There aren’t many names in sneakers with a career arc like Nigel Sylvester.
At the age of 18, the BMX pro joined Nike, Inc. in 2005, aligning early on with the sportswear company’s short-lived Nike 6.0 action sports line. In 2014, he got his own version of the Dunk High under the brand’s Nike SB skateboarding umbrella.
A brief pause from releasing sneakers ensued as the Queens, New York-native launched his successful GO video series in 2015. The clips, shot in first-person point of view as Sylvester traverses the globe, introduced him to a global audience, quickly amassing millions of views and boosting his brand value in the process.
Nike and its Jordan Brand subsidiary took notice. In 2018, the BMX pro and newly minted global internet star received his first Jordan sneaker: a pre-scuffed, pre-yellowed spin on the Air Jordan 1 High intended to look like it had been put through the rigors of bike riding.
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More releases would follow, including a customizable Nike ID Air Force 1 and friends-and-family-exclusive styles. Then, in 2024, Sylvester received what was arguably his biggest opportunity yet. He was tasked with introducing a spin on a classic Air Jordan sneaker, a mission that could have been risky had it been in other hands. The Air Jordan 4 RM’s earliest releases included not one, but two Bike Air-branded colorways inspired by Sylvester’s upbringing. These Grandma’s Driveway and Driveway Gray styles helped Jordan Brand usher in a new-yet-familiar model in the Air Jordan 4 RM, one that has since launched in dozens of general release looks.
This year, the BMX pro has already been part of what some are calling any early sneaker of the year contender, the Air Jordan 4 Brick by Brick, and he’s not done yet. While sneaker connoisseurs debate the year’s top drops, Sylvester is getting ready to release his second Air Jordan of 2025 just a week before his 38th birthday.
It’s one that may look familiar. Originally featured as a friends-and-family Air Jordan 1 High, the upcoming pair is essentially a black-based, low-top spin on Sylvester’s debut Air Jordan 1 collaboration. Dubbed “Better With Time,” the release serves as a full circle moment for the partnership.
The Nigel Sylvester x Air Jordan 1 Low Better With Time will be released Aug. 16 for a retail price of $160. Ahead of its release, Footwear News spoke with Sylvester to find out about the latest collaboration, his thoughts on the Brick by Brick’s success and more.
I have this magazine, it’s from May 2010. There was a Nike 6.0 feature in there. You’re in there and if my math is right, I think you were about 22 at the time. You were asked about how everything had been going so far. And you said, “The great thing about BMX is that you don’t have to compete to be successful and to make a name for yourself. You can compete, but I’m a street rider. So, I use my natural terrain, whether it’s a bench, a stair set, or a handrail. I get busy on that.”
If you could talk to that version of Nigel, 15 years ago, what would you tell yourself?
Nigel Sylvester: To double down on that notion. I would tell myself, man, like, you’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. Like, what I said in that article still serves true today and I’m still saying very similar things. I think what I’ve accomplished over the course of my career and over the last 15 years since that proves that those words are very true and that sentiment was authentically me. And I’m still creating and I’m still designing and still living out that way of life.
I want to get into the new sneaker, I know it’s a Jordan 1 Low. What can you tell me about it?
N.S: It’s the second iteration of my first AJ1, which at that time was monumental, bro. This is like the first Jordan sneaker to be released that comes pre-distressed. If you look at where we were in sneaker culture in 2018, when that shoe came out, everyone loved distressed Jordan 1s. It’s also that thing where they look better as they age and whatnot.
The way that my sneakers aged and got beat up and distressed from bike riding, seeing that I ride with no brakes and my shoes are my brakes. I looked at this pair of [worn] Shadow 1s I had and I was like, this shoe is fire, and Frank Cooke and I went in the lab and we cooked up that first Jordan 1 and people loved it.
And you’ve seen what happened after that. So many distressed, or worn, or like kind of quote-unquote beat up shoes that come from the brand, that tell different stories. So now being in the space I’m at now and being able to do the second iteration of my first AJ1, I’m excited. It comes with the same distressing, it comes with the same distress marks. It’s a low top, same colors, but it’s different color blocking.
To dive deeper into that storytelling, to dive deeper into the shoe, I wanted to apply a story to it. The name of the shoe is called Better With Time.
[The billboard we unveiled last week] is pretty much our Better With Time manifesto. It’s the mindset and the POV that we’re going into this shoe with. I just wanted to take this opportunity to just dive into that storytelling even deeper.
And talk about the things that get better with time: sneakers, or art, or your favorite pair of denim, or your favorite leather jacket, or a dope vintage car, like these types of things. I feel like we’re in this space right now where like vintage and things, it’s so hot. People are referencing different things all the time. Upcycling is something that people are doing, vintage shopping, things of that nature. It felt it would be a really good story to tell at this point in time.
It definitely feels like a full circle moment. You started with the Jordan 1, [now you’re] coming back to the Jordan 1 as a Low. I know you originally teased the colorway a few years ago, there was a picture of you wearing it. Why was it important to come back to it?
N.S: During the sampling process of the first AJ1, we did an alternate colorway. Just experimenting with things and seeing what’s what. And it came out super dope. I wore it during the release of my book with Rizzoli. We did a Go book that was released in 2022, and I wore it to the release event.
Then I wore it again in the recent Banned campaign. And it’s something that every time I put it on my feet, people are like, “When are those coming out?” For the past three years, people have been asking, “When are these coming out?” So seeing where Bike Air is now, and the partnership between Jordan Brand and I, we thought this would be a really good time to drop this shoe, on the heels of Brick by Brick. Like, let’s now give them Better With Time.
I think when you think about those two themes, they work very well with each other as well, Brick by Brick, and that being a mantra of like, building things very carefully, and considering that process. Whether it’s your goals, your dreams, whatever the case is. Now, coming with Better With Time, just really leaning into investing purpose and passion and energy and love into the things that you care about. That’s something that’s super important to me, one of the themes in my life in general.
When you’re approaching a new sneaker project, what’s the first thing that you focus on? Is it the story or the model itself? Or is it different every time?
N.S: I think each time is different. Sometimes you start with the models and sometimes you start with the story. With Grandma’s Driveway, I had that story, I wanted to do that. It’s funny, because like the story of Grandma’s Driveway came right after I did my first AJ1. So I’ve been sitting on that story for a very long time, and then we applied the model to the story.
With Brick by Brick, it was the model first and then the story came after.
With the AJ1, seeing that this is the second iteration, I believe when we did the AJ1, it was, again, based off of a pair of AJ1s that I actually wore. A pair of Shadows that I destroyed. So I guess in that instance, it’s like the model and the story at the same exact time.
It’s different every time.
Speaking of Brick by Brick, a lot of people are calling it sneaker of the year already. How does it feel to get that kind of praise?
N.S: It’s dope that people have gravitated towards that shoe and that project in the way they did. I mean, I knew it was going to be special, but seeing how the world reacted to it made it even more special. For me, I just want to put good stories and good product out into the world, so the result of it thus far has exceeded my expectations. I’m grateful. We’ll see at the end of the year when the lists come out, we’ll see what’s what.
At your [Brick by Brick] dinner, you teased a white Air Jordan 4, and there were some rumblings that those would be coming out at some point this year. Is that still in the cards?
N.S: No comment.
You’ve been working with Jordan Brand for several years. What’s it been like progressing there? It seems like you’re getting more and more pull, a little more freedom to kind of choose what you want to do.
N.S: Yeah, it’s been incredible, man. Nike Inc. has been one of my longest lasting partners. I’ve been within my entire professional career. So that in itself, it’s been an incredible feat. Not many athletes, in any sport, get that type of run with a brand partner. When we think of athletes who’ve been with Nike, Inc. their entire career, you think of Michael Jordan, LeBron, athletes like that.
To be in that same air, that feels great. And Jordan Brand, me coming over to the Jordan Brand side of the business in 2021, I feel like it was yesterday but it’s already been four years, and the things we’ve been to accomplish thus far are fantastic. Bike Air has been something that I’ve wanted to do for quite some time now. So us collaborating and creating a space for me to do that and to see how the world’s responding to it, that’s that in itself is a dream come true.
Like even my aunt, she’s in Trinidad right now. She sent me a video of one of the Calypso artists on stage performing in a pair of Brick by Bricks. That’s just showing the range and the reach that together we’re creating. That people are gravitating around this concept and this idea of Bike Air and everything that comes along with it and they’re living in it. They’re experiencing life in it. That’s really all you can ask for, you know?
So you’ve done the Jordan 1, you’ve got the Jordan 1 Low on the way. You helped introduce the Jordan 4 RM. You got the 4. Is there any model you haven’t worked on that you would like to work on?
N.S: Of course. There’s so many. Like I would love to do a 5. I want to do a 6. Would love to do a 15 and 14.
I feel like there’s so many amazing and iconic models underneath the Jordan Brand umbrella that I’m looking forward to collaborating on in the future and continuing storytelling and continuing to put these models and these iconic silhouettes through the POV of Bike Air.
That’s a place that like Jordan Brand hasn’t been yet. And kudos to them for seeing the potential in me as beyond just a BMX athlete, but as a creator, as a creative, as a designer, as a storyteller. When I think about how I look at bicycle riding, it’s the most universal mode of transportation. And there’s a global culture around bicycle riding that Bike Air allows us to tap into and to tell stories and to create product and serve the community.
So there’s endless possibilities and I feel like a lot of those silhouettes will become anchors in the journey of Bike Air.
Have you spent much time with Michael Jordan himself?
N.S: No, I haven’t spent much time with him. We met, I think it was like last year. He was dope and he showed me so much love. You know, being able to meet one of childhood heroes, and then show you that type of love. And to be able to work at a brand that he puts so much energy and time into and is built off of his back.
I’ve learned so much and been inspired so much, but I feel there’s so much more for me to learn. I’m looking forward to fostering a relationship with him and continuing to be a significant part of the Jordan Brand family.
If you could just single out one thing, what’s the biggest thing you have learned from him?
N.S: Man, I would say his tenacity. The things that MJ has done on the court and off the court. In the sport, in the business world. He completely changed the game for athletes around the world. Just the blueprint that he laid and following that, has been very inspirational to me and it’s been a great example for me in my career.
Think about me being this kid from Jamaica, Queens with the idea and the dream to be a professional BMX athlete and wanting to be one of the biggest in the world, and one of the greatest to ever do it. That takes some tenacity, and then to actually go out and do it, you know? MJ has been one of my biggest motivators throughout my career, both on and off the bike.
