Virgil Abloh was the founder and Creative Director of luxury streetwear label Off-White, which he founded in 2013 in Milan, Italy. How did a young kid from Chicago, Illinois, USA, go on to work with one of the biggest brands in the world?
Virgil Abloh: The Kid from Chicago with a Dream.
ARCHIVE · 11th July 2026 · 1 Min Read
Virgil's collaboration with Nike may come as no surprise to many. As a teenager, Virgil began emailing sketches of his shoe design ideas to Nike HQ. He wanted to express his creativity and artistic vision through Nike sneakers; little did he know that he would go on to collaborate with the brand later down the line.
Virgil’s first collaboration with Nike came in 2017 with “The Ten” collection. He was given complete creative freedom to reimagine 10 Nike sneaker models. Perhaps this was more of a challenge? Virgil saw it as an opportunity to express culture, identity, and everything in between through the design of a sneaker.
In a conversation with Nike News, Virgil said: “What we’re talking about here is larger than sneakers; it’s larger than design culture. It’s nothing short of state-of-the-art design. These 10 shoes have broken barriers in performance and style. To me, they are on the same level as a sculpture of David or the Mona Lisa. You can debate it all you want, but they mean something. And that’s what’s important.”
If Virgil's collaboration with Nike has taught us anything, it's that anything is possible. Keep creating.