story

Nike Customer Service, how can I help? Hi, I'm looking for some information on the Air Sundermax.

Do you have any? I'd leave that alone, bonnie lad.

No, this isn't a joke. We're getting nowhere here.

The Nike Sunder was super popular throughout the early 00s and then it vanished for decades. I’ve been on the hunt for it for years… but have gotten nowhere.

Excuse me guys, have you seen this shoe before by any chance These shoes?

Hiya, have you seen this shoe before, by any chance? What started with me just wanting a vintage pair, had gotten out of control. 

My quest was taking me to the north of England on a very weird hunch…  but something about this felt right.

And after years of zero sightings, as soon as we passed the Sunderland sign, the Sunder was everywhere.

Hi! How's it going, mate? All right. Fine, thanks. How are you doing? Good. Why is everyone wearing Sunders? Well you’re in Sunderland.

This is me and my wife and two of my children, in the late 90s.

These ones here are my extended family. This is my brother. He still wears them today. And these two little scamps

are also little family friends of ours.  You know the Sunder is nostalgic for me as well. You mentioned down south but this is me in 1999.

Same colour, same colour as these ones that your nieces had. Yeah. That's brilliant. Have you seen these?

How’s it going mate, are you alright? What's these pink slices in the window? They are our Sunder slice. Oh yeah. Have you been making them for a while?

Yeah, we have, for over 25 years now. The Sunderland special. Oh they are, yeah. Everybody in Sunderland knows them. Thank you. Cheers mate.

I was certain I'd had my fill of revelations, but little did I know I was about to learn how deep all this actually went.

I never knew. That's crazy. I haven't seen them in the past 20 years, and I come here, they are everywhere.

Our people we're born in Sunders, right? We die in Sunders. Mate, I've got Sunders tattooed on me feet. It's just who we are.

SUNDER IS ALL FOR YOU. Is that the Sunder special? 

Sunder special. You get em often? Every single month. Every single month. Without fail. Do you get different colors? Only orange and yellow. Only orange and yellow. Every single time.

Our favorite colors in Sunderland. Oh, they match the shoes nicely. Yes, that is the whole vibe. Perfect.

I couldn't quite believe what I'd oncovered. This Sunder haven no one knew existed.

The wonderful people of Sunderland had let me into their secret.

and I couldn't wait to share what I'd found. 

What happened to SNDR?