Unruley, this looked like the classic Air Jordans in all black and gold. When asked what name he’d give his new creations, he said, “Gold rush”.

EVERYBODY (AND WE MEAN EVERYBODY) DANCED

There are some fashion parties where no one dances, but this was not one of those. There were groups of girls dancing as they waited for their new AirImagination digital designs to load and people moving as they stood in line for merch. Even while ordering food, the server heard Slick Talk by Nazir and said, “If I weren’t working, I’d be shaking it”. I ordered my tofu slider, and we danced for a second together. Needless to say, people in Atlanta know how to have a good time.